Grippy tyres?

[Coops]

Hi, I’m going to be buying tyres for my resto 6 soon. Having read about 400 posts, I’m inclined to go for Uniroyal rain expert because I’m guessing they are likely to have a aggressive tread? I will be mainly using the car to go to shows, which tends to involve driving in grassy, sometimes muddy fields. Avon Zt7 ‘s or Toyo Proxes would be smoother threads I’m thinking..... I assume these are all available in 195/69/15H size. Could anyone out there contribute photos of tread patterns, so we can compare, I don’t want to get stuck! Also, I would like to find a LSD if anyone has a good one available. Regards Alan.

[harlequin]

After close on forty years of attending shows I have never been remotely close to being stuck. Thinking about it if conditions are that bad everyone will be stuck so unless you are the first to the gate even a Land-rover won't get out.

Get good quality road tyres that will be safe on wet roads, which is where the biggest risks are likely to occur 

George 

[Tim D.]

I run rain experts, work well. Only time i ever nearly got stuck at a show was one goodwood revival.. loads of rain, and loads of mud. Had only just had the car resprayed. Took hours to get the mud out from the wheel arches. One guy in a bentley thought he could jump the queue out by going through one of the muddy bits. Got stuck and was ignored by all of the recovery vehicles as it was “self inflicted

tim

[Coops]

Hi Tim, any chance of a tread photo?

[rcreweread]

This any good? Cheers Rich

[Tim D.]

that looks like em.. My old K series MG midget which had 140 Bhp used to spin at the mere sign of a greasy surface. I changed to these bad boys and no more brown trouser moments.. She'd still fishtail when provoked mind you!

Tim

[Steve-B]

I used to use Yokohama AO-21rs on our Caterham in fall/winter or during trips when it was going to be too moist. Then in summer we used Yokohama AO-48s for ultra grippy. 
 

You can fine the 21s https://www.mrtyremotorsport.com/product/yokohama-advan-a021r-trackday-tyres/ fairly easily. 

[adencag]

Bought these last year for my 6 from BlackCircle; “Dunlop Sport BluResponse 195/65 R15 H (91)” £55 a corner and very pleased with the ride and handling. 

[harlequin]

1 hour ago, adencag said:

Bought these last year for my 6 from BlackCircle; “Dunlop Sport BluResponse 195/65 R15 H (91)” £55 a corner and very pleased with the ride and handling. 

+1 

George 

[TRTOM2498PI]

Uniroyal Rainsports for value for money & grip for the win.  Feel free to read any online reviews.  Been running these for 5+ years now on the TR, and modern cars.  Dry grip excellent too, but more emphasis for wet conditions.

 

I would expect to pay £65-75 INC per corner on a TR for these. (VAT, balanced & fitted).

 

 

Cheers.

[CP26309]

Modern tyres are so superior in construction and Grip compounds these days compared to the 'wooden things' we had on our TR6's 50 years! So their is absolutely no need to exceed the original 165 tyre for road use. As I always say you wouldn't put fat tyres on a DB6, so would you on a TR6? Some say 'It's personal choice!' I say 'the axle stubs and bearings weren't designed to take the extra loadings'. Also if you haven't got a brand new chassis...then modern 165 tyres probably exceed the grip for the chassis anyway!

[DRD]

16 hours ago, CP26309 said:

 

16 hours ago, CP26309 said:

I say 'the axle stubs and bearings weren't designed to take the extra loadings'. 

Do you have any actual evidence for this?

Edited December 8, 2022 by DRD

[Casar66]

Quote

Also if you haven't got a brand new chassis...then modern 165 tyres probably exceed the grip for the chassis anyway!

I do agree. But: I use 205/70/15 since 16 years on my TR6 and it looks great, I cannot resist. Technically nonsense but .... No problems so far.

[Drewmotty]

3 hours ago, Casar66 said:

Quote

 

I do agree. But: I use 205/70/15 since 16 years on my TR6 and it looks great, I cannot resist. Technically nonsense but .... No problems so far.

Refreshingly honest, well done. I can’t argue with that, at least you’re not kidding yourself. 
165s for me, predictable handling and more than enough grip for hooligan mode with modern compounds. 

Edited December 10, 2022 by Drewmotty

[Coops]

Thanks to you all for your feedback, you are a great help! Regards Alan.

[CP26309]

On 12/7/2022 at 8:57 PM, DRD said:

Do you have any actual evidence for this?

Only that the original engineers would have calculated the stresses and loads on the original spec components (plus a bit extra)...But how much extra? All I know is on track days I broke standard components under stress! So why add more stress it wasn't designed to handle? Also in an traffic accident, Insurance investigators love finding non manufacturers spec components to get out of paying up!  

[harlequin]

Assuming that the slightly wider tyres are fitted to standard wheels any forces will be transmitted to the hub through the load path that the Triumph Engineers originally designed the hub for? Also the cars weight remains the same and as already discussed the chassis will not alow the tyres to grip significantly better so no real increase in forces.

