Tyres

[John French]

I am about to buy a set of tires for my 1967 BJ8. It has the original wheels.
A company in England called Longstone tyres is suggesting fitment of Michelin XAS in a 180x15 size. Has anyone any experience of this?
I've been happy enough with the current XZX 165s but any improvement in ground clearance/ roadholding/ appearance, no matter how slight, would be most welcome.
Thanks in advance.

 

[Jerry]

https://www.summitracing.com/search...t&SortOrder=Ascending&N=4294920795+4294879166

Appears to be made by Coker now. A little expensive, but I have not used these tires. I have Vredestein on my car.

 

[Keoke]

Check out :
Verdestiens in 180 X 15 Size

 

[HealeyRick]

Check this thread on the XAS: https://www.britishcarforum.com/bcf/archive/index.php/t-97130.html

 

[Warren]

Also have Vredestein 185 HR 15 (72 spoke). Set up by Hendrix Wire Wheel. Totally satisfied after years of shake!

 

[DanZ_BT7]

I really like my 180HR15 Michelin XAS from longstone tyres. https://www.longstonetyres.co.uk

It looks like they are running $220/tyre, and that price includes shipping. The shipping was fast, about 5-7 days.

 

[John French]

What width rims are you using?

 

[bluegrass john]

John.

I bought the XAS 180 X 15 last summer and have driven several hundred miles; the verdict so far is I am pleased with the ride and the handling. I had the wheels trued, tires mounted and balanced by JB's wire wheel service in Grapevine Texas. So far so good..............I will be able to tell more after putting some mileage on this summer. I replaced 165 X 15 Firestone tires which for the money were very good but I was looking for more ground clearance and I found it with the Michelin tire!!

John

 

[SteveT3000]

The XAS's are good. Better ground clearance, they fill the arches better, look great and also keep the speedo accurate. Very happy with mine.

 

[tr3a356]

I just replaced the old 175x15 XZXs, which are no longer available with the 180x15 XAS from Longstone on my BN7. I also had some original Dunlop Roadspeed and Michelin 165x15 XZX around so I got to compare the tire diameters first hand. The XAS is very close to the diameter of the original Roadspeed with the 175x15 XZX about a 1/2 inch smaller and the 165 over an inch smaller. I have about 600 miles on the XAS tires and I am very happy with them. They look better on the car, track and handle nicely and the ride seems a bit smoother. One thing to note is the clearance on the bottom front of the rear fender opening. On a BJ8 I was considering the tires for, the clearance would have been very tight on one side if going over a dip and the rear axle dropped near the limit. On this car, I think someone replaced the dog leg on that side and got the leading edge point a bit too far back. I ended up putting on the 165x15 XZX on this BJ8 and I definitely like the look and feel of the 180 XAS better. Longstone had a web special on the tires a couple of months ago and I got them delivered to my door from England to California in 5 days for almost $250 cheaper than Coker for the set of 4. Can't beat that!

 

[55modified]

I am about to buy a set of tires for my 1967 BJ8. It has the original wheels.
A company in England called Longstone tyres is suggesting fitment of Michelin XAS in a 180x15 size. Has anyone any experience of this?
I've been happy enough with the current XZX 165s but any improvement in ground clearance/ roadholding/ appearance, no matter how slight, would be most welcome.
Thanks in advance.

They also sell Avon crzz radials. Expensive but very nice.

 

[DerekJ]

Avon CR6 ZZ's 185/15 are the best tyre out there. They are a road/race tyre used in a lot of racing when Dunlop Racing tyres are not mandatory. Buy them from BMTR in Birmingham UK, Avon Motorsport is based there and they are cheaper than Longstone.

 

[Deleted member 19315]

Avon CR6 ZZ's 185/15 are the best tyre out there. They are a road/race tyre used in a lot of racing when Dunlop Racing tyres are not mandatory. Buy them from BMTR in Birmingham UK, Avon Motorsport is based there and they are cheaper than Longstone.

