What tyre do you recommend for my Amazon?

[austingipsy]

Originally Posted by Steve121

IMHO doing this certainly should not be done, tyres sizes are recommended for particular rims for good reason.. SAFETY!
Just out of interest I spoke to the tyre fitter the last time I had some new ones fitted, and they would refuse to do it for just that reason.

Totally agree, my amazon had 185's on 4j wheels when I bought it and they were horrible. Steering was too heavy so parking was a pain, and cornering was not a nice experience at all. The tyre wall flex was pretty alarming and on heavy cornering I should think it wouldn't take much to pull them right off the rim. Not a good idea at all. Changed to vredestein sprint + and feels much more sure footed and it looks like a classic tyre . It's a 50's designed saloon I'm driving not a hot hatch. Not designed to be hurled round corners at maximum g's . with 165's or even 155's it has lovely light steering and fantastic turning circle. Why change the whole nature of the thing for the one day a year you go to a track day?

[classicswede]

Originally Posted by Alf ista

Thats really interesting Classicswede. However, do you find the extra tyre width makes the steering very heavy?

Very strangly the steering actualy became slightly lighter. My skinny 5' 2" girlfreind has no problems with parking the amazon. The main thing is having all the joints in good condition and the wheel alignment correctly set (castor, camber and tracking).

[classicswede]

Originally Posted by Derek UK

I think the OP wants to stick with the original wheels which are 4J. GT's and estates both had 4 1/2J. No 5j on any Amazon.

I have two sets of 5j rims that have both come off estates. They are not altered at all and that is what made me think they were for estates only. Looks like the two sets I have are ultra rare then.

Originally Posted by Derek UK

Wide wheels and tyres may give more grip but you lose the feel of what the car is doing and handling suffers. If the car gets away from you it isn't anywhere near as forgiving as a modern one. Road car dynamics have improved a lot over the last 40 years. Just adding a set of wide tyres to your Amazon won't help much.

This could not be further from the truth. From years of experiance fitting a good set of wide wheels and tyres to a amazon or P1800 makes a huge improvment to the road holding of the car. (the same is also true for the 140's and 164's). The amazon running on 195/60 15 or even 195/65 15 give very good feel and the car responds beautifully and on the rare occaisions where is might kick out it is very controlable. The amazon when fitted with the correct suspension components will handle very well and can be almost as agile as a good modern car.

[classicswede]

Originally Posted by Steve121

IMHO doing this certainly should not be done, tyres sizes are recommended for particular rims for good reason.. SAFETY!
Just out of interest I spoke to the tyre fitter the last time I had some new ones fitted, and they would refuse to do it for just that reason.

Does your tyre fitter have any formal training???????? How on earth could fitting a wide tyre to a narrow rim be dangerous??

I know the common euro style thing of narrow tyres on a wide rim (stretched tyres as they call them) is a safety issue and it is quite common for the tyres to pop off, but we are not talking about this at all.

[classicswede]

Originally Posted by austingipsy

Totally agree, my amazon had 185's on 4j wheels when I bought it and they were horrible. Steering was too heavy so parking was a pain, and cornering was not a nice experience at all. The tyre wall flex was pretty alarming and on heavy cornering I should think it wouldn't take much to pull them right off the rim. Not a good idea at all. Changed to vredestein sprint + and feels much more sure footed and it looks like a classic tyre . It's a 50's designed saloon I'm driving not a hot hatch. Not designed to be hurled round corners at maximum g's . with 165's or even 155's it has lovely light steering and fantastic turning circle. Why change the whole nature of the thing for the one day a year you go to a track day?

The heavy steering I can not explain if changing to norrow tyres resolved this. Normaly heavy steering comes down to incorrect inflation or steering alignment. As changing the tyres solved this (I asume you checked the inflation) it must have been odd to that brand of tyre.

The 185 tyre (I asume a 65 profile as fitted to saabs) must have had a problem with a poor sidewall as the lower profile should give less flex hance teh reason modern cars have adopted low profile tyres.

The reaon for fitting wide tyres is I like many other amazon owners use teh car daily. If I wanted to drive round every where at low speed on a sunday then 165's would be for me but I don't, I know that the amazon is a very capable car and that is the way I like it.

