Tyres and wheels

[Bodiam]

To bring my topic to a conclusion - I decided to fit 165/80 R15 87T Vredestein T Trac 2 Tubeless tyres, from Click on Tyres of Shipley (having first obtained approval for the lower speed rating from TRRI). A small local tyre shop fitted them at a very modest cost and were happy to confirm that the "safety ledge" wheels fitted as standard to my car were perfectly appropriate for use with tubeless tyres.

 

At £39 each, plus £12.95 total carriage, I reckon they were a bargain (no connection with the supplier, just a satisfied customer!)

 

Early days yet, but the steering is much lighter at low speeds, the ride is much softer and cornering feels much more predictable. No doubt the more pliable rubber on each corner accounts for much of the improvement, but I do feel that the car now handles more like its designers intended with the standard size tyres fitted.

 

Many thanks to all who advised me along the way.

 

All the best,

 

John

[WELLSY]

Also looking at new tyres to replace my 195 NCT's. The 165 Vred. T Tracs2 are around £37 and the Vred. Classic sprints £87.

Are the sprints that much of a better tyre for the price than the t tracs?

Wellsy

[Phil Kirk]

Hi, Wellsy, I have had the Sprint Classics on my car for about 2 months now and are very pleased with them.

Cannot comment on the T Tracs2

 

Cheers Phil.

[Bodiam]

Hi, Wellsy,

 

No experience of the Classics, but so far well pleased with the T Trac 2's - good ride and connection with the road. Early days for me, so only time will tell if my choice is a good one in the long run, but the price was cheap in my view, so not much of a gamble really.

 

John

[tr6tuga]

Plus one for t track:-) very happy it does handle as it should for a average tr owner:-)

[Alec Pringle]

The Sprint Classic looks the business for a classic car - recommended for visual appeal.

 

In terms of performance, I'd doubt that the Sprint Classic would offer more than a second or two round Combe or Goodwood compared to the T-Trac2 . . . in the dry.

 

In the wet, I very much doubt that the Sprint Classic would even get close to the more modern T-Trac 2 . . . . .

 

Cheers

 

Alec

[SteveB21]

Hi John

 

I'm considering doing the same as you but not sure if the T-Trac pattern will suit the 6 - any chance you can post some pictures or I can PM you my email address?

 

Thanks

 

Steve

[Bodiam]

Hi, Steve,

 

A bit busy for the next couple of days, but will take some pics at the weekend for you. If you'd like to PM me your email address, I'll send them over.

 

John

[SteveB21]

Thanks John - PM sent.

[RobinTR]

I apologise for resurrecting this older thread, but there are a few already on the general topic of tyres out there, so did not want to start an new one.

 

My question relates to what is meant by the "standard" TR6 steel wheel as discussed earlier in this thread.

 

Some wheels on my project car are rusted beyond shot blast redemption, so need replacing. I have seen a set advertised as being "tube-tyre" type showing markings as: 5 1/2" x 15 x 6. The vendor has said that they were originally fitted with tube tyres.

 

The set of wheels on my '71 car are stamped on the inside as being 5 1/2" x 15H, and are fitted with 205/60 R15 89H - Pirelli and Firestone tubeless tyres (which I will replace with something less low-profile)

 

Looking at other websites I see that the H means that these wheels have a single "hump" on the outside rim (although this is not something I can detect visually), so presumably were designed for tubeless.

 

So would the 5 1/2" x 15 x 6 be ok for tubeless tyres, our would they need tubes and matching tube-tyres (presumably more limited in availability than tubeless)?

[TR NIALL]

Robin,don't think you can get Steels in 6" the Alloys that I have on mine are 5 1/2+15+6 and are Tubeless.

[RobinTR]

Nail, thanks, but I am not looking for 6". The fact that you have 5 1/2+15+6 alloys with tubeless tyres is encouraging, but my question was: are both the 5 1/2J x 15H and 5.5J x 15 x 6 versions, in steel, suitable for tubeless tyres, or should they really have tubes and tubed tyres?

 

Incidentally, the 5 1/2J x 15H on my car are marked with the maker Sankey, and presumably are original to the 1971 production, whereas the 5.5J x 15 x 6 are said to date from 1973. So presumably both were "standard" at the time the respective cars were produced, or was there a difference due to factory/sales option of tube or tubeless tyre?

 

Does anyone know the significance of the last digit ( x 6 ) in the wheel reference?

[TR NIALL]

Sorry Rob I blame the Drink.

How can I have 5 1/2x15+6 Wheels,what I meant was mine are 6" wide and not 5.5" without Tubes.

[ken foster]

Have you looked at My Tyres. they offer fitting too by arrangement with local tyre companies.

 

http://www.mytyres.co.uk/cgi-bin/stationssuche.pl?dsco=110

 

What flavour tyre did you want sir..24 to choose from..priced £50 to £250 fitted ? 165/80/15 - My own tyres are Vredstein T Trac at under 60 quid each fitted.

Peter W

 

PS Be careful about speed ratings on TR6 PI - check what your original declared top speed was and the original fitment tyres speed rating. Does a CR TR6 need T or H rated tyres?

I used to buy my tyres from them but I just bought a set for my sons Porsche 944 from Broadway Tyres, (Beaconsfield branch) they beat all the internet companies hands down and I chatted to the guy while he fitted them, means you can watch were they put the jacks.

