The 'E' Type Forum

I have made a short film about what tyres are available for E-Types. I hope you find it helpful:

Superb Dougal! Many thanks.

I was up at Longstone yesterday having two Michelin XVS tyres fitted (again ) and I was enquiring why they were using their old spirit level pivot to balance the wheels rather than a modern dynamic machine sitting alongside. They told me they had, at great expense, had one of the latest balancers modified to accommodate wire wheels but it was useless at it. The wheels ended up with weights everywhere on the rim. After considerable investigation they found it was the way the wire wheels are constructed was the problem. The central hub is not necessarily totally central because the rim is trued using the spoke adjustment. The electronic balancing machine cannot tolerate any small imbalance on the central hub so they no longer use it and get perfect results using the spirit level. You learn something every day. The other thing I learnt was driving 'Piglet', the silver Fraser Nash sitting behind Dougal in the video, is terrifying.

Heuer wrote:I was up at Longstone yesterday having two Michelin XVS tyres fitted (again ).

Hi david,

I have the XVS on my list to replace my Vreds in near future. Why 'again'? Do they wear very quickly?

Thanks,
Richard van den Brand

Because I drive the car very hard indeed I also have an engine that has been dyno'd at 340lb/ft so the rears have a lot to contend with. If a) you are not a maniac and b) you have a standard engine they should be good for 18,000 miles. They are however a fairly soft compound which gives them superb grip (wet and dry), excellent tracking, comfortable ride and stunning handling. That combo comes at a cost though - limited life. Would I swap to anything else? never; I even put a set on my Elan. Having said that the Pirelli Cinturato's are supposed to be good but a bit tricky in the wet.

Heuer wrote:Because I drive the car very hard indeed I also have an engine that has been dyno'd at 340lb/ft so the rears have a lot to contend with. If a) you are not a maniac and b) you have a standard engine they should be good for 18,000 miles. They are however a fairly soft compound which gives them superb grip (wet and dry), excellent tracking, comfortable ride and stunning handling. That combo comes at a cost though - limited life. Would I swap to anything else? never; I even put a set on my Elan. Having said that the Pirelli Cinturato's are supposed to be good but a bit tricky in the wet.

Thanks for clear explanation. They definitely stay on my want list.

Hi

Try the web site www.youngtimertires.com

On there there is the Michelin Classic range and Pirelli Cinturato.

Find the tyre you want. put the term "RubberGoods" into the discount codes section of the shopping cart (before you give away any credit card details or address) and it will work you out a bargain price with free shipping for most of the world.

if you want 185Vr15 Michelin XVS try this link http://www.youngtimertires.com/185-vr-1 ... n-xvs.html

if you want Pirelli Cinturato http://www.youngtimertires.com/185-vr-1 ... o-134.html

The best place to get e-type tyres now is http://www.longstonetyres.co.uk/page/jaguar-e-type or ring us up. 01302 711123. tell us you are a member and we'll give you a discount.

No mention of Blockleys? Been wearing them for two years since the Michelins wore out and it felt like I had fitted power steering, they were so light. Very cheap compared to the major makes, and they hold the road well in rain and in shine.

Longstone Tyre do not sell Blockley Tyres we stopped doing that some time ago. However it wouldn't change things.

I don't encourage choosing tyres based on price. And i don't believe they make as good tyres as Pirelli or Michelin.

this rather nice car here is fitting Michelins on Borrani's Phwar!

Hi

I have made a new more up to date film about Series 1 e type tyres.

For some time now i have been scathing about tubeless wire wheels, as we have had to deal with a few failures. And of course they are totally unnesesary unless you are determined to fit wrong size low profile tyres that aren't allowed tubes.

Anyway here is a film we took last night

People often want to see a modern tyre test done on classic tyres. sadly this is in German, which i cannot read, and it is the wrong size tyre on the wrong type of car. However i think it is still of interest and the table at the end tells you a lot of what you really want to know with a bit of google translate). and when a tyre scores a 1, that means it as good as you could possibly expect. it is not adjusted because it is an old car.

I must say i was very surprised by Michelin's performance in the wet and i can only think that that is why Michelin's last so well, or maybe they had an old tyre

Can we persuade one of our German speakers to give a précis of the results?
Preferably in English

Do I read it that the Vredestein tyres are actually pretty good at roughly half the price of the Michelin or Pirrelli?

Thanks, danke
Geoff

Hi Geof......thats how i look at it tbe Vreds come out really good.....I have them fitted but tben dont drive to exess so they are good for me....if we are correct in our asumption it goes against all the knocking that the Vreds have recieved...even comming out better than the Michelin

Oh I can do that.....

The Michelin is poor in the wet.

The Blockley is described ad outright dangerous because of its soft sidewalls.

They recommend the Vred and the Pirelli.

Carsten

Danke, Carsten

Geoff

It is interesting to see what Jaguar Land Rover chose to fit. They chose to fit the correct radial tyre for a series 1



If i were to be critical about the German article, i would suggest they don't test the extended high speed directional stability, and longevity which are very much a Michelin strong holds and also features that work against wet performance. go soft for wet hard for durability and directional stability.

Here it is in English
https://docs.google.com/viewerng/viewer ... rticle.pdf

Great explanation but what I want to see is what the sidewall looks like.. Pirelli’s C’s are clean, slightly bulbous and period.. others are clearly more modern adorned with manufacturers logos etc. not very period..

Hi Chaps

If you go on this web page https://www.longstonetyres.co.uk/classi ... -type.html you will notice that we have quite an extraordinary deal on a batch of 185VR15 Michelin XVS.

I got lucky on buying a volume so i am passing it on.

Grab them while they last.

Dougal