The 'E' Type Forum

They do a 185/80/15.

I have gone out on a limb and bought a set. 4 tyres cost the same as one Michelin MVS.

I shall report back in due course.

I‘m interested in your findings, although, as I now found, you can only do about 110 km/h, maybe a tad more behind Port Augusta and Coober Pedy, or 100 km before reaching Hawker :-)


Carsten (Cairns)

Cheap tyres are not good for your car. You get what you pay for and I would be surprised if the speed rating is as it should be. They might look like Michelin’s but sure as eggs are eggs won’t perform like them. However, it is your choice, and I hope they live up to your personal expectations.

Durango2k wrote: ↑

Thu Jul 26, 2018 9:56 am

I‘m interested in your findings, although, as I now found, you can only do about 110 km/h, maybe a tad more behind Port Augusta and Coober Pedy, or 100 km before reaching Hawker :-)


Carsten (Cairns)

The unlimited speed zone starts north of Alice Springs. I'm limited to 110kmh here in SA.

It's be great if we had Autobahns here like you do in Germany. Of course you don't have 150kg kangaroos which suddenly jump in front of your car in Germany :-)

Barry wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 27, 2018 10:33 pm

Cheap tyres are not good for your car. You get what you pay for and I would be surprised if the speed rating is as it should be. They might look like Michelin’s but sure as eggs are eggs won’t perform like them. However, it is your choice, and I hope they live up to your personal expectations.

Just because they are cheap doesn't necessarily mean they are not good. Paying a higher price is no guarantee of better quality or performance. Why be so dismissive without first trying something? I'm sure Andrew will let us know how they perform.

Unfortunately we get to pay ever increasing prices for everything because we have this blind faith that it must be better if it costs more! Whether it's tyres, cars or washing machines.

Let's see how Andrew gets on with them first. After all, doesn't this forum exist for us to share our knowledge, skills and experiences?

Regards

And let's remember a recent German magazine evaluation of classic tyres put the expensive Pirellis first, the far cheaper Vredesteins second, the expensive Michelins a definite third and the cheap and cheerful Blockleys fourth. Yet, there are many on here who think each one is good.

Yes, let's see how Andrew gets on and hear his thoughts

Geoff

I have driven on Vreds in the past and was unimpressed by them in comparison to "brandname" "modern" 205/65/15's.

My 4.2 FHC has always had heavy steering and I'm interested to see what the 185/15R profile will do for this.

Hopefully will have something for you chaps in the next week or so.

Hello.
I know a personn who have nankang on his mk2 jaguar and satisfied with them...
À tyre french specialist said me recently that for my modern car, Michelin doesnt worth the money spent like before....

Each to his own, however, for some of us it is important that we buy tyres that first of are the correct speed rating. That means at least a “V”. That doesn’t mean an opportunity to buy a lower speed rating to save money. There are many on this fabulous forum who have to spend on a shoe string to maintain their cars, and as long as they do that safely, then that should be applauded. There are also those, like me, where budget is not necessarily a criteria; and buying what was intended by Jaguar, or even improve on that is more important.

Today I had the tyres fitted on a new set of standard size MWS wires.

I got to drive on them for about 30 mins or so both on the freeway at 110km/hr and on some windy road at 60.

My first impression is that I like them more than the tyres they are replacing which are 205/65/15s by Dunlop fitted on 6.5" MWS wires.

With 32 psi front and rear the steering is noticeably lighter, especially at very low speed/stationary. This is the thing I most hoped to improve. The ride is also softer and potholes etc are less noticeable which I did not expect.

It's hard to comment on road noise because I can't hear any tyre noise from eoither set of tyres over the engine/gearbox/diff/wind noise at highway speeds. Tight cornering on windy road didn't elicit any tyre squeal when my old tyres would usually chirp.

The car tracks well at highway speeds and handled well in strong crosswinds (very windy today).

So early days yet, but so far pretty positive. I actually like these tyres more than I thought I would. They also look better than I expected on the car. While they don't fill out the wheel arches anywhere as well as 205s do they look OK.

Winter has prevented my from taking my FHC for a good run up until today.

I did 50 miles on a variety of roads at speeds between 50 and 110 kph.

I really like these tyres. The ride is softer, the steering is lighter and they don't squeal at all. The car feels really tight and agile in corners and tracks well even with the strong cross wind we had today.

Essentially, I am sold on the 80 profile 185 15 tyre as being a better choice than my traditional 205/65 or 70/15. This is quite a turn about for me as I always assumed that modern tyre designs were obviously better and that wider tyres must handle ride and grip better.

Andrew,

Can you post a picture of your wheels please?

Very nice. Thanks.

They must be 5.5 or 6 in rims then.

Btw, this tyre exists also with V rating for few bucks more.
I met last week-end a fellow with an S1 4.2 fhc that had these fitted recently in replacement of Blockleys on a 5.5 rims, he expressed only good comments.
They did look nice on the car, although when comparing thread patterns the Vreds do look more appealing to me. I regret not taking pics...

I'd love to now how the Nankangs are doing under hard breaking or cornering in the wet compared to Michelins or Vreds. Because these are the moments a cheap tire can become pretty expensive.
If they are roughly as good, I can save the money for the Michelins or Vreds and invest it in some goodies for the engine to reach higher speeds to break down from...

I think the article on here shows the answer to that question

https://www.longstonetyres.co.uk/classi ... guide.html

the Michelin XWX didn't do as well as i thought it would in the wet. but it was good in the dry

Afaik they didn't test the Nakangs.

Jaglex wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 12, 2018 2:54 pm

I'd love to now how the Nankangs are doing under hard breaking or cornering in the wet compared to Michelins or Vreds.

I don't drive in the wet and I am moderately conservative as I only drive the car on public roads.

Having said that, I am very happy with the tyres and will be using the brand again. They are approximately the same cost as the regular 205 70 15's I have used up until now but are much nicer to drive with.