Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[Rootes75]

With the cost of vintage tyres a friend of mine was saying today about fitting modern equivalents...

I'm after a set of 5.60x15 but he's saying 155R15 will fit?

Anyone out there taking this option on their classics?
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Various Rootes Vehicles.

[ukdave2002]

Its exactly what I did with my Bedford CA, purists don't like it! as well as the cost saving the steering is much better

[alastairq]

On on of mine, the wheels are ordinary sidevalve Ford, 16 inch...Normally the rears had 5.00/5.50 x 16 fitted....but I have had success with 175/80 x 16 [taxi] tyres....primarily Michelin XC4S....[as have many others]

I haven't tried them on the front wheels, as they take a 450 tyre [narrower than rears]..

But the FSOC have reported that owners have fitted 175/80 x 16s to fronts of saloons, with good effect.

The 'taxi' type tyre has a stiff sidewall [is it 6 ply?] so quite closely follow the characteristics of a cross ply tyre.

Nankang FT7 tyres of the same size, although intended for modern so-called soft roader vehicles, have more flexible [2 ply?] sidewalls...and need their white lettering disguised somehow.

An issue with the fitment of radial tyres to oldies might be, whether they might catch bodywork? Or affect steering lock if on the fronts?

Also, will the increase in stiction make problems for old technology suspension and steering components?
[Much as the fitting of disc brakes to pre-war front axles can lead to torque reaction issues?]
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Dellow Mk2, 1951 built, reg 1952.
Fiat 126 BIS
Cannon special [1996 registered. Built in 1950's]
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Ford Pop chassis, Ashley 1172 bodyshell, in pieces.

[Ray White]

By sheer coincidence, I have been reading about how some people have been fitting radials in place of cross ply tyres to their MG TCs.

As UKDave has pointed out the purists don't like it; in fact, the subject has caused quite a bit of angst among T type owners in the USA. The reason is because although the Bridgestone radials transform the handing they have a lower profile which corresponds to a lower the ride height. The tyre in question (normally fitted to a BMW electric car) basically changes the look of the car on the road.

Personally, I made the mistake of ordering 5 new wheels and 'Waymaster' cross ply tyres early on in the restoration. The mistake was in failing to realise that regardless of type, the clock is ticking from the date of tyre manufacture . I have lost half my tyres' life before even going on the road!

[Rick]

[Ray White]

[Norseman]

RJ[/quote]

I am uncertain about the legal position. Is it something a busy body hobby Bobby might be able to report you for?[/quote]

To the best of my knowledge there is no legal issue with the age of car tyres, only condition & tread depth. It never ceases to amaze me that just 1.6mm across 75% of the tread width is still considered adequate in law, I change mine at 3mm. Tyre manuf. recommend renewing tyres at 8 years, but then they have an axe to grind !

Obviously driving on outdated rubber isn't a good thing, especially in the wet, but common sense on the owner's part should prevail.
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1987 classic Range Rover Vogue auto
1998 E39 523i SE auto sedan

A great many models have served me well since the 'sixties, all of them old & some even older than me.

[alastairq]

As Norseman says, for cars, no current legal requirement regarding age of tyres...Different rules for goods vehicles, taxis and buses, however.

Aside from cracks in the sidewalls [which might fail an MoT if one could be bovvered?]....the major change one would notice is with the 'hardness' of the rubber itself.

I mention an incident that happened a few years back in the Manchester area, where a gent was driving his MGB, and it crashed.
At the time I believe the cause was contributed to, by the car having tyres with very good tread, but which were several decades old. [Pirelli Cinturato, I believe?}

When I ran a Daihatsu 4Trak on next to nowt budget, I would sometimes buy the huge tyres[relatively, in my world]....off ebay.
The size being the awkward factor for the 4Trak!

Some of them, good quality makes [Dunlop, as it happened]...I discovered had been recovered from scrapped Vauxhall Frontieras....off the spare wheel....which would have been located on the back door, exposed to sunlight & the elements for the life of the vehicle before being scrapped.

