Recommended tyres

[Matt Neale]

Hi. The Pirelli tyres on my Herald are hardly worn but have cracks due to their age. They are probably 8+ years old.  Can anyone recommend a budget tyre?  I can't really afford to spend the £100 a tyre that Pirelli CA67 Cinturato tyres would cost me.

[Taylor bright]

Well if it's for sunny days and you like giving the car a bit of the beans why not a tyre like a nankang ns2r

[Clive]

Taylor, don't think you will find one narrow enough for a std herald wheel. besides wouldn't work well with a herald suspension setup.

Plenty of good tyres in 145 (or 155) 80 13 size. Uniroyal, or if you want an excellent rain tyre, Falken SN832. Or a decent but reasonibly priced tyre, Toyo (Demon tweeks were really cheap, under £100 a set delivered)

 

[Matt306]

I need a couple of new tyres for my Herald and have some 155/80 on there ATM but find they look flabby. Would 145/70 be better or 145/80?

[Clive]

In what way flabby? too tall?

145/70 will look like cotton reels and not great, much small diameter. 

145/80 may suit the car, I think they are often used on the narrow rims and look OK.

[Matt306]

Flabby like they are underinflated

 

[glang]

Id recommend 165/70 which I believe is the max for a 4.5j rim. They wont affect the gearing much, are common/cheap, arent too heavy for the steering and shouldnt look so 'flabby' as theres less sidewall to flex.... 

[Clive]

Quoted from Matt306-

Flabby like they are underinflated

 

Odd, what tyre pressure are you running?

Not sure that has a lot to do with tyre size. 

And what size rims? Herald 3.5J?

(thinking about it, 155 on 3.5 rims may look a little pinched at the rim, but I have run several cars with that combo and not thought that they looked in any way wrong. It could be the make of tyre? Maybe a pic to help explain?)

[A TR7 16V]

If you've still got original 3J5 rims, I don't think you can safely go any wider than the standard 145s.

If you've got 4J5 Spitfire wheels or similar, what about these:

BOTO 155 70 R13 T rated

£85.99 for 4 delivered.

They are wet grip C and economy E btw. Not the other way round like it says in the text. 

They are a couple of percent smaller than the 145 13s originally fitted, but bigger than the 145 70 13 Firestones I've go on my herald, and better wet grip and economy too - mine are E and G.

There's an Aussie forum claims the BOTO factory makes Firestones in China. But I think the claim that "they're basically rebranded Firestones" is a bit strong.

So, if you're aging out not wearing out tyres, how can you loose.

I'm thinking about these because I'm in the process of getting some 4J5 wires: I had no idea Spitfire wires were so unique and so hard to find. I've a set of 4 Sprigit/TR type 42 hub, 13" wires going spare if anyone's interested.

Graham

[Clive]

https://www.tyresave.co.uk/tyre-size-calculator/

Shows the 155/70 are nearly 3% smaller than 145/80/13 and nearly 6% than 155/80 13.

Personally I would use the 80 profile tyres, the 70's in these narrow widths look a little small and the wheel arch gap opens up.

As to chinese tyres, I had a dig about and it appears almost every tyre company is ultimately owned by one chinese conglomerate. Which is a bit of a worry. But I would still use a known/reliable brand if at all possible.  cheap tyres may not look good value when you need them to perform their best...

 

 

[A TR7 16V]

Not sure what the relevance to 155 80 13s is. The herald speedo would once have been calibrated to 145 13. 

All foreign stuff is muck to someone. But £86 for 4! So what if they wear out soon, as long as the gip figure is to E standards. I don't have contacts in BSI anymore (was ACE/6/-/9 committee chair for 20 years), but I can see if I can find anything out.

Graham  

[thescrapman]

I don't think any Herald speedo would have been calibrated for a 145-13 tyre, as it would have had 5.20-13 crossplies as standard.

Radials were optional later on and I think you got 155-13. 

These would have been 85% ratio I think.

145/80-13 definitely make a speedo overread.

Colin

[Clive]

I wouldn't rely on the rating too much, probably as reliable a guide as the "official" fuel economy figures for cars.

What you want to know is will they grip well when the road is damp/wet and do their job. My life and limbs have had one close encounter where tyres were (possibly) a factor, and it has made me aware spending a bit more is way better value. A set of known good tyres may be an extra £50, but possibly much much better value. But find some real life reviews of the boto tyres? I have struggled to find one. 

[A TR7 16V]

I doubt the Herald got 155s, they're too wide for the 3J5 rims - listed for 4.0 to 5.0 inch width rims only. They were, I believe fitted to the Spitfire on 4J5 rims.

145 80s vs 145 85s should give a 0.77 mph difference at 30. I can't imagine how an analogue speedo could be that accurate, even for 1.5 mph error at 60. The 3 mph error at 120 might show, but I doubt I'd dare to look at that speed in a Herald.