Dead right Derek...I ran these on my 911 brilliant tyres, when my Vredstiens are done I'll fit a set of CR6 ZZ's.:eagerness:

 

[steveg]

John,
Several of us in the Pasadena area are running the 180-15 Michelins. America's Tire in Pasadena has both ordered and mounted them. There's an AT out your way who can probably take care of you. Pasadena has a couple of people who are up on knock-off wires. I believe they get theirs from Coker. BTW - these tires are not made by Coker or Longstone, but are made by Michelin in Croatia or Serbia. There are earlier threads going over this at length.

We all like the look, ride and ground clearance of them.

I had Vredestein 185/70-15s before and like the Michelins better.

 

[Bob_Spidell]

... I had Vredestein 185/70-15s before and like the Michelins better.

Why?

 

[steveg]

Why?

Better ride, more ground clearance. Distant third: look better in wheel wells (compared to my 185/70-15s). Not significant: slightly easier steering effort due to slightly narrower profile.

Of course if someone has 180-15 Vredesteins (higher 85 profile as opposed to the 70 profile) they may have the same advantages as the Michelins. My comparison was to the 70 series - lower profile, doesn't look as good, slightly better roadholding, slightly worse ride and ground clearance.

 

[Bob_Spidell]

OK, thanks.

Side note: I've been driving my BN2 for a while and had gotten used to what felt like a lot of steering effort--the smaller Lempert wheel certainly contributed--but I just swapped if for my BJ8 and it (the BJ8) felt like I had power steering! I didn't think there was much improvement when I installed Torrington thrust bearings, but compared to the lighter BN the BJ had much easier steering, so the Torringtons appear to work.

 

[steveg]

OK, thanks.

Side note: I've been driving my BN2 for a while and had gotten used to what felt like a lot of steering effort--the smaller Lempert wheel certainly contributed--but I just swapped if for my BJ8 and it (the BJ8) felt like I had power steering! I didn't think there was much improvement when I installed Torrington thrust bearings, but compared to the lighter BN the BJ had much easier steering, so the Torringtons appear to work.

Useful info. Nice to have an apples-to-apples comparison showing the advantage of this easy improvement.

 

[Michael Oritt]

I posted this when I put on XAS's in 2014:

I finally bit the bullet and ordered a suit of 180-15 Michelin XAS tires to replace my old 175-15 Michelin zX's that had been on the car for several years and were really out of date.

I selected the XAS's for several reasons:

1. I have had them before on a couple of BMW 3-litre sedans and liked the way they handled.
2. All reports about them were positive.
3. Other than some bias ply Avons which I do not think are suitable for straight road use they are the only tire of the proper size and aspect to maintain ground clearance and "fill" the wheel wells.

I have only taken a few short rides since mounting them up but the ride feels very positive with light steering effort at speed. I'll file a further report once I get to do some more extensive road work.

BTW I had the tires drop-shipped by Coker to Hendrix Wire Wheel and sent my wheels there. Alan did his usual superlative job of mounting, balancing, shaving, etc. and there is no scuttle shake, etc. at speed.


I don't know if I ever followed up but they are great tires. They have good road holding in both wet and dry and track very nicely at high speeds. Not ever having had Vredestein's I can't compare them but they are a definite improvement over the XzX's they replaced.

 

[RAC68]

Hi John,

You mentioned wanting additional clearance from the tires selected. To start with, the original Dunlop RoadSpeed cross-ply tires had an overall diameter of about 25.9" and a Vredestein 165HR15 has an overall diameter of 25.4" which is 1/2" smaller. Vredestein does make a 185R15 that has an overall diameter of 26.4" which is about 1" greater then their 165R15 and about 1/2" taller then the original Dunlop tire. However, don't be confused as Vredestein does make a more commonly available 185/70 15 tire that, at 25.2", is smaller in diameter then their 165.

Hope this helps,
Ray(64BJ8P1)