I purchased 16"x6 Dayton’s when replacing my 15’s because of tire options. I have yet to fit them. When I called Dayton to discuss, they assured me they would fit without modification and stated that they sell a lot of them for E types. We will see as I have yet to fit them as the car is apart at the moment.
Interesting, did you end up ordering the Aston Wheels? Are the splines the same?
Yes they’re the same size rims as the Aston‘s but I believe they build them to the Jaguar offset. I know the spline fits because I’ve tried it. If you’re interested just call and talk to Dayton.
Any decision on tire size yet?
I loved the diagram of the square wide tires vs the round skinny tires posted by Longstone. Would utter rubbish be adequate to describe my reaction? My qualifications are that I raced an E Type for 15 years, and continue to autocross my '68 ots in JCNA and other events. I hold the record in the street modified class (JCNA) with my E Type. I run typically on 245/45 - 17 Dunlop’s, or 225/55 - 16 Bridgestone’s. My car is typically 5 - 6 seconds faster than a winning stock E Type in JCNA slalom. I’m not suggesting that anybody follow my lead. If you prefer the look or feel of vintage sized tires great, but please, don’t suggest that wider tires don’t improve handling. The other area they are spectacularly better is braking. Let me show you a hard stop in my car - any complaints anybody has about the adequacy of stock brakes will disappear. Frankly the E Type is too fast and powerful for skinny tires.
Radial tires are built with significantly softer sidewalls than bias ply tires - that permits the very stiff tread to lay flat on the road during cornering, even with the ghastly camber curve the stock front E Type suspension exhibits. That’s why the diagram is rubbish.
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205/65-16 I think. Same OD and revs/mile as what the car came with.
205/70-15 Vredesteins on my 65 coupe, They seem to be perfect.
John
That is the size I was considering. Either great minds think alike or fools seldom differ!
- “Longmire” should buy advertising on JL
- No way the revs are the same, the circumference is less on 65 series tires.
- Agree with Terry, braking is much better with wider (modern) tires. Rear lock up Is the limiting factor (on my car) due to weight transfer.
- Other than turning effort when stopped, not much downside in my mind. 205x65x15. Less $ too.
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My bad, 16 ". Didn’t see that.
Or at least kick in a few bucks to help fund the site.
So should I truth be told.
I think on the old site any (self) advertising would have been kicked. Very strict, IIRC.
the 205/70r15 is becoming a very rare size.
Not really there are lots of options 205/70 R15 Classic Tyre Selection & Innertubes
it costs more to make things in smaller batches. the fact that they are Pirelli is a guarantee of quality. They don’t make bad tyres.
yep they are the wrong size, harsh ride, heavy, more vague steering, slower turn in less progressive handling. Very importantly they are the wrong carcass structure for your car. they will not handle well. yes there are some brilliant cars out there like an Eagle E-type that runs modern tyres, but they are wholey different cars with completely different geometry, wholey different suspension, steering and everything is different.
also you should not fit inner tubes in a profile that is less than 70%.
then lets move onto tubeless wire wheels watch this film of a tubeless wire wheel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gce9-VU_X_s&list=PLORxf0xWk2NAHlKs49OG9jnbpujlw3Gks&index=8
Yuck, is that a failure of the tire bead or the safety bead on the wheel? That wheel runout is atrocious. This is why I run on Minilites. The runout is like .001
I’m not advocating for wide tires, but I need to deal with some misconceptions here. I’m (un)lucky enough to have a mostly stock '67 coupe and a somewhat modified '68 ots. The coupe is as it came from Jaguar except it has a 7/8" front anti roll bar (stock is 3/4"), which I installed to partially correct the bad camber changes in the front suspension when cornering. I have three sets of wheels and tires which are interchanged between the cars depending on what I’m doing. The first is stock 15 x 5 wheels with Michelin Defender tires 205/60-15. These are family sedan tires. One other set is 16 x 7 wheels with 225/55 Bridgestone Potenza’s - not the expensive ones though - wear index 340. They are mildly hot street tires. The third set is 17X7 wheels with 245/45 Dunlop Direzzas with 245/45 tires, wear index 200. These are street tires but with a definite sporting bent. What are the differences - ride - there is no readily noticeable difference between the tires. Noise - the Defenders are somewhat quieter, but the other two are not objectionable. Effort - There is no question that the wider tires take more effort, particularly when you try to turn the steering when stationary - a lot more. When moving it’s not an issue, and I like lots of positive castor, and heavier steering from my racing days. Turn in, stability through a turn, general handling - no contest. Braking - the wider tires are significantly better, both in feel and stopping power. Vague steering - the wide ones are definitely not vague, but they do tramline more, on my modified car - but I have zero toe in to slight toe out, and negative camber which impacts that. Don’t know what Longstone is referring to about carcass structure - if its bias ply vs radials, I would point out the Jaguar sold E Types with radial tires, so they didn’t think that was a problem - and it’s not.
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I have 15 x 6 “minilite” , bolt on rims. The car is stock, our roads are poor and I have a 3:54 rear end. I need the diameter. Due to the recall of my Dunlops I can only get “Assurance” Goodyears on exchange. I could get Kelly;s, but the Goodyear guy, who seems pretty smart, says the Goodyears are definitely better. If I was paying for them I might consider the Coopers - all are a crap shoot. I want comfort. which translates to me as they will absorb some of the holes in our roads.
Hi Larry I misstated the size of the Michelin Defenders on my car - they are not 60’s they are 205/70 - 15. They are available at Tire Rack for $122.00. Their overall diameter is 26.3" in a 6" wide rim which is very close to the 185/15’s diameter. They are a great tire for your purposes. Tire Rack has a fairly large selection of tires in this size.
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Sorry Larry got distracted. Tire Rack also sells the Goodyear Assurance tires. They are not highly reviewed by their owners. Tire Rack has a rating service for all the tires they sell, and compare them to others in their class. They are a great source for information - outstanding in fact.
Yes, about 17 different ones when I made my spreadsheet in December.
I do use the tire rack evaluation service. Unfortunately I know the Goodyear isn’t highly rated, but this is a warranty exchange deal. I did talk with customer service about “betterment” (a term from the insurance industry) and they were not sure they could do it. This was even before they offered the “Assurance” model. I anticipated a problem getting a tire which needed to be a Dunlop, Goodyear or Kelly. As you suggested a tire in this size is really a sedan tire. That’s fine with me, but of course I’d like a GOOD sedan tire. Since I’m an old guy I’m leery of brands that are less than 100 years old… Many of the choices in this size may be just wonderful, but I just feel better about a first world tire plant with a name I recognize. Based on tire rack I might even think the Cooper isn’t too bad. We do have Michelins, Continentals and Bridgestones on our BMW’s and the Porsche. I like all of those. By the way, our German cars and bikes aren’t all that exotic - old and bought used.
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