white wall tires

[john.mancini]

There are a few "period correct" looking white wall tires on the market right now for W113's. Coker offers the Phoenix along with BF Goodrich and Firestone reproduction ww radials. There are also lower priced ww's like Maxxis, American Classic and Hankook available. Has anyone recently purchased ww tires for their SL? Would love to get some reviews before buying. My Conti's are nearing 15 years old and it's time to replace them. Thanks.

[mbzse]

.../... Would love to get some reviews before buying.../...

I like the Michelin Classic 185-14 (original spec)
See Michelin web: http://www.michelinclassic.com/en/Classic-Tyre-range/MXV-P

Some Forum text here https://www.sl113.org/forums/index.php?topic=7228.msg45853#msg45853

[mrfatboy]

I just bought the WW Hankooks. I like them.  Price was great.  $260 total, installed,  balanced and old ones taken.  I feel like its one of the last bargains for this car😀

[mbpaul]

I bought the Hankooks too.  Look nice, drive nice.  I think I paid $52 each + mounting, balancing, tax, etc for them last year.  With my driving mileage each year, whatever I put on will rot before they wear out so why pay a lot of money for them?  Any other whitewall I could find was more per tire than I paid for all 4 tires.

[Jonny B]

I have a set of Maxxiss whitewalls sitting in the garage waiting for my 250 SL to get back from the doctor (transmission rebuild - @##$%!). They came in the proper size. A good friend of mine has these and they ride very nicely.

[uptheorg]

Mine are from Coker -- Phoenix style

[gimp]

I bought a set of WW Hankooks 4 years ago. The price was right.
They look good and I finally got rid of that nagging vibration that no one ells could.

[neelyrc]

I, like Jonny B,  recently bought a set of Maxxis. $100 each.   See here:

https://www.sl113.org/forums/index.php?topic=15847.msg184433#msg184433

I put several hundred miles on them this spring and they are excellent.

[hauser]

What's the speed rating? 

[neelyrc]

Hauser, the complete Maxxis designation for my tires is 195/75R14 92S RWW MA1.  I am not a tire expert but the "S" in their designation is the speed rating and translates to 112mph I believe..

[john.mancini]

Greatly appreciate the responses and reviews. The Phoenix tires look great. I am glad to hear that the Hankooks are well received too. I'd like to go with 195 75R 14's and I believe that the Phoenix tires are like the original 185's. Going to try the Hankooks.
Thanks again

[smackYYZ]

After researching the tire size options, the original size of 185/80R14 was difficult to find, so in researching the other sizes suggested in the wiki I decided to go with 195/75R14, for a couple of reasons. First the overall circumference is only 0.5% smaller, which is the closest match you can get. This helps with the speedo actual staying fairly accurate, my wife never believes the speedo could be wrong until I use the GPS speedo to show her the variance. I think it will help keep the cars original stance and appearance. Plus a little more patch on the ground never hurts.

So I just bought a set of 4 Hankook OPTIMO H724 WW 195/75R14 for CA$380 tax in, so US$280 from Tire Discounter . Installing them tomorrow so will report back how they handle once the weather improves and after some seat time.

[neelyrc]

.....I decided to go with 195/75R14, for a couple of reasons. First the overall circumference is only 0.5% smaller, which is the closest match you can get.

smackYYZ,
I went to the 195/75s using the same logic.  If you read the thread I referred to in my post #7 above, you will have seen that I measured my new Maxxis tires against my factory original Firestone Phoenix spare and found the difference in diameter/circumference to be negligible.  Looking straight on from the side the "look" is extremely close to original. From the front or back, the 195s are a little "fatter" looking. 

In the thread referenced in Post #7 you can also see a picture of my car taken when new in 1969 with the original Firestone Phoenix tires and a shot with the new Maxxis 195s taken from the same angle.