jbeach wrote:For what it is worth, Vredestein was founded in 1909, began making bicycle tires in 1934, and car tires in 1946 - that's 72 years. I'm sorry, but, with respect, I cannot get on board with the suggestion that Michelins or Pirellis are better simply because they have been producing tires longer than that.
Hi John
It isn't my suggestion that Michelin and Pirelli are the best tyre produces in the world, just because they are 100 years old. The point is that they have been able to keep going for 100 years because they are the best tyre produces in the world. they have always been at the leading edge of tyre development, particularly in the period we are interested in here.
In period Michelin developed the XAS which was a groundbreaking tyre, developed to make cars of that period be more relaxing to drive on dual carriageways. So the XAS has a asymmetric carcass as well as tread pattern, which is developed to enhance the tyre in many ways, because like the human foot, different parts of the tyre do different jobs, one of the main improvements with the XAS was directional stability, cars were increasingly finding themselves cruising at high speeds on motorways and dual carriageways that were springing up all over Europeland. Modern cars have come up with a different way to deal with this. They add a whole heap of caster to your front axle and then overcome the derogatory effects of that with very clever modern fangled powersteering.
Also the current XAS is the FF Formula France road race compound, which are brilliant. I suppose one of the concerns of a racing compound is that they might not benefit from getting old, I suppose i had these on a car i used to race and use on the road, and i don't suppose they ever got more than a couple of years old, so i couldn't really comment. But we never had any concerns about XAS, only good reports.
Aesthetically they are perfect. great looking 1965 tread pattern that continued right through until 1979 where it was slightly modified to become the XVS, nice clean side wall as they did in period, No fancy patterns all over the tyre side wall, it is just correct, and pure.
I have got to say i love selling XAS because they reflect well on my business. i know them well, having had a few cars on them, but what i really like is after i have sold them all i ever hear is people contacting me saying how much better they are than what they had on before. I never get any complains about XAS. I hate complaints we don't tend to get them. It is good for my business, because we say " fit XAS they are great" they fit them, they are great and they are happy with our service, knowledge and very happy with the tyre. We come out smelling of roses.
I'm not sure Vredestein have got the heritage of building tyre carcasses in the '60s and '70s. I don't think i have stumbled across them, while i have been looking into OE tyres on sports cars. so they can never really celebrate the history side of things. In my experience of driving on a wide variety of classic car tyres, Michelin XAS and Cinturato are much better. So i think they have a place as a budget tyre, but it is just a shame they look like that. Even if for some reason you like the tread pattern, which i'm pretty sure is not a period sports car tyre tread pattern, no one could think that that side wall looked good on a classic sports car.
For the Cinturato tyres in the States these guys are the distributors
https://www.lucasclassictires.com/Pirel ... o_c255.htm I think as a 145R13 for the early cars the Cinturato is a bargain. I don't think there is another sports car tyre in that size, i don't think there is actually another period tyre. I can't see how anyone could argue there was a better tyre for these early cars.
I think for the rest of the Elans 155HR13 XAS FF
https://www.longstonetyres.co.uk/155hr1 ... as-ff.html is the best and for the MK 2
https://www.longstonetyres.co.uk/165hr1 ... as-ff.html I think we are as good pleace to buy these from as anywhere. we ship the Michelin Classic Range most places free of carriage charges.
I think the CN36 tyres are the best possible tyres for a sports car of the Elan period, if you want to fit oversized tyres, but you will enjoy driving your cars most if you stick with the OE sizes that Lotus chose to fit on these cars. it is worth mentioning that low profile tyres came out in 1968, and lotus chose not to fit them. I would suggest unless you are racing don't mess with the gorgeous handling of an Elan. The XAS is not a cheap tyre to make or buy, but they are brilliant, so its worth it, if handling comes as a higher priority than cost.