[classicswede]

With my first reply on this thread I had no idea I would tickle a nerv is so many users!!

I fully respect those of you who want to keep the car as a show peice and fit the relevant cross ply tyres or the later cars with 165 15's that is all well and good with me. If I had a perfect amazon that had never been welded and was all original I would keep it that way.

On the other hand there are a huge number of amazon owners who use their car on a regular basis. For many who fall into that box modifying the car to do that job better is what has to be done to fit their needs. These mods could be anything such as fitting seat belts in the back, fitting a modern set of seats for comfort, fitting uprated bushes for a safer ride, painting the bumpers black because new ones are to epensive for the owner. That is just the tip of the ice berg of what ppl do and why not it is there car. Would you recomend not fitting seat belts in the back?

If anyone would like to come to Anglesey you are welcome for a test dive and if you then do not like the handling with the wide tyre I would be more than happy for you to knock it then.

[222s]

Here are my own experiences of wide tyres - 205/65R15, fitted to 7.5J wheels, with the same back spacing as the Amazon steels (so the extra 3" width is all outboard).

Low speed steering is very sensitive to tyre pressures, especially when parking, but surprisingly not that much heavier than normal. Lightens up the moment the car is moving.

Grip is massively improved - corners like it's on rails, especially around roundabouts where previously the 165s would be protesting. No sidewall issues as the wheels themselves are of a similar width to the tyres. However I wouldn't personally fit such wide tyres to the standard 4.5J wheels!

On smooth roads its great, but on bumpy roads due to the wheel width & offset, bumpsteer can be a problem & obviously this does affect the handling. 7.5J is a touch on the wide side for an Amazon though!

[hairyapple]

Originally Posted by Lucien

Apologies for bringing up this old chesnut. I'm sure the subject has been covered before, but I couldn't unearth anything recent in my searches of the forum.

I am replacing all five tyres on my 1962 122S. It's having mild engine improvements at the same time. I want to stick with the original steel wheels, and plan to add white wall wheel trims (not white wall tyres as they're too expensive).

I was considerig the Pirelli Cinturato which is what my car used to have in the 80s when i first aquired it. They went unavailable for a while, but I think they're back again now!

What tyres do people recommend for handling, and should i be doing any suspension upgrades at the same time? Any advice would be appreciated.

Kind regards
Lucien

I wanted 165s and the choices were limited. Cocker Tire (sp?) in the US has acquired the Michelin molds for the 165/15 and are producing replicas. These were $125.00 each last I looked. I did not buy them, instead I got Kumho (korean, I believe) 165/15 for about $55 each. They have been quite good and I'd buy them again.
Just a note on ww trims. In the usa the best of these are made by Acme and are known as port-a-walls. I had them on my sedan and they tore themselves apart, seems they are only good to go and recommended on bias belted tires not on radials because of the way they lay on the sidewall. They looked great for a while but I wish I had my $70.00 back now.

[austingipsy]

Classicswede, I wasn't suggesting 165's for the purpose of tootling around country lanes at walking pace on a sunday. They give all the grip needed for a daily drive and on that daily drive I'm unlikely to get the opportunity to test the limits of their adhesion. So I'm happy with a nice balanced ride.And I don't believe I'm holding up any traffic on my commute, unless I break down of course!
Wide tyres on suitably wide rims are fine, each to their own but my experience of 185's on 4j rims wasn't good, not because of incorrect inflation or poor alignment.

[Steve121]

Originally Posted by classicswede

Does your tyre fitter have any formal training???????? How on earth could fitting a wide tyre to a narrow rim be dangerous??

Of course the tyre fitter has formal training.

Fitting a wide tyre to a narrow rim obviously causes the walls to 'balloon' out more than they are designed, and the tyre beads will not sit correctly on the rim. As for the steering being 'strangely lighter', that'll be over inflation of the incorrect tyres for the size of rim causing the tyre tread area to 'bow out' hence less tread in contact with the road.

If this was deemed safe to do so, why on earth isn't it done by all car manufacturers?

I feel common sense prevails here....