Tires for early Sevens

[jbcollier]

Go fast types, you can stop reading now.

 

Finding quality tires in the smaller sizes is getting more and more difficult.  Even Vredestein dropped some of their classic 13" offerings.  10 years back I ordered a set of Michelin XAS tires from Longstone.  They were vintage re-pops made in India.  Frankly they were the worst set of tires I had ever seen in 35 years of wrenching, preposterously out-of- round and true.  Though I was once bitten, I decided to try again.  This time I ordered the Pirelli CN36s in 165/80R13, again from Longstone.  They arrived moderately quickly and shipping costs were reasonable.  These tires were made in Argentina.

 

I took the old wheels, Dunlop mags and no-name 185s, and the Pirellis to my tire shop and had them mounted.  The shop said they ran straight and true, and, here's the amazing part, only a 1/2oz of balance weight for all five wheels!  That's very, very good.  Astounding even.

 

I won't get a chance to drive on them until April and expect they will be slippery, given their diminutive contact patches, but that sounds like fun to me.

 

YMMV

[simon_h]

I plan to give this company a look for when/if I finish my Elan. Not sure what they are like but significantly cheaper than the xas Michelins.

Blockley Tyres

[john g]

If you can accept a size of 185/70x13 Uniroyal Rain Experts are OK

[Golf Juliet Tango]

I quite agree that the choice of E marked tyres suitable for a lightweight car with small wheels is disappointing.  I used to favour AO21R but once they were no longer sold for road use, I have used Uniroyal Rainexpert 3, which are ok but not as well suited.

In the UK I usually order tyres from Camskill.

[paul_w]

needing 145/80 r15s for my S1 and not having the budget for Michelins or similar, I opted for Nankang CX668 after spotting they were on the MSA list and so I could use them if I fancied sprints or hillclimbs further down the road. Not had much chance to put many miles on them, but so far quite like them, they breakaway predictably, don't look too modern, and were only about £35 a corner, though like everything they are more expensive now.

On my old LA car I had Falken Sincera SN-807 165/80 R13, which again were good value and fun to drive on, wet or dry.

I'm glad you warned me about the Michelins, as I had been thinking of upgrading to them on the S1, I'd have been mightily fed up to spend more than my engine cost on tyres only for them to turn out rubbish...

[cobar]

I put the XAS FF on my Elan 4 years ago and my experience was the opposite of jbcollier's.  Expensive, yes.  And they do require tubes, but the tire is brilliant.  Very sticky, great feel, and no balance issues.  I will repeat when it is time for replacement.

jbcollier, when you say they were "vintage re-pops made in India" from 10 years ago, were they actually Michelin branded tires or were they made by another company using that tread pattern?  My understanding is the XAS is made Tigar in Serbia which is owned by Michelin.

-John

[Peter Lethbridge]

Give Blockley tyres a call.Have used them on Jaguar E type. They started supplying vintage cars,now classic car market.