Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing Tyres

Hope it's okay to ask a couple of questions?

I have a Roadster 2007 and when I bought it a year ago it had done 6K and it has now done 12K. We are competing in a 2000 mile round trip rally next month raising money for Macmillan Nurses and talking to the garage they said:

The tyres are 9 years old and it would be best to change them because they become hard with age. Is this right and if so do I go for another set of Avon ZV3 or something else? I know I should work this out from how the car drives but I drove around for a year with a semi collapsed rear shock and never noticed!

They also said Mulfab have a steering damper which might help with the steering wobble around 50MPH. Does anyone have any advise on this please?

Any help or suggestions would be much appreciated.

I would not drive a car with 9 year old tyres.
Any new tyre should be better.

Shakey2, you have been given good advise regarding the changing of your old rubber.
I will change my tyres next year when they will be 5 years old.

Yup. Change the rubber ASAP. It's the only thing between you and your maker..

Regarding the steering wobble you describe, I'd do nothing until your new tyres are fitted and balanced, as the two may be connected.

Try that first & come back to here with the results & let us know about your trip, too!

If you have wire wheels (as opposed to alloys) make sure that you get someone to fit / balance the new tyres who has extensive experience of wire wheels.

Most tyre fitters will claim they can do this. Few are really competent in this regard.

Paul is dead right, especially if you are suffering from St Malvern's dance. Usually carefully balancing the wheels will sort this out.

If you are within range of Sutton Coldfield, then go to Paul Harris Tyres, he's very knowledgeable about wire wheels and their correct fitting.

Shakey

You should replace your 9 year old tyres as soon as you can. Rubber ages, and grip will deteriorate as a result.

If you have alloys your choice of tyre is a bit more restricted as you have to use a 15inch diameter. I would chose a 205/60 x 15 , I use the Avon ZV5 tyre which is a good compromise between soft rubber (hence good grip) and wear rate.

If you have wires than these are 16inch , which means get a wider choice of tyres. The choice of many Mog owners is the Toyo Proxes T1-R , great dry grip , good wet grip , if a mite higher on wear rate (but is wear rate really an issue for most of us? Our tyres tend to age out rather than wear out)

The issue about a steering damper may be more tricky to advise about. If your front suspension components are all in good condition and well lubricated, you should not really experience wobble.
It is possible that the tyres have become out of balance and the new ones (assuming they are correctly balanced of course) will correct this.
If the stub axle bushes and king pins are exhibiting signs of wear, it may lead to certain periods of vibration fed through the steering, but it is more likely to be tyre related.
I would strongly advise you to talk with Peter Mulberry or Simon about the symptoms you have and get their opinion, they are really honest folk and won't sell you something that you don't need.

I'll second Avon ZV5s. Replaced my 7 year old ZV3s tyres ( on a 5 year old car!) last year. Work well in both dry and wet. Perhaps not as sexy as Toyo Proxes but then I'm not a wannabe race driver ......well perhaps in my dreams!
New tyres didn't improve my front end shimmy, nor did fitting a Suplex front end. Only when I upgraded my front brakes with Tarox discs did the shimmy magically go away!

I've always been big fan of Avon tyres...

The Plus 8 has their ZZ3s.
Less than £100 each, give the silly size (245 x 19R 35) that isn't bad.

Talking of balancing. Anyone heard of the "latest" method of using frangeable chalk sacks. Told this the other day. Basically you put the sack(s) in the tubeless tyre. Drive around a bit. The sacks break. Chalk settles in the spots to balance the wheel. Umm!