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MG MGA - Tires

Its time for new tires. I've discover that Kelly no longer makes a 165 80 15.

The only brand I can find is Nankang.

Any feedback on those?

Thanks
T McCarthy

I too am looking to replace my Kelly Tires this spring. Several of the Michigan Rowdie members have had good sucesss with Nexen 165/80-15, SB-802 Rdial Tires on their MGA's. McCormack Racing in Lincoln Park, MI has them listed on Ebay for $68.95 ea. With free shipping.
G Cunningham

Used to use Dunlop SP4, then SP20, long since off the market. Then ran Kumho Euro Metric 771, no longer available. Then Kumho Power Star 758 for a couple sets, good tires but currently not available (rumored to be out of production).

I have been advised by "someone who should know" that Nankang is "less than desirable" (to put it mildly). I seem to recall that Classic brand have traction rating "B", so stay away.

I have been running Nexen tires. Last set lasted 17 months, 55,000 miles. Might have gone farther, but had a wheel bearing problem that ate some of the tread life. Happy with the performance. Just installed another set of Nexen two days ago.
Barney Gaylord

That's helpful! Thank you.

I need them mounted and balanced on my wire rims. I've never purchased tires and then showed up at a tire place for only a mounting and balancing.

Doesn't the tire place get pissed that you didn't buy from them?

Can anybody mount and balance wire rims?



T McCarthy

Hello Guys, Just out of interest what tyre pressure works best for you with radial tyres? Dave
DM Gibson

Have you considered Vredestein Sprint 165 15's ? Free shipping from Summit Racing
James Wiebe

The tire shops don't get pissed for your carry-in tires, they just bill you accordingly so they can make a profit on the labor. Most local tire shops do not stock race tires, and often don't even know where to get them. Last time I brought new tires to a tire shop for installation I was billed slightly over $100 to mount and balance four tires (including tire disposal fees).

Some decades back the advertised price for tires commonly included installation, so $40 per tire meant $160 (plus sales tax) installed and out the door. More recently "constructive pricing" is more common to advertise low price in competition. Mounting might still be included (sometimes), but you get billed extra for balancing and wheel weights and various state and federal up front taxes and sometimes a "shop fee" (like to comer solvents and rags an hazardous waste disposal).

The add-ons can be radically different at different shops. Last summer I bought trailer tires in a small town in north central California (mountains away from the coast). I got two $20 tires for $40 plus sales tax, installed and out the door with no other fees. This week at Pep Boys in northern Illinois I bought four car tires and was billed $14.99 per tire for "balancing" (in addition to state fees and taxes).

Just for grins, about 10 ago I took my car and some extra wheels and tires to a shop for service (no tire purchase). I wanted to take the steel wheels off my car and install the race wheels, keeping the street tires on the road. Remove steel wheels from car. Remove street tires from steel wheels. Remove old race tires from alloy wheels and install street tires on those wheels. Balance four wheels and install them on the car.

They only R&R 4 wheels on the car (take 4 off and put 4 on). Each of 8 wheels was on the tire mounting machine just once (remove 8 tires install 4 tires), but they insisted on billing me three times, claiming they had to handle the wheels three times, so i was billed to R&R 12 tires plus balancing four, about $160 for 30 minutes shop time with a low wages grunt worker. I don't blame them for the way they want to do business, but I don't go back there any more.

The point is, when shopping for tires you need to ask how much total out the door. The primary advantage of buying the tires where they will be installed is normally no shipping charge and "reasonable" charges for installation. If you buy tires from a discount house and pay shipping to you, then pay $100 for installation you likely lose.

I used to buy tires out of state (no sales tax), pay minimal shipping cost (just to the next state), then mount and balance them myself (tire irons and bubble balancer). The race wheels have thin aluminum rims and have to be done on a no-touch tire mounting machine, so now I have to deal with the tire shops.

Barney Gaylord

There are some shops that can handle wire wheels, but not all. Most tire shops don't know what they don't know, and try to treat wire wheels like any other wheels. They can usually mount tires okay (once they find appropriate inner tubes), but commonly fail with the balancing, because they don't have the required female cone for the outboard end of the hub.

I know a few good places in the Chicago area, but I am just beginning to index the rest of the country for LBC service shops. If anyone has a favorite or recommended service shop that will work on your LBC, do tell and I will add it to my new North American shops list.
Barney Gaylord

There is no single generic answer to the tire pressure question, but I can get you in the ballpark.

Current issue bias ply tires may like about 30 psi (somewhat higher than original specification. For no sway bar, a few psi less in front than in rear. With 5/8 to 3/4 inch front sway bar, about equal pressure front and rear, or a few psi more in front for vigorous driving (like you might ever try that with bias ply tires). Maybe try slightly less pressure for comfortable non-aggressive touring.

For modern street radials, in general the common 165-80R15 size, with no sway bar maybe 25 psi (min) front and 28 psi rear. With a 5/8-3/4 inch sway bar, you might get away with 25-psi (min) at both ends for comfortable touring. For aggressive driving, maybe 28 front, 26 rear, or a couple psi more.

Quasi-competition street tires like Blockley or Vredestein may like slightly higher pressure.

Pressure does not have to be outrageously high for competition. It is good to use almost the lowest pressure you can get away with for largest footprint, as long as the tire does not roll over to rub on the sidewall during hard cornering. That's what the shoe polish trick is for. If used for autocross, you like to round off the corner on the outside shoulder until it scuffs half way down the side of the outside tread block (but not on the sidewall beyond). Then it looks odd, but they grip better in hard cornering.

After you have some miles on the tires you can check the tread wear pattern. Too much wear in the center means too much pressure. Too much wear on the shoulders means not enough pressure.

Larger front sway bar calls for slightly higher pressure in front, and a bit less in rear. The science to a sway bar is not about how much it reduces body roll, it is about weight transfer corner to corner. Increasing load on the outside front tire reduces load on the inside front tire. At the same time it reduces load on the out side rear tire and increases load on the inside rear tire.

Changing load on the tires affects grip efficiency, which in turn changes understeer or oversteer character. With changes of sway bar stiffness and/or tire pressures you can fine tune the handling character to your taste. Lots of information about how and why this works on my web site here: http://mgaguru.com/mgtech/tires/tire1.htm


Barney Gaylord

Ok, I'm going to get the Nexen's. I've got the guy to mount and balance.

What about inner tubes? Anything magical about that? Is there a size I need to reference? Anything particular about the valves and the rims I need to be aware of?

T McCarthy

Hello from Ann Arbor, T McCarthy.

I've got some Kumho's to pop on after I restore the wheels.
Where are you getting your tires mounted and balanced?
Not too many shops around here even remember wire wheels anymore.

On another subject, I thought spring/summer was in the offing. Not so sure after today! Walking the dogs this morning I felt like an Eskimo.

John
JR Alexander

When installing tubes, be sure to remove ALL stickers from inside the tires. Also look at molding flash inside the tires. Modern radial tires intended to run tubeless are not particular about roughness inside, but the tubes DO care. You may feel the need to do some grinding inside the tires to smooth out some of the molding die split lines (before you take the tires to the installer). A wrinkle in the tube WILL cause it to go flat, as well as any wrinkle or edge on a plastic sticker left inside.
Barney Gaylord

This thread was discussed between 29/03/2016 and 06/04/2016

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