Author Topic: Cheap tires! (Read 11722 times)

Shvegel · « **on:** February 18, 2018, 20:56:44 »

After an expensive car week I still need new tires as I threw the old ones away. I was about to buy a set of Michelin MXV-P’s but still haven’t quite decided if I am using the wheel covers with whitewalls or blackwalls and Bundt wheels and blackwalls so I just decided to see what I could find to keep it off the ground for the next year while it goes together and I found these 185/80 R14 tires on eBay for $216 for a set of 4. I bought them and will post a review when I get them although I will not drive on them for a year or more.
I figured the correct size tire at a budget price is worth mentioning.

https://m.ebay.com/itm/-2-New-185-80R14-Achilles-122-1858014-185-80-14-R14-Tires/132483832193

Before I get blasted I will say that I do not think a tire is a tire. The Michelins are undoubtedly a better tire and I have Pilot Sports on my daily driver BMW. I just figure at this point they will keep the car off the ground and just might work just fine for what is essentially a GT car.

smackYYZ · « **Reply #1 on:** February 19, 2018, 18:08:57 »

There are lots of threads on the site in regards to tires.

If you want a good tire, reasonable price take a look at the Hankook H724 P195/75R14 which come with the white walls. In Canada they are CA$84/each If I recall I think they can be sourced for about 65 in the US.

Shvegel · « **Reply #2 on:** February 20, 2018, 07:40:43 »

Thanks Mike. I will check those out.

dpreston Virginia · « **Reply #3 on:** February 20, 2018, 14:33:24 »

I have Kumho Solus Tires on my 69 280SE Convertible and 67 Corvette.
Very happy good low price and drive well.

jameshoward · « **Reply #4 on:** February 20, 2018, 23:54:28 »

Quote from: smackYYZ on February 19, 2018, 18:08:57

There are lots of threads on the site in regards to tires.

If you want a good tire, reasonable price take a look at the Hankook H724 P195/75R14 which come with the white walls. In Canada they are CA$84/each If I recall I think they can be sourced for about 65 in the US.

Wot he says ^^^

Got a set of 4 for my car last year, $200 ish delivered. They're fantastic value and the grip is excellent. If you're not a fan of the white wall you can mount the whitewall inside. Very pleased indeed with these. Vast improvement over what I removed.

Amazon have an offer that's pretty hard to beat: Hankook H724 P195/75R14 https://www.amazon.com/Hankook-Optimo-H724-All-Season-Tire/dp/B004QL6AS0

Alex D · « **Reply #5 on:** February 21, 2018, 01:06:46 »

Hi James,

I was interested in the Hankook whitewalls as well, especially with the Amazon price, lots of good reviews on the forum threads here about them. Can you tell me what the width of the white wall is? On the picture, the white wall looks a little narrower that what I have on my car now.

Thanks,
Alex

mrfatboy · « **Reply #6 on:** February 21, 2018, 02:59:48 »

I just went out to the garage and measured for you. It was cold😆

Whitewall width is 16mm for the hankooks.

neelyrc · « **Reply #7 on:** February 21, 2018, 03:59:55 »

For reference, the white wall stripe on my original Firestone Phoenix spare is 17mm.

john.mancini · « **Reply #8 on:** February 21, 2018, 13:50:17 »

I put the Hankook's on my 280SL a couple of months back. They look great and have a very nice ride. Perfect for Pagodas at a price that's basically 1/4 the cost of the Phoenix tires.

Alex D · « **Reply #9 on:** March 02, 2018, 16:54:23 »

Just put the Hankook white walls on my car from Amazon. So far I'm very happy with them, to me they ride handle very nice. This is my fourth set of tires in 6 monthes. First the Toyo's had cracks in the white walls, returned them for refund, minus the mounting and balancing. Then I got Uniroyal Tiger Paws, the white wall were terrible, more yellow/beige then white, returned them minus mounting and balancing, got another set of of Uniroyals, better than the first set, but still not able to get the white walls to my liking returned them minus mounting and balancing. The Hankooks have the best price, nice ride & handiling, and best white walls, IMO.

thelews · « **Reply #10 on:** March 02, 2018, 17:45:51 »

why do you mount and balance them if you don't like the color of the whitewalls?

