Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing tyres ??

Been looking at my tyres, mainly due to a puncture yesterday!! But looking at the date codes, one (the puntured one) is 1982! and is going to be replaced immediately, but the other four are all 1992.

Apart from the old one, the rest look abolutely perfect with no sign of deterioration anywhere on the casing....should I replace these?

They are all Mich XZX 165 x 15. Can I replace with a set of new modern rubber, using tubes, or should I stick to the Mich's.

Also any bargains you know of?

I have always read that 10 years is the standard life expectancy. Something of concern should be that tyres age on the inside as well as the external edges. This can mean that they will look fine on the outside but be no longer safe.

Your tyres are 15 years old and to be safe I would change all 4.

Which wheels do you have?

I would agree with Trent's take on this.

Lack of use is worse than constant use when it applies to rubber (this is the same with pipes and other rubber parts on automobiles).

165 x 15 isn't a common size, so you will be limited to a small range of options; however, I belive Pirelli offer the Cinturato P4 as one choice.

I value my live more than a set of new tyres

My wheels are chrome wires, so I assume they will be tubed irrespective of the tyre type.

is there any benefit, or otherwise, of putting slightly wider treads on, 175 for instance?

Hi Nick,

I would never ever trust my live on 16 year old tires.

Even if they still look good, believe me, they are not... After some 4 to 6 years, the rubber becomes so hard, that, on one side, the tires will never use up, but on the other side, they will not hold the road anymore.

Once you changed them to new ones, you will feel the difference.

On my former car, I was very surprised, when realizing a big difference after less than 4 years, after having put on new ones of the same make and model.

Salut,
Ivo

As MSCC rep with the FBHVC there has been some advice given recently on the subject of old tyres see: FBHVC advice on old tyres

We have also had some debates on tyres for 4/4's to replace 165's as follows: Tyres for narrow rim

I replaced the origional avons on my 97 +4 with avon ZV3s.
It was well worth as the car rides much better.
The old tyres looked just fine but I didn't want to take the risk.

I was also told MMC fitted tubeless tyres from 1994

Thanks all for the advice.

Phil, I followed the link to the previous thread, interesting.

My wheels are old ('83) chrome wires so I assume that they will not take tubeless which retricts me to finding new, old design tyres from specialist suppliers as I'm told that modern tubeless tyres cannot run with tubes as the internal ridges of the tyre chew up the tubes. This means that the Firestones mentioned in the thread will not be right.

anybody out there with a tried and tested solution?

I was the one with the Firestone F560s - they are indeed tubeless tyres but the only reason I don't have tubes is simply because the rims I bought - stainless 5x15 wires from MWS - are silicone sealed. My tyre guy would have fitted tubes if the rims had not been sealed, he didn't have any reason not to do so with the Firestones so they should be OK on your rims with tubes. I previously had chrome wires with Conti 165x80s and tubes, and mine is a 2004-built 4/4 (Runabout).

It is self-evidently NOT right that "MMC fitted tubeless tyres from 1994" as only the most recent wire wheels (about 2006 on) have had silicone sealing, meaning that tubes can be dispensed with, unless the poster (John +4) means that they fitted "tubeless tyres" WITH tubes. You can also see that 4/4s with steel wheels (and therefore tubeless) have had the same tyres as those with wire wheels.

FWIW the Firestone F560s are half the price of the Avons (which are a "classic rally" tyre) and I must say I find mine just fine (my nerve gives out long before the tyres do)