Tire advice

[lowpad]

Fellow members: Am reverting to (incorrect) 6.5” Bundts on my 230SL (which it had when I bought it at Essen 20 years ago ...).  I’m looking for input on 195/70 vs. 205/70 — is there much of a difference?  As I’d like to keep a somewhat period look, I am considering Vredesteins, but does anyone have a better suggestion?  I realize that there are some good lower-cost options, but I don’t like the larger graphics that you see on most modern tires.  Thank you!

[MikeSimon]

Cannot make much of an educated comment other than: Does your car have power steering? The wider your tires are, the harder the steering becomes. Also, it may affect the capability of holding a straight line. There is also a larger error in the speedometer indication with the 205 vs the 195. You will go faster than it actually shows.

[lowpad]

Thanks.  Manual steering — used to it by now.  Speedo is in km so never know what speed I’m going anyway!

[mdsalemi]

For what its worth, the first tires on my car after restoration (see the old thread Tire Nirvana) were Pirelli P600 in the 205/70 size. I did not like them at all, and went to the Cokers. Don't want to start that debate again.

One issue I had with the 205-70 is that the spare would NOT fit in the trunk on my 280SL. Others had no such issues, which may say something about minor differences in identical tire sizes between manufacturers, and or the somewhat handmade nature of our cars...

One thing is for certain, tire sizes in the appropriate sizes are getting to be rare and thus costly...

[Pawel66]

Thanks.  Manual steering — used to it by now.  Speedo is in km so never know what speed I’m going anyway!

The speed reading diffrence between 195/70 and 205/70 will be, I think, 2% or so, 2km/h at 100km/h and the lower speed the less - not too much to worry about, I think. I am not sure how accurate are these speedos by "nature"...

[lowpad]

Appreciate the link on Nirvana -- unfortunately it doesn't appear to work (at least not for me). 

[MikeSimon]

In Germany, speedometers have to indicate "fast" by law. An officially "calibrated" speedo is allowed to have a deviation of 4%.
The reasoning behind it is, that you will not be able to "weasel" your way out of a speeding ticket by arguing that your speedo showed a lower speed than clocked. In general, I would worry indeed if my speedo shows a slower speed than I am actually driving. Like to be on the safe side.

[mdsalemi]

Appreciate the link on Nirvana -- unfortunately it doesn't appear to work (at least not for me).

https://www.sl113.org/forums/index.php?topic=2168.100

The thread started 15 years ago...so it's buried deep. I started it and even I had issues finding it.
Ensure you go to Page 5, first topic. Then it goes on for four years and 113 total posts.

Also note, my car has these "correct tires" on it, and the speedometer is about 7 MPH off. My phone has a GPS accurate speedometer in it, and that's how I know...

[Peter van Es]

I have the Vredestein Sprint Classic 185 R 14 and love them. With my speedometer (rebuilt from miles to km/h) I have 0% deviation from both my GPS and the accurate rally odometer I can tweak to the exact distance. Highly recommended, also for the looks and handling, as long as you don't need whitewall.

[MikeSimon]

The OP is in the U.S.
I am not sure that Vredestein tires are sold here.

[mclewis]

They are.  I also have them and am very pleased with them.

[lowpad]

The Vredestein Sprint Classics aren't hard to find (eBay, Coker, other sources), they're just quite pricey!