Gary et al,
I gotta chime in here. I suspect you're gonna get hammered on this one, Gary.
For MGB wire wheel guys, the original 165SR14s are really hard to find. I know
of only one manufacturer who is currently making the tire at a reasonable price
- Vredestein. (Where the heck do you buy those, anyway?) Avon used to make one
and I purchased a 5-tire set of them from one of your advertisers. Please
correct me if I am mistaken. Had a hell of a lot easier time finding the right
tires for an MGA which uses the 15 in wheel. The 165SR15 Dunlop SP 20(?) is a
standard size for older VWs.
Some folks say you can stuff a 185/70R14 on a wire wheel rim, but I and the tire
manufacturers think that's pushing it. For the Rostyle wheel, which has a wider
rim, there doesn't seem to be as much of a supply problem.
But I do think we're sort of missing the original point here - didn't someone
ask whether 10 year old tires were okay to use? I do think the article fairly
dealt with that safety issue.
Bill
Editorgary@aol.com wrote:
> In a message dated 10/10/00 10:14:53 AM, jesserobinson2@hotmail.com writes:
>
> <<
> I know the editor is out there, I'm not knocking the magazine. In fact, I
> loved it. I will continue to buy it, but what happened? Sounds like you
> where promoting the four suppliers who pay to advertise in your magazine
> rather than help out the guy who would like to just buy some tires for his
> non-show/racing car. >>
>
> Sorry to disappoint you regarding the coverage on the MGBs. The article
> certainly was based on the interviews I did with the specialists who supply
> tires to most of the vintage car market (wasn't intended to be promotional,
> but they're the ones who make a business of supplying the market and deserve
> credit for what they do). Their comments, boiled down, were that they don't
> worry much about MGBs since there are so many very inexpensive tires on the
> market -- The Tire Rack, and so forth -- from which appropriate tires can be
> purchased to fit the original wheels. Assume that you mean by
> "non-show/racing" that you're not excessively worried about appearance or
> performance so you're in a good position.
>
> For any of you MGB specialists out there, is there any reason Jesse couldn't
> just drive over to his local big-box tire supplier and buy a set of 14-inch
> radials (165, 175, or 185 x 70 or 60) and have them mounted on his MGB?
>
> I'll look forward to any additional info, and will be happy to publish it in
> the next issue. Didn't want to give you MGB drivers short rations but it
> seemed to me you were in a pretty enviable position relative to the guys who
> still have to try to find 15-inch or 16-inch tires for their vintage
> machinery.
>
> Cheers
> Gary Anderson
> Editor, British Car Magazine
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