Alex D · « **Reply #11 on:** March 02, 2018, 18:10:29 »

The problem was that the tire shop did not completely remove the blue protective coating, only partially removed the coating. Noticed the defects only after I got home and really scrubbed the blue coating completely off.

Lesson Learned - If your getting white walls make sure the tire shop completely cleans the blue coating off the tire before mounting and balancing.

thelews · « **Reply #12 on:** March 02, 2018, 19:36:01 »

or, ask for a tire before mounting and do it yourself first explaining why.

Scottcorvette · « **Reply #13 on:** March 02, 2018, 19:53:32 »

I think some of the whitewall staining problems may be due to time in storage, I bought 12 American Classic whitewall tires for 3 cars around a year ago from a UK supplier, I had them shipped directly to my tire fitters and they fitted them, 10 of them had brown stains on the whitewalls, the supplier said it was down to the installer and I know it wasn't. I figured the tires had been stacked in storage over here for some time, I had to suck it up which left a pretty bad taste in my mouth.

I only buy whitewalls from the USA now as I think there is a more frequent stock turnaround, trouble is you really ned to leave the blue on until the car is finished so the whitewalls don't get marked, you can usually see if there is any staining or marking through the blue but you need to look pretty close. The fact of the matter is that a tire fitter is seldom going to look as closely at a whitewall as the owner will, they just fit the tire.

Woodstock · « **Reply #14 on:** March 05, 2018, 14:37:39 »

I purchased my 1971 280 SL about a year and a half ago with the express intent of using it as my "comfortable" vintage rally car. I bought the car in Colorado and planned on driving the car back from Colorado to Oklahoma (700 miles). The tires that were on the car were over five years old so I told the owner to go ahead and put a new set of tires because I didn't want to drive that distance at highway speeds with old tires on it. He put a set of white wall Hancook and the total cost was only $213. I drove the car home and the ride was just fine on the highway. I did notice that when turning quickly that a certain amount of squeal was constantly present with these tires. Since purchasing the car I put the stiffer springs on the car to reduce nose dive and improve the handling.
I plan on taking this car on the Hagerty Silver Summit which is a 700 mile driving tour around the scenic back roads of Colorado. I have been on this rally several times in the past and the roads are fantastic although they can be quite twisty and exhilarating to drive. I typically take an early 911 on these rallies. The 911 handles extremely well but does not ride near as comfortable as the 280SL, thus the wife wanted as comfortable a ride as possible. In an effort to improve the ride and handling for this upcoming rally I put a set of 6" aluminum wheels (off of a 1981 300D I believe) on the car (significant reduction in weight over the stock steel wheels). Although I liked the look of the whitewall tire, I could not find a performance tire in a white wall so I settled for a blackwall tire. I purchased a set of 185HR-14 Vredestein Sprint Classic from Tire Rack at a cost of $738 ($638 plus $100 for mounting and balancing) and the difference in handling is amazing. I am not sure what made the bigger difference (light wheels or performance tires), but if you plan on driving your car on roads that are twisty and you like to drive the car at speed, I would recommend these performance tires.
Admittedly there is a considerable difference in cost between these tires, however I have always been a believer that tires are one of the most important parts on you vehicle because they are all that stand between you and the road. While the Hancook tires are not a bad tire, they just did not have the grip that I was looking for. After all this car is a sports car!! While the handling still is not in line with the 911, the wheel, tire and spring changes certainly improved the handling characteristics of this car!

66andBlue · « **Reply #15 on:** April 25, 2018, 19:29:53 »

Quote from: Shvegel on February 18, 2018, 20:56:44

.. I found these 185/80 R14 tires on eBay for $216 for a set of 4. I bought them and will post a review when I get them although I will not drive on them for a year or more.
I figured the correct size tire at a budget price is worth mentioning.

https://m.ebay.com/itm/-2-New-185-80R14-Achilles-122-1858014-185-80-14-R14-Tires/132483832193

Shvegel,
what do they look like and could they be balanced?

Shvegel · « **Reply #16 on:** April 25, 2018, 22:07:13 »

Alfred,
Unfortunately, they have the modern shaded rubber lettering but I don’t really notice it from 4 feet away. Balance wasn’t an issue.