I can see that great big wide wheels which may be required for very wide tyres suitable for race cars will put eccentric loads through the hub and ofcourse race cars often have chassis, damping and steering mods to increase road  holding which will increase loads.

I should add standard wheels are perfectly capable of running 195 tyres, even Triumph themselves fitted 185s to American spec cars.

Tin hat firmly in place

George 

Edited December 12, 2022 by harlequin

[Ali47AD]

Hi, apologies for resurrecting the thread.  I'm frustrated... I have read pages and pages of tyre advice, but it appears I'm still confused.  Are you guys running tubes?

I have a 1973 US import, on standard wheels, currently with Michelin X (red stripe US tyres fitted). Anyway, one had a blow out, so I'll change them all. Reading lots of different pages, suggested that I could run modern tubeless tyres, so that's what I ordered, but when the fitter turned up, he refused to fit them...

So without wanting to trawl the internet again, what are your thoughts please? 

Thanks in advance. 

Ali

Edited May 16, 2023 by Ali47AD

[RobH]

 

1 hour ago, Ali47AD said:

when the fitter turned up, he refused to fit them...

Did he give a reason?  When you say  standard wheels I take it you mean the original steel type ?    (Wire wheels need inner tubes unless they are of the latest 'sealed' type.)

This old thread discusses the point:

 

 

[Tim D.]

I've run tubeless in standard wheels and minilites on my 6. 3 round Britain's and one 10 countries. All fine. Most recently using 195 width rain experts. 

Seem pretty good. 

Tim

[Ali47AD]

13 hours ago, RobH said:

 

Did he give a reason?  When you say  standard wheels I take it you mean the original steel type ?    (Wire wheels need inner tubes unless they are of the latest 'sealed' type.)

This old thread discusses the point:

 

 

He said that the wheels didn't have the right form to allow the bead to seal, then phoned his manager and they said the same, so off he popped.

The wheels are the standard steel wheels, but I'll have a look tonight at what stamp they have on them. s I can be sure. Thanks for the link, I'll have a good read through it and maybe try again with another company.  

[Ali47AD]

12 hours ago, Tim D. said:

I've run tubeless in standard wheels and minilites on my 6. 3 round Britain's and one 10 countries. All fine. Most recently using 195 width rain experts. 

Seem pretty good. 

Tim

Tim,   Thanks for the advice, these are the standard 15" Steels wheels.  I was planning on using 195/65/15s 

[matt george]

You don't need to use inner tubes on standard steel wheels, nor on other wheels that have been mentioned above. Some wire wheels, yes.

The fitter doesn't know what he's talking about I'm afraid…

 

Matt

[Tom Fremont]

20 hours ago, Ali47AD said:

Hi, apologies for resurrecting the thread.  I'm frustrated... I have read pages and pages of tyre advice, but it appears I'm still confused.  Are you guys running tubes?

I have a 1973 US import, on standard wheels, currently with Michelin X (red stripe US tyres fitted). Anyway, one had a blow out, so I'll change them all. Reading lots of different pages, suggested that I could run modern tubeless tyres, so that's what I ordered, but when the fitter turned up, he refused to fit them...

So without wanting to trawl the internet again, what are your thoughts please? 

Thanks in advance. 

Ali

Ali,

The U.S. market cars have a 3.7:1 differential and need a 185/80-15 tyre to keep the overall gearing the same. The Michelin Redline fitted to these cars has the worst reputation for grip though they do last a long time. The current options in H speed rating or above are Michelin XVS, Dunlop SP Sport, Universal Sport Redline and Vredestein Sprint ( summer use only ). Surpassing all of these was the Michelin 185-15 XAS which is NLA. However, the 180-15 XAS is still in production and matches the Michelin Redline of the era in diameter and width - so if the 180 moulded into the tyre doesn't bother you the best grip ( by far ) is still available for your TR6.

I put 45K miles on a set of Michelin Pilot Exalto 195/65-15 on my driver which didn't hold a candle to the XAS on my other '250. Diff ratio on the driver is 3.45:1 so ideally the 165-15 XAS would be used but the 6" Panasports are too wide. The 195/65 is smaller in diameter than the 165/80 and to my surprise at least 1/2" of tread on each side is aloft, not touching the pavement at anything over 24 psi. Since then I've been running 185/70 Michelin XWX which match the 165/80-15 diameter and are good for about 25K miles ( second set just fitted ). Grip doesn't equal the XAS but is very good and the period look is without equal.

I've never used tubes ( except with wire wheels ) in 50 years of uninterrupted Michelotti TR ownership and circa 250,000 miles. Michelin, Dunlop, Avon, Pirelli in different models have been used on mine.

[Hamish]

The fitter just doesn’t know older wheels that don’t have the bead. An inner rim lump 

try another fitter