• Hi Guest!
    If you appreciate British Car Forum and our 25 years of supporting British car enthusiasts with technical and anicdotal information, collected from our thousands of great members, please support us with a low-cost subscription. You can become a supporting member for less than the dues of most car clubs.

    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

TR5/TR250 TR-250 Tire Size

Triumph G. I.

Freshman Member
Offline
In 1968 I bought a brand new Jasmine yellow TR-250. Well I owned many cars over the years but the 250 never left my mind. A few days ago I bought a restored white TR equipped with many restored areas. The car has a new set of Goodyear tires along with a new set of bolt on Panasport wheels. Wheels are a matter of taste but I believe the car must be equipped with wires. I bought new 4.5X15 Dunlop wires along with adapters and knock-offs. I am currently looking for redline tires which seems like a chore. What size tire do you recommend and what brand tire as well. I am very pleased to be here as we go to the U. K. almost every year. Next year we will be visiting Bletchley Park in mid summer.
Rich
 
I used 185 r 15 cocker classic tires on my 250. They look nice, but the ride was terrible had to have them balanced twice. The steering was not very good. Then I went with wire wheels with some lower profile tires. The ride is much better and the steering is right on. I believe that B.F. Goodrich has redline tires but lot's of money. Check out Summitt Racing.

attachment.php
 

Attachments

  • 1122121834a.jpg
    1122121834a.jpg
    49.4 KB · Views: 152
  • IMG_2833.jpg
    IMG_2833.jpg
    80.7 KB · Views: 198
Opps! Ignore the first photo. Unless you are interested in my son's birthday.
 
I would assume that the Panasports are the 15 x 6 wheels in which case a 205/70-15 would work just fine and is a reasonably close replacement for the original 185-15 tires as far as rolling diameter goes. However, if you are going to convert to wire wheels you will need the wider wire wheels (15 x 5 1/2 vs the TR250s 15 x 4 1/2) as fitted to a TR6 or a set of the Dayton wheels which are 15 x 6.

As for tires, redlines that actually ride and drive OK are not common and most of the stuff that Summit sells in redlines are from Coker. I've never done any business with these folks linked below, but here is someone that buys Michelin all season tires and converts them into redlines, mostly aimed at the C2 and early C3 Corvette set. As with any redlines, be prepared to bring money as they don't give them away by any stretch of the imagination.

https://www.dbtires.com/2015_catalog/2015_Catalog_Lo.pdf

and then go to page 13 of 44. Also take a look at their notice concerning tire certification on page 39 of 44
 
There is also a company out there that can add a red lines to any tire.
https://www.dbtires.com/aboutus.html

It is not cheap, but it does open up a lot more tire options. I guy in our local club who own an inca yellow tr6 has red lines added to a new set of vredestein tires in the orginal size.

Cheers
Tush
 
If you are not wed to redlines, or can get the tires redlined (I think there are instructions online somewhere for doing it), people in the Healey world speak very highly of the Vdstein Sprint https://www.longstonetyres.co.uk/page/185-70hr15-vredestein-classic.html I believe 185/70 15 was the original size, that is the size of the very old tires that were on my 250 when I got it.

Thank everyone for your input! I have decided to go woth a set of 185/hr15 made by Universal. I will send photos when done.
Rich
 
Back
Top