Give Broadway a call. they do a lot of high end cars and exotica.

I will have to replace my TR6 boots soon, I currently have 195/60 pirellis on steel wheels. It is far too low. Am I correct in saying 195/65 profile is correct size keeping the speedo correct?

Cheers ken

Edited May 9, 2017 by ken foster

[BlueTR3A-5EKT]

I used to buy my tyres from them but I just bought a set for my sons Porsche 944 from Broadway Tyres, (Beaconsfield branch) they beat all the internet companies hands down and I chatted to the guy while he fitted them, means you can watch were they put the jacks.

Give Broadway a call. they do a lot of high end cars and exotica.

I will have to replace my TR6 boots soon, I currently have 195/60 pirellis on steel wheels. It is far too low. Am I correct in saying 195/65 profile is correct size keeping the speedo correct?

Cheers ken

Ken,

The 195/65/15 tyre is 1.6% smaller circumference than original 165/80/15 tyres on the same rim width. The 195/60/15 are even smaller circumference. Your speedo is probably reading fast ie.32mph when you are really doing 30mph.

 

See these comparison tools and fill in your details.

http://www.willtheyfit.com/index.php?width=165&aspect=80&diameter=15&wheelwidth=5.5&offset=40&width2=195&aspect2=65&wheel_size=15&wheel_width=5-5&offset2=40

or

https://tiresize.com/tyre-size-calculator/

 

Peter W

[ken foster]

Ken,

The 195/65/15 tyre is 1.6% smaller circumference than original 165/80/15 tyres on the same rim width. The 195/60/15 are even smaller circumference. Your speedo is probably reading fast ie.32mph when you are really doing 30mph.

 

See these comparison tools and fill in your details.

http://www.willtheyfit.com/index.php?width=165&aspect=80&diameter=15&wheelwidth=5.5&offset=40&width2=195&aspect2=65&wheel_size=15&wheel_width=5-5&offset2=40

or

https://tiresize.com/tyre-size-calculator/

 

Peter W

Thank you for that Peter, that's going in my bookmarks.

I suppose the - 0.4 % for the 205/65 profile is why a lot of owners choose that size, for me they are too wide but - 1.6% for the 195/65 I can live with.

Regards ken

[TriumphV8]

Looking at other websites I see that the H means that these wheels have a single "hump" on the outside rim (although this is not something I can detect visually), so presumably were designed for tubeless.

 

So would the 5 1/2" x 15 x 6 be ok for tubeless tyres, our would they need tubes and matching tube-tyres (presumably more limited in availability than tubeless)?

 

The law says a tubeless tyre needs a H2 rim.

So this TR6 wheels officially need tubes because they only have one H.

Should the wheels loose its pressure the hump must

keep the tyre in position to avoid sudden pressure loss.

 

Thats the theory!

In practice I never met somebody who was driving tubeless

and was a victim of this problem.Its very rare but serious!

So that is more a problem in an accident with the insurance.

 

Fitting tubes does not make it better.

Modern tyres are "tubeless" what does not mean they are

unsuitable for tubes but they are not tested to be used in that way!

 

So the inside of the tyre is not made and/or tested being smooth enough

to give the tube a cosy home.

Remedy is often done by grinding the inside and use a lot of talkum.

That will work but is illegal, too, especially when companies as Pirelli have

an official advice/paper that forbids to use tubes in their tubeless tyres.

 

One remedy is to weld a second hump on the side of the TR6 rim where needed.

A German specialist does that.

The other remedy (my favorite) is to cut the inside of the rim out and do the same

with a Mercedes 6,5 J rim. Welding that all together gives a nice TR6 rim in 6.5 with H2.

Still not road legal but nice to look and safe.......

[Keith66]

Andreas

 

Whilst I can see the logic of the argument that a one hump TR6 steel wheel cannot be run tubeless as the law says there should be two humps (i've not checked that so i do not know if it does or not).

 

But I'm pretty sure that by the mid late 70's almost all new cars were tubeless when they left the factory and Triumph as a major manufacturer would have been fully compliant with any legislation at the time and would not be unique in using steel wheels of that rim design.

 

Of course legislation can change but I would be somewhat surprised that it would retrospectivly make hundreds of thousands of 1970's wheels illegal to run with the tyres they were designed for and equiped with at the time of build.

 

Legislation does not very often make something illegal just because it was build a while ago and safety standards have risen. So if you vehicle was built before seatbelts were a required fitment by law you still do not need them, even though it is now illegal the not wear a seatbelf if fitted to any seat.

 

As has been noted the choice of tubed tyres is very limited now.

 

Surely we cannot be expected to scrap all of our original wheels because of a missing hump????

 

Cheers

 

Keith

[TriumphV8]

Hi Keith, I did not want to open a can of worms

so I never asked a German TÜV engineer for that.

 

What I can say is that you can not get a wheel road legal

here in Germany if it is not H2. You are right, if that was

legal in former days it might be legal these days.

 

But there must be a reason for that like for the rule of the

seat belts. Different to the seatbelt that everybody will notice

if not availiable, the H2 is hidden in the rim and many TR6 drivers

did not know about that problem.

[Keith66]

Andreas

 

Cans of worms and old cars often go together, unfortunately.

 

Just thinking is the legislation you are thinking about specific to Germany construction and use regulations or Euro wide?

 

Is anyone else aware of something similar in the UK as i am not.

 

Keith