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MG MGB Technical - Tyre recommendation

Hi Guys,

I'm looking to change my tyres (due to age rather than wear). My current tyres which are on 14J Minator wheels are Goodyear Eagle CT3 185/70 R14 88H.
When i bought these tyres & wheels as an offer at the Silverstone MG weekend many years ago the handling of the car was greatly improved (from my perspective) over the previous combination that included the original Ro-Styles.
I want to stay with a 185/70 profile as i have no clearance issues ( & don't want any), but have read various comments that tyres manufactured more recently do not display similar characteristics when the car is driven.
I don't use the car on track days, but i would say i am a spirited driver , rather than tootling about, so my comment above re characteristics may or may not be relevant! The car has very predictable handling on fast corners.
Whilst i have the car available to use the whole year round, i only tend to use it from early Spring to late Autumn weather permitting so all weather /winter tyres not required.
My annual mileage is below 2000 miles.
I would welcome any recommendations.
Cheers,Charles
Charles9

I recently bought a set of Michelin Energy tyres. They are only 175/70 but I’m very pleased with them, so far.

I’ve also been very happy with Michelins on modern cars, in recent years.
Dave O'Neill 2

Kumho KH17
Fantastic tyre ,quiet grippy and comfortable
Had 2 sets on my golf and then mistakingly changed to KH18, which looked exactly the same but cheaper BUT a much harder jigglyer tyre on the road, lighter in the steering and lasting well but nowhere near as good as the KH17's
The KH17's are a quality tyre made in Japan and the KH18's aren't - sort of explains the difference
willy
William Revit

I always think with tyres on our old cars that the cars are so light compared to today's cars that take a similar size tyre so the tyre will preform differently on the two different vehicles.

Different sizes of the same make and model of tyre car vary too as well of course different makes and models of the same sizes and rating can vary.

With regard to the tyre's (weight/load carrying capability) Load Index, if the tyre is designed for much heavy vehicles to withstand higher speeds carrying the higher weight then the tyre may not be optimum for our lighter cars.

88 = 1,235lbs/560Kg per tyre (560 x4), that's a good margin on a B unless your towing perhaps.

https://www.oponeo.co.uk/tyre-article/tyre-load-rating

BTW the speed ratings are tested at the stated maximum speed for only 10 minutes so bear that in mind when Autobarn blasting.

A mate has said that Yokohama BluEarth are good on his Spridget - but those are 155/70 r13 75T so 385Kg at 188mph (for ten minutes).
Nigel Atkins

I have used Uniroyal Rain Expert on MGBs and always been pleased with grip wet or dry. They are available in 185/70 x 14.
Mike Howlett

I too use Uniroyal Rain Expert which absolutely transformed the car, particularly in the wet, after my previous budget tyres. I use 195/70x14 on four spoke Revolutions, so the rear arches needed to be modified slightly. However, speedo now appears to read more accurately ie less optimistically!
Peter Allen

>> - but those are 155/70 r13 75T so 385Kg at 188mph (for ten minutes).<<

As if, 188mph! :)

T rated tyre so should of course been 118mph ((tested) for ten minutes).

Swapping any aged tyres for fresh (reasonably) good tyres should improve braking, (steering, suspension) road holding and handling. Tyres are a very much overlooked complicated component on any vehicle.

Many classic car owners hold on to old (and ancient) tyres just because they still have plenty of tread on them - so good on you Charles.
Nigel Atkins

Guys,

Thanks for recommendations so far (& tech comments) . Please keep them coming.

I mentioned in my first post that i had read that tyres manufactured more recently don't display similar characteristics when shod on an MGB. I appreciate that different wheel sizes & profiles will give a different grip / feel , but wondered whether other members of this forum had experienced this.
I am keen to get as close to the feel on the road that i have with my current set of 185/70 tyres, but am also aware that even though the manufacturer might be the same, i am led to believe the construction has changed (dare i say it to conform with EU Regs)!
(Nigel makes a similar point about tyres made by the same manufacturer & an interesting point about the varying weights of different cars).

Cheers,Charles
Charles9

Horses for courses-
A friend races a 70 GT Falcon in Targa events and runs the latest sticky 16" Dunlop tarmac tyres which suit the car and his style quite well--I work on his brother's Mustang targa car, which is basically the same spec in a different body(but faster)-just thought I'd add that.-and running on 15"yoki's
Always looking for chances of going faster,and Mr.Falcon going on about how much grip his Dunlops had we decided to swap the wheels over on the 2 cars to see if there was an advantage to be had
Eyeopener--The Falcon just slid all over the place on the yoki's and the Mustang , after seeing what happened to the Falcon, we thought was going to fly, was almost undriveable, it had reasonable straightline grip, very sudden grip loss on the limit in hard cornering which isn't what you want in a Targa car and very skitty on anything other than dead smooth surfaces, another targa no no
The only real difference in the two cars is the Mustang would be a lighter car but not by all that much really----------bit weird all up
willy

For your MG I'd still have a look at the Kumho KH17 though, a lot of friends are running them on quite a range of vehicles and all are happy with them( we have amongst us a Kumho dealer which tends to sway our buying trends but they are good tyres)
William Revit

Charles,
have you got a proper tyre specialist place you can ask about what might be closest to the Eagle CT3, obviously they'd have needed to sell a few of them over the years and what sell whatever they used to replace them.

Whilst asking for recommendations can give you guidance your car, its set up, your driving style and expectations, compared to others and their cars can give a lot of variance - as per Willy experience.

One thing I know, you can fairly soon tell after run/scrub-in when you fit a set of good tyres but they're not as good as your previous tyres.

20 years back I had a car with Yokos on and they were great, next year same model of car but with (mechanical only) sports suspension same model of Yokos and the tyres just didn't perform right. Now the different suspension would make a difference but even when the suspension was (finally) set up correctly the second set of tyres wasn't as good as the first whereas in theory they should have been able to perform better.

I also learnt sports don't always improve things on the public roads in real life driving.

I think it was the very tyre specific MGF that Toyos were good and then they were throwing cars at the hedges especially with different age sets of the same model front to rear, IIRC turned out that model of tyre was no longer made in Japan. Whether it was the change in manufacturing plant, country, chemistry or composition I don't know.

The compound of the tyre can be a critical difference.
Nigel Atkins

Nigel / Willy,

Thanks again for your comments (having been distracted by the Rugby over the weekend i am somewhat tardy in responding)! I'm at Stoneleigh on the 10th so will use the opportunity to sound out opinions as there are usually some tyre suppliers present never mind plenty of MGB owners including the clubs.

Cheers,Charles
Charles9

This thread was discussed between 30/01/2019 and 04/02/2019

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