New Tyre options?

[pyrovee]

Hi Everyone!

Just bought my Marlin Berlinetta and am prepping to do some basic work to have her more safe for the road, I have noticed that all the tyres are bulged and have some pretty nasty cracks in them, the previous owner did mention suffering blowouts in other vehicles - and now I understand why. The current tyres on the rims are Vredestein Sprint Classic - 185 R15 91H Tubeless Radials (all wheels). I was wondering if anyone may know what alternatives there may be for this car that either have white walls or are a modern cheaper alternative than 155 quid per tyre? Thanks very much!

[dave_clutterbuck]

Re: New Tyre options?

I bought Landsail budget tyres from local independent tyre company last year, think I paid a bit over £200 for all four

You mentioned Honda CX500 previously I serviced and repaired these in the early 80's, thought they were a bit slow and cumbersome compared to other speed machines available at the time.

[pyrovee]

Re: New Tyre options?

Following some reading up on the Vredestein Sprints, it seems quite common for them to bubble and crack after as little as 3 months ownership. I have narrowed my search to three potential options, so if any of you are using the following tyres I would love to hear from you with regard to how they grip, perform and wear. The contenders thus far are as follows:

Galaxy R1 Blackwall, (Cannot find any reviews of these, very cheap - may be too good to be true?)
Galaxy_R1_Blackwall.jpg

MAXXIS UE 168 Bravo Series -Q Tyres (Seem to be mid-range).
Screenshot (23).jpg

Retro Classic 001 (Made by Nanking) Owned Nankings before and not had any major problems, also the most expensive.
s-l300.jpg



Dave with regard to my CX500, I bought it as a barn find essentially and have stripped off all the plastic and unnecessary parts to turn it into a cafe racer, give it a few weeks and I should have her up and running properly. DM me if you would like some photos.

[dave_clutterbuck]

Re: New Tyre options?

Thanks regarding CX500 have sent DM
Dave

[Alan B Gloucester]

Re: New Tyre options?

Just buy cheap and run them till there'll knackered. As they are only good for Five years(as all tyres are now date stamped), so unless you intend to do an amazing amount of mileage, by cheap.

[andyf]

Re: New Tyre options?

That's what I thought but the Goodgrips that I've got on the roadster at the moment are anything but, especially in the wet. They lock up badly under braking and are very good for drifting round roundabouts! I've going for Uniroyal Rain Experts next.

[billjackson54]

Re: New Tyre options?

I bought those Vredestein tyres in the Spring of 2008...so they're ten years old. I don't really hold the view expressed here that buying cheap is a good idea as you won't wear them out before they get too old to be any good anyway...but it does seem that in this case your current fitted set of tyres are knackered before being worn out...as it were. I'm fitting Uniroyal Rain expert tyres to my Cabrio when I change the wheels later this year. They aren't a lot more than the Vredesteins I bough 10 years ago...which incidentally I bought on-line from mytyres.co.uk. I had to arrange local fitting, but mytyres will now provide a list of fitters who will do the work for you. If you have access to a costco nearish to you, they offer regular deals on tyres (only the likes of Michelin / Goodyear / Bridgestone / Firestone) at much reduced prices.....but the Uniroyals I bought locally after reading a recommendation on here. Good luck!

[dogoncrazy]

Re: New Tyre options?

I agree with Bill. Why would you take the chance with your pride and joy and put budget/obscure manufacture tyres on when they are all that's between you and the road.
I had Uniroyal's on my Cabrio and at approx £45-50 each I thought they were a steal!

[pyrovee]

Re: New Tyre options?

Thanks for all the responses! I have been looking around for a while now and found that a lot of the manufacturers that make the tyre in a similar size to the Vredestein ones are C listed. I have called up a few places and they have all said that they are commercial tyres made for vans and the likes and that they would recommend against fitting them to a kit car? I have found a set of Uniroyals for a decent price and have been ready to purchase but they too are rated as commercial. I think I have been a bit spooked into buying them there are also some Toyos going pretty cheap as far as I can tell - Any further advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks

[burnside]

Re: New Tyre options?

I have used Toyos on several cars they are a bit noisey compared to Mitchelin or Pirelli but soft and grip very well at the expense of lower millage I will buy again when i need new tyres as they are at a good price and the benefits well outweigh budget cheapies Better to buy a brand when being safe is paramount

[Alan B Gloucester]

Re: New Tyre options?

To my low mileage friends, my MOT tester, who is a bit of an anorak looking at what's coming onto future MOT's told me that the dreaded insurance company's are checking tyre age's on RTA's in a bid to refuse pay outs, whether true or not I for one would not like to have happen to me.

[billjackson54]

Re: New Tyre options?

Here we go again! Some time ago a long term member of this club wrote an article about tyres fitted to his self built Berlinetta. He had originally gone with the then current trend of fitting hugely wide tyres only to find that while road holding in the dry was good, in the wet it was... well pretty awful. So he went for smaller section tyres and found almost no difference in the dry and hugely improved road holding in the wet. In fact the handling characteristics of the car were pretty much the same in both wet and dry. It was after reading that article that I bought the Vredesteins..which were recommended to me at the time. If you still have the same 1800cc Pinto engine fitted to E329FNU, then it's scarcely over powered: certainly more of a tourer than a sports beast...so your choice of tyres doesn't need to be governed rigidly by size....the Sierra rode on 14" wheels after all and there are conversion tables on line which would advise on what sizes you could consider without upsetting your gearing. This is important as costs are very much limked to production quantities.."odd" sizes being much more expensive than more common ones. I have heard that Toyos are "sticky"...but I've heard the same of the Uniroyals as well. So in conclusion get the best you can afford for the job you want done: if it's only summer use you want, then rain experts may not be a priority. If it's to be an all year round steed, then all weather tyres would seem most appropriate.

[Alan B Gloucester]

Re: New Tyre options?

The marlin's are powerful engined lightweight cars so use the gear's engaged on hard braking, until its necessary to save from stalling. I have had to many B, idiots in my journey's over the years and bad whether condition's. ( and no it not the cheap tyres). See you all at Stoneleigh. Enjoy your beast's

[stevejgreen]

Re: New Tyre options?

It’s extremely personal depending on when and where the vehicle is used.
Sure the 5 year rule applies, but that is really only relevant to vehicles that live outside, especially caravans and trailers where the UV light destroys and cracks the rubber.

It also depends on whether you want to reduce noise, have good control in the wet or have maximum traction in the dry.
Most tyre manufacturers publish their data, but, I have always steered clear from budget tyres.

You might save a few bob, but it’s a comparatively small area between you and the road that you rely on to steer and stop the car.

[burnside]

Re: New Tyre options?

Found this info on internet from Black circles website

Does the age of a tyre matter?

Tyre Safety: 5 Year Rule

Tyres are considered to be “new” and fit for retail up to 5 years from the date of production.

This is an industry standard based on the German BRV.

When in use, it is recommended that tyres are replaced when they reach 7 - 10 years old, (6 years in the case of caravans or trailers).

How To Tell A Tyre's Age

On the sidewall you will find a tyre's ‘DOT code’. One of the key pieces of information that can be gained from this is the date the tyre was manufactured.

Since the year 2000, the date section of the code - the last digits - has been made up of 4 numbers.

The first two digits tell you the week number and the last two indicate the year the tyre was manufactured. In the example below the age code is '3909'. This means the

tyre was made in the 39th week of the year 2009.