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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - Tyres and Inner Tubes

Going to replace the tyres on my 74 midget soon, they are fitted with 145's fitted by the PO as new. They are a brand not known to me and labelled SAVAS Since then I've had a couple of punctures in the rears and have found out they have inner tubes. I'm assuming tubes were fitted because the tyres could not fit the wheels airtight? If so is there a way (or company) that can refurbish the wheels so I don't need inner tubes or do I have to live with it or buy new wheels. Whilst on the rubber subject, any thoughts of the best make and size to go for? don't want to spend silly money but above all safe and will give me a nice road feel.
thanks for your thoughts and advice, Dave.
Dave Warren

Hi,

You don't say what type of wheels you have; EG spoked, steel or alloy?

JIm
J Smith

Dave,
When you replace them go for 155 x 13. They fit happily onto standard rims and you will notice better road holding. You may need to get your rims checked, but I'm sure a decent tyre fitter will be able to sort it for you ok so you don't need tubes.
Geoff
Geoff Mears

145s are standard, they should fit the rims.

Are they wire wheels?

Sava are the budget arm of Goodyear and make their tyres in eastern Europe (I think).

Malc.
Malcolm Le Chevalier

Malc,
Dave's car has steel rostyles, unless my memory is letting me down.
Geoff
Geoff Mears

thanks for the advice, no, your memory isn't failing you Geoff you're spot on, steels (I think the originals)when I took it to the fitter (a local private tyre place that just does tyres not a big chain) I was surprised they had an inner tube to hand, they said at the time lots of people have inner tubes, but, I'm not convinced, I'd really like to get nice quality tyres this time and make sure they fit really well.
Dave.
Dave Warren

I just fitted a set of these from camskill total for 4 including fitting by my local guy was £150.

More importantly the tyres are great - thanks to various recommendations from on here

Uniroyal Rain Expert 3-145/80 R13
timmyk

If looking for new tyres have a look on blackcircles.com. Also, have a look at 155/70 tyres, a lot more choice and better prices in that size.

Malcolm
Malcolm Le Chevalier

I have a man older than me as my man of choice for tyres for all our cars. I went to see him with the midge before booking it in. He confirmed Malcolm's sizes. He runs a 70's Merc pergola top himself.

He advised I take the wheels in off the car. take them over in the modern. Have him take the tyres off and me take them away and refurbish the inner edges of the rims where the tyre bead sits. Best advice ever. When I took them back the new tyres went straight on. The tyres fitted well and stay up! Worth the couple of days it took me to clean off the old rubber and rust, anti rust and paint.

Remember not to over tighten if you want your studs to last.

Dave
Dave Squire

I have Uniroyals too

155/80 x 13 The Rain Tyre

Very good handling tyres, didn't fall apart on my recent track day either and came in at about £35 each fitted and balanced
Bill sdgpM

once again, good considered advice thank you all, appreciate the cleaning tip Dave, that perhaps might be my problem. Uniroyals are looking like the place to start
Dave Warren

Dave, one last word (or several) tubeless tyres are not designed to have tubes. They will overheat and fail after running at highway speed, of course this depends on ambient temp and duration here in OZ usually sooner than later.
cheers
Rod
R W Bowers

Yet another recommendation for Uniroyal Rain Expert. I have had two sets on my BV8 (195/60 x 15) and they are great. Not expensive, but good grip wet and dry.
Mike Howlett

I've got 175/70x13 Uniroyal Rain Expert on my 5.1/2 inch wire wheels, with tubes. They are excellent.

What Rod says is true though. The inner surface of a tubeless tyre is very rough compared to a tubed one and chaffing of the tube can occur. Rain Experts are all tubeless. I once had a tyre depot refuse to fit a tube to a tubeless tyre on safety grounds.
Having said that, I drove to Amsterdam at mostly motorway speeds, then drove on an organised run and had a 30 minute thrash round Zandvoort circuit, then drove home again. The tyres stood up very well and I've had no punctures since.
Bernie Higginson

Got Rain Expert 145s tubeless on a Frogeye and very impressed with them. They have ridges inside so there is a possibility of premature wear of the tube but I don't know anyone who has had problems.

Rob
Rob aka MG Moneypit

Dave
Something to consider---
Do your rostyle rims have safety beads ???
If yes, then going tubeless is fine
If not --it is dangerous to go tubeless with non safety beaded rims
I know I'll cop some flak, and I know plenty of cars came out new with tubeless tyres on non safety rims
(series 1 XJ6 for example) but then safety rims were introduced for a reason---safety
If you drive in a spirited manner with non safety rims then tubes are a must have item-

willy
William Revit

My local garage gave my wheels to the apprentice to fit new tyres and he had never heard of tubes.
L B Rose

Bill,

Can I ask you about your track day experience with the Uniroyals?

I am about to replace my 'road legal track tyres', Yokohama A021R 185/70 x 13 on 5.5" rims, with either Continental ContiEcoContact 3 or Uniroyal RainExpert3 - they would be in the same size. A021R have been superb, but are no longer 'road legal' from Jan 2016, and I need new tyres!

Both the ContiEcoContact 3 and RainExpert3 are in the MSA 'Blue Book', so in theory should be OK for track day use, but the Minor is heavier than a Sprite/Midget.

Richard
Richard Wale

Hi Richard, you may be aware that Gary and I have attended the charity trackdays at RAF Marham many times now

I first had a mix of cheapo 'any crap' tyres on the car

(Sorry Dave, I seem to recall SAVA along the tyrewalls) :)

Then as they had taken a pounding on the harsh runway surface, designed of course to take a hammering from Victor tankers and Tornado bombers with a seriously grippy lining I bought some Goodyear G2s which lasted very well until last summer

This time there was no chance of getting any more G2s even though I liked them my tyre guy suggested the Uniroyals

So I put them on and gave Lara a hammering round the tight corners and very long fast straights in October

I see no obviously worn areas and she handled really well in the twistys, the G2s showed a slight tendency to break off-line a bit as I came out of the squirrely bits

And in the rain I find the control is just as nice as I like

I haven't tried them on heavier cars, wish I still had one of my old Escort 1s to go with (I have had three mk 1s...so far) because I get a very positive feeling with the Unis
Bill sdgpM

This thread was discussed between 10/03/2016 and 13/03/2016

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