In both cases [I only bought two, as it happened.] I found the tread [as new in appearance and depth]..started to peel away from the carcass....after not too many miles. So swapped them out. I used them on the rear axle anyway, and before anybody climbs on nearby high horses....I don't have any faith whatsoever in tyres of any make whatsoever..as too much can go awry .....My working life, and skills acquired, mean I still , even now, drive consciously, placing zero faith on what's under me backside...simply being highly aware of what is going on downstairs. Yup, I even do pressure checks every day or so [I don't always drive every day now I'm a pensioneer...]...as, living where I do, there is so much greater chance of picking up a nail, or screw [my latest puncture]...or very sharp stone due to the narrow width of the roads I use, and the need [I like to help those innocent motorists coming the other way]....to sometimes take to the verge, of broken road edge, to allow those less able to conduct their blobbymobiles with the needed accuracy........

I don't like to wait until a tyre has lost 10 psi before I do anything about it... Can't afford to replace willy-nilly.

[Anyway, if a good scrub of boot polish was good enough for Burt Munro, it's fine with me!! ]

I don't 'know' whether it's worth scrubbing the tyres in storage with something like linseed oil, to help retain/restore some of that suppleness that age, and the drying out of the rubber loses?

BTW, on a hot dry day, a totally bald tyre has better grip than one full of tread....

The sheer cost of crossply tyres these days puts me off looking at pre-war cars......Knowing that the chances are I'd have to replace all 5 or 6? That would cost more than I'm usually prepared to pay to buy a daily driver!

Somehow, getting 'value-for-money' out of such an outlay would prove difficult in my eyes.
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Dellow Mk2, 1951 built, reg 1952.
Fiat 126 BIS
Cannon special [1996 registered. Built in 1950's]
----------------------------------------------
Ford Pop chassis, Ashley 1172 bodyshell, in pieces.

[Keith D]

Personally I won't ever use radial tyres on a car that was never designed to use them. Which covers all prewar cars and most in the early years after the war.

I have driven early Falcons and Holdens that had been fitted with radial tyres in later life and found them to be very dangerous on wet or greasy roads. Both Ford and Holden started fitting radial tyres on their new cars AFTER they had introduced RTS (Radial Tuned Suspension) The whole front end geometry was changed to suit the completely different characteristics of Radial tyres.

My Austin A40 has never worn radials and will never wear them during my ownership. Still on 525/550x16 crossplies. Forget all about softer rides and personal comfort, the only time you know whether your tyres are right is when you have bad road conditions and find yourself in an emergency.

As far as tyres aging goes, with our brutal sun the walls can degrade quite rapidly. I don't think we have actual laws on replacing old tyres, but obviously tyre dealers would like us to change them every year. Now I am retired my daily driver does not spent five days a week in a carpark and my old cars live in a closed garage hidden from the sun and so tyres last far longer than a few years. However, I do regularly check the walls for any sign of cracking.

Keith
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1926 Chrysler 60 tourer
1932 Austin Seven RN long wheelbase box sedan
1950 Austin A40 tourer
1999 BMW Z3
Its weird being the same age as old people.
You are either part of the problem or part of the solution

[Ray White]

Not speaking from personal experience but I have noticed how everyone who has had much experience of the Mark 6 Bentley (introduced in 1946) has said how much better it drives on radials.

It may only be a coincidence but the design was all new with very little in the way of pre War elements. Perhaps the RR designers were aware of tyre developments in the pipeline.?

[Norseman]

[alastairq]

[ukdave2002]

[Rusty]

[Rick]

I have heard of steel wheels suffering stress cracks when cars have been swapped from crossply to radial tyres, presumably due to increased grip/cornering speeds, so that's always made me a little wary (when I ran my A40 as a daily it had radials, it certainly gripped better but I've yet to study the wheels closely to see if there have been any ill-effects as a result).

RJ
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Rick - Admin
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