I've got 145 70s on my 3j5s. They over read a little, but there's a fixed speedo error of about 3 mph (probably due to the age of the speedo head) that's bigger than any proportional error at 30, probably as big as the proportional error at 60 - measured against a HUD GPS speedo.

The 155 70s would have a smaller proportional error referenced to 145 80 13s than the 145 70s, less than 1 mph at 30. And the 2.7 percent difference in size is nearly the same as the difference between new and legal limit tyres.

Graham

[Clive]

I reckon most (difficult to give a figure, but gut feeling from seeing these cars for the past 30 years) have 155/80 13, and when I started on my Triumph ownership they would have been 155/13. I wonder if this is to get the same RR as using the original crossplies?

Certainly the dozen or so heralds I have owned have all has 155 fitted. So observational and nobody really cared about the tyres being too wide for the rims. That is all more recent.

As to speedo accuracy the most accurate I have had is my current spitfire, ford box, scooby diff, non std tyres and less than 1% out at all speeds. The worst was my herald estate, 25% out. And my Toledo, is 15% out, underreading all.

[Velocita Rosso]

Why not just ask the professionals in tyres....the advert in the mag for Longstone Tyres. He advises,fits tyres and races cars as well....Dougal is his name. Surely this is why we advertise companies in the mag ....to assist us 

[A TR7 16V]

Well I can't see how any tyre that meets standards (presuposing these do) could increase risks as much as oversized tires on the rims. I would certainly baulk at putting 6.1 inch wide tyres on a 3.5 inch rim: even at an 85 percent profile.  Also, knowing how insurance companies will use any excuse to weasle out of paying up. I heard of one case where the assesor measured the tyre tread depths for a claim on a break-in and stolen radio.

So I shall, and am in the process of doing, fit 4J5 Spitfire wheels first (and shall notify the insurers). One wonders how many of those who've fitted 155 have seen the same issues and gone the same route.

I do accept that cheap tyres, wherever they are made, are liable to wear quickly or have a poor grip rating. But if you don't much use the car, wear rates are nearly irrelevant. And the tyres I mentioned have a better wet grip rating than the Firestones I have on at the moment. The problem with those is that they just don't grip well enough setting off on a wet road, and that loses me confidence in their ability to stop on one. Wider tyres should (despite Amonton's second law) solve both problems. 

Graham

[Clive]

All I can say is the wifes little pug 107 came (at 13000 miles) with a pair of new HiFly tyres on the front. So appalling I had to change them. And they have a C rating in the wet. 

The replacements are Falken sn832, and as attested by others, they have fantastic wet grip. And none too shabby in the dry.

[thescrapman]

Graham, why not just fit 4.5J hub cap wheels, they were standard fitment or optional fitment on Heralds so you would not need to tell anyone.

Back to earlier, anyone know the rolling diameter of a 5.20 crossply?

[A TR7 16V]

I wasn't aware they were standard fitment. But the wife thinks wires will look good and I try not to argue - I might win, and then where would I be?

Graham

[A TR7 16V]

Looks like 5.20 crossplys would have a diameter of 22.4 to 23.4 inches. 568 to 595 mm. Width of 132 mm.

But that's from data off the internet. Some of which is true.

Graham

[AWESOME HERALD MAN]

I had to put a new set of tyres on my Herald after the MOT. I looked at loads of tyres all different prices. I phoned up Formula One Autocentres and they told me that I have a classic car and not to touch budget tyres. I mentioned Hankook, they said they had and I went there. All the staff have classic cars and this is what they put on. 155 80 Laufenn 79T. Fuel Eff: E, Wet Grip: E, Noise: 70db. The whole invoice came to £196.81. They are a nice looking tyre and fit well.

Stephen. 

[Scimher]

I've said this before on here: I read somewhere that the nearest radial, sizewise, to the old 5.20x13 crossply is a 135x13 - (which, strangely enough, I have fitted to my old 1200 convertible.)...Have just tried to do a search but nothing......except an old thread from 15yrs. ago when someone posted a question asking what the old wheel was from on a trailer as he needed a replacement - the consensus was A30/A40 etc. The interesting thing is that the tyre on the wheel that he had was 135! My local tyre supplier told me that they were original equipment for a Fiat Uno (or something similar......can't remember exactly!)

[Clive]

135 tyre is the same with as the 5.20 13 crossplies, but much smaller diameter ( 6%, or about 35mm so significant)

155/80 13 tyres virtually the same diameter as the crossplies, keeping gearing/speedo correct.

[Scimher]

That's interesting, Clive - didn't know that.......Previously my car was running 5" Dolomite/Spitfire? rims.. (now for sale - see 'parts for sale')..with 175/70 tyres so the speedo. was inaccurate then. Now, there is no working speedo. as yet as a bespoke cable has to be obtained from 'Speedograph' as my car is now sporting a single-rail gearbox.....

Would love to find a cheap set of crossplies in 5.20 size - should imagine any are now fossilised or horrendously expensive re-manufactured items...