GTMSJ · « **Reply #17 on:** May 21, 2018, 23:22:49 »

I'm just reading this post, hence the late reply. I too purchased the Hankooks with the whitewalls. I drove my 113 in the Targa California rally last year. The tires left a lot to be desired. The tires squealed like a stuck pig during any attempt at spirited driving. The chassis, overall, was up to the task, but the tires just couldn't bring it. The engine performed well enough to keep up with the 911s on most of the roads, but the tires were my downfall. I really like the look of the pagoda with the whitewalls, but may have to make this compromise for performance sake.

Shvegel · « **Reply #18 on:** May 22, 2018, 01:03:14 »

It is said that Rudolf Uhlenhaut who was a genius designer and race manager was the one who went back to Firestone and asked them to change the tires to a sort of strange radial/bias ply hybrid which became the Firestone Phoenix. Unfortunately, the "Sort of bias ply radial" couldn't live through the forces that were put upon it and the plies separated due to the shear forces put upon them. It is pretty clear in my mind that any true radial is going to be a little floppy or compliant given the height of the sidewall of our tires. I have no knowldge but judging by my past history with Michelin I would assume they have done the best job of making the sidewalls stiff enough to work with our cars. If I had to use a stock size tire in a race that would be my first choice otherwise a smaller sidewall Hoosier brand Autocross tire would be my choice.

MichaelB. · « **Reply #19 on:** May 22, 2018, 02:23:37 »

I just put the Coker Phoenix 185/14 on my 1970 last week. I am under the impression that it is a 70 series aspect ratio. I would be led to believe that the 75 series cheap tire would be a balloon in comparison at 195/75.

That may be the contributing factor to the squeal & obligatory sidewall flex that I am reading about here.

I am sticking with the $260 per tire Phoenix.

mdsalemi · « **Reply #20 on:** May 24, 2018, 14:21:44 »

Quote from: MichaelB. on May 22, 2018, 02:23:37

I just put the Coker Phoenix 185/14 on my 1970 last week. I am under the impression that it is a 70 series aspect ratio.

The Coker Phoenix is -80 series aspect ratio, and I believe it is H speed rated though I had to ask about that some years back.

J. Huber · « **Reply #21 on:** May 24, 2018, 18:57:23 »

Good timing on this thread as I am about to take a tire with a screw in it to my tire guy. Besides that, I have been contemplating new reasonably priced tires and was going to get his opinion today... My current tires are Michelins X-Ones (which they don't make anymore) -- they have been solid for wear and handling. 12 years old though --- but only probably 20-25K miles.

So my questions: on the Hankook's are we in agreement that a good style & size is: Hankook Optimo H724 All-Season Tire - 195/75R14 92S ??

And for kicks, how many of you think I should go whitewall for the first time in 38 years of ownership?

rjmarco · « **Reply #22 on:** May 24, 2018, 20:53:39 »

I would definitely go with the white walls. My car has a white body with the marine blue top. The white walls are a nice complement and I love the look.

Regards,

Rich

MichaelB. · « **Reply #23 on:** May 24, 2018, 22:18:47 »

Eighty series?!

Talk about a balloon! Egad. I better check the measurements myself to confirm. Eighty?! Thats for station-wagons.

Oh & put my vote in for the whitewall look too.

Edit... Mike is right! I read some Coker details & made a few quick measurements and found that it is alllllmost a station wagon tire. But it certainly looks correct with the profile of the car. The sidewall is bound to be the magic. As these tires (my second set) are strong performing with no complaints in the corners.

J. Huber · « **Reply #24 on:** May 24, 2018, 23:24:28 »

Update on tire shopping. My local tire place took a gander at my Michelins -- and while the wear was excellent -- he said he thought the time was about right to replace. Some cracking between the treads. I said, "ya I bought em here several years back..." He checked into it -- 2002! So, he ordered me the Hankooks. Going on tomorrow. About 60 a piece.

Thanks for the votes so far: Polls close at 930 AM tomorrow (5/25/18)!! Whitewalls Y or N?

News:

Author Topic: Cheap tires! (Read 11722 times)

smackYYZ

Woodstock

GTMSJ

MichaelB.

MichaelB.