Practically Classics Forum

Ok guys this relates more to my modern but as much to the Herald, as I`m seriously tempted to stick some MGF alloys on it with far skinnier tyres! - Can anyone tell me where I can get full profile tyres at a decent price? Anyway here goes.

Modern (Hyundai Matrix Dweezel) runs on 195 /55/15 and to be honest has gone through 3-4 tyres since I have had it where the sidewall has gone. Don't ask how many tyres in total as without irreparable punctures and sidewall damage this thing can munch through a midrange tyre in 10-12K! Anyway as regards the sidewall there`s nothing that I can point to as a cause, maybe pot holes? UK Jeeper if your avoiding the 130 and heading to Bas Vegas via Billericay, avoid Potash Road, its known locally as Pothole road!

The nearside ones gone again, not badly just enough that when I went out to the car there was a couple of mm difference in part of the tyre and I suspect that its snapped, perhaps one of the metal re enforcements.

Is there any benefit to going to the alternative 185 /60?/15 tyre side.

Will a deeper/ taller sidewall take potholes any better? I suspect that it will give a smoother ride better mpg as well? The downside will be a smaller contact patch with the road and so marginally reduced traction and more under steer?

You must know that the air pressure in the tyre also dictates the softness or hardness
of ride. I know that the taller the side wall the softer the ride as well because the tyre
wall is able to flex more than the shorter!

If that helps

A narrower tyre than is specified for a given rim will give you a harder ride as the side wall is stretched outwards and that makes them stiff.

But a narrower tyre with a higher aspect ratio - on a narrower rim that suits it - will indeed help with comfort. The county council bods here have been busy with a new machine they bought with my council tax money which goes around filling potholes. It actually seems to work and that has to be an even better solution.
The most comfortable Heralds and Vitesses I've travelled in have been those which were fitted with tyres of the right size for their rims, with 82%/80% sidewalls. I've been in one that had Sprint alloys fitted (with fat spacers to suit) and it seemed ok on 175s at 70% but I don't see the point in going for anything further from stock than that.

Will the offset work?

MGF alloys do go on the Herald, I think they need a thin spacer on the fronts but other than that the pcd is correct and the only issue apart from their sheer ugliness on a sixties car is that the studs need to be changed for bigger stronger freelander ones, a commonish mod on standard cars as well.

I have 5.5 GT6 Dunlop oval hole steels on my Vitesse, an optional extra for a short period and quite rare now in decent sets of 5, the 4.5 version is quite common but the 5.5 is not, but the true holy grail Herald/Vitesse wheel is the Dunlop 5.5 hubcap type wheel- gorgeous, but rarer than rare for a full set- people tend to aquire a set one or two at a time over the years. I have 165/80 profile tyres, they look period, have a nicer ride than low profile rubber bands, and best of all, being some unidentifiable cheapo brand, they drive period too

can we have pics of your pothole filling machine john??

rich. wrote:can we have pics of your pothole filling machine john??

Indeed you can. The rather controversial machine is on tonight's Look North, available on the iPlayer tomorrow. Why they keep yesterday's news is something I didn't get before now!

And a picture of the thing out of the Berwick Advertiser, which is a cross between a tabloid and a filled nappy and steals its images from other, similar organs of the scum press; in this case the Daily Fail:



I'm only band C, but my council tax has probably paid for a tyre and some of the paint, it sure as f**k hasn't paid for the Queen Mary collections or the street lighting.

Heck John, you must be paying a heck of a lot of council tax if they can afford that with what you paid!

I don't know if I prefer "pothole county" (as Cumbria is often called) or higher council tax - but I doubt I'd pay enough for a tar-spraying wagon with a stick!

that looks like fun, can i have a play

Ask the county's other >12,000 council tax payers, we all chipped in for a bit of the cost of that thing . OK, so potholes need to be repaired and in fairness to the wagon, it seems to be doing a good job as we've thousands of miles of road, many single track with passing places or - as the bloody grockles call them - picnic spots, which are in a right old mess after five winters with no repairs. But most of us would sooner our contributions went toward making the A1 a dual carriageway, it's still the main road into Edinburgh and yet, although Lothian & Borders gets dual carriageways and even a little motorway, we have to choose between two single carriageway routes to the capital; the A697/A68 are no better but have bigger hills, so most of the freight goes A1.
I just found out last week that the driver of that thing is on £40 per hour for full time hours (37) and to save costs , the council only trained the one bloke to operate it.