any love for oldschool tyres?

[Diederick/DVK]

don't we all love the cal-look rides of the 70ies? they had it all, especially the cool wheels that are becoming rarer every year. AND they also had some cool shoes 
name a famous looker of back in the day and it probably wore pirelli cinturato cn36 tyres. or pirelli p3 or michelin (xwx).

holmes/aronson, DKK mcnew, mike billings, gary berg pop up in an instant.

these days people still build awesome rides but for some reason they run modern tyres, especially on the back. why is this? because of superior handling? because those tyres are harder to come by? i agree with this one. in europe many of us run firestone f560, but these are getting rarer, then there's the belgians that run michelin xzx tyres which are still available if you search carefully.

now, i found a lead for new cinturatos and xwx (gotta love both of those threads!!!) but the price scares me off. there won't be any burnouts from me with those expensive shoes 

what do you think?
or are there only a few of us that dig those tyres?! 

[Nico86]

now, i found a lead for new cinturatos and xwx (gotta love both of those threads!!!) but the price scares me off. there won't be any burnouts from me with those expensive shoes 

I think that's the major reason why we (and I) don't run those tyres, I'd love to have Michelins XWX but the price for 4 tyres is more than I paid for the car. So, I've got some Vredesteins ! (sprint classics have a nice old school design).

[Diederick/DVK]

sounds cool! what sizes do you have?

[Nico86]

I have 185/15 for the rear. In the front I had 155/15, for the moment I replace them for Michelins in 145/65/15 but I don't really like how they look, and as I'll soon change my front wheels I think I will go back to 155R15 Vredesteins. They still look nice on 5,5" rims. I hope that one day they will make some 145/15. 

[Nico86]

Here are the 3 classic tyres they produce : http://www.vredestein.com/Banden_Bandgroepen.asp?UsersessionID=42607844&BandgroepID=5 . They also have a 175/70/15 in sprint classic, that will maybe have a "lower" profile than the 155/15.

[Diederick/DVK]

i know vredestein. they're dutch and supplied on beetles in 155/15. i don't think they will ever make 145s though...

[Nico86]

i don't think they will ever make 145s though...

Yeah that sucks, at least it makes only 2 XWX to buy.

[Sam K]

When I first started driving my bug in 1993 or so, I bought some Pirelli ZX 135's and XZX 165's for it at discount tires. I would love to run tires like that today, but the cost is too prohibitive for something that I'll just wear out. If I was building an old school cal-look show car, thou, I buy them.

[lawrence]

I love the look of the traditional 145/165 combination, but I would some tires with a wider tread. 155/185 might be nice. I plan on putting porsche lemmerz wheels on my beetle soon and I am still undecided on tires. I might use 175/65 and 185/65 if I choose modern tires.

[crofty]

I'd love to find some Goodyear Blue Streaks!

[ESH]

Having gone through the tyres options recently and with the extinction of the Firestone 205 I'd either buy the Vredesteins or the Michelins. The last set I bought I ended up getting the Michelins as I wanted a 145 up front and as has been pointed out the Sprint Classic only goes down to the 155. The disadvantage with the Michelins other than the price is that the 205s (XWX) and 145s (XZX) aren't matched tyres. I have to buy another set shortly and for the same reason they'll probably be Michelin too. I guess price wise they're not too bad when you compare them to a  modern tyre; the rears on my daily are £50 more per tyre than the Michelin 205s and I'm probably only getting 10/11 or so months out of them and that's with a pretty low annual mileage.

[Neil Davies]

Personally I don't worry too much if front and rear tyres don't match. After all, we run different sizes front and rear...

On the 70/72 I'm doing it's got Firestone F560 155's up front - the angle of the shoulder where the sidewall meets the tread makes the tyres look narrower than it is, especially on a 5.5" rim. On the back I've got some 185/65's at the moment, can't even remember the brand, but they might get changed depending on how it looks when the body is on and the panels are bolted up.

[benssp]

coker tire website is always good for a bit of 'rubber fetish'

http://store.coker.com/cat/firestone-raised-white-letter/

[Tim C]

On my old 63 I used to run Nankang 205/65's on the rear - purely chosen because the tread pattern and sidewall were quite "vintage" looking, but they were a good modern and quite cheap tyre.

On the front I went from Firestone F560 145's (which I loved - nice soft ride) to Michelin XZX's which I hated, they looked cool and sat on the rims better than the 560's but the I found the handling and ride quality to be horrible. I remember chatting to Richie Webb at DDD4 about XZX's and I told him that I didn't like them following the long drive to Bitburg from the UK, but he then said he ran them on the Cabrio which does 140+ mph so they can't be that bad 

[Neil Davies]

On my old 63 I used to run Nankang 205/65's on the rear - purely chosen because the tread pattern and sidewall were quite "vintage" looking, but they were a good modern and quite cheap tyre.

On the front I went from Firestone F560 145's (which I loved - nice soft ride) to Michelin XZX's which I hated, they looked cool and sat on the rims better than the 560's but the I found the handling and ride quality to be horrible. I remember chatting to Richie Webb at DDD4 about XZX's and I told him that I didn't like them following the long drive to Bitburg from the UK, but he then said he ran them on the Cabrio which does 140+ mph so they can't be that bad 

Strange, I prefer the XZX's! Far grippier than the F560's! But then everything I've used them on has been ball joint, as is Richie's cab, whereas I'm guessing you'd got the F560s on the '63 (linkpin, obviously). Perhaps the XZX is better suited to the later suspension?

[Tim C]

Possibly. No dropped spindles on the 63 either, so the ride could have been made better anyway. The XZX's (to me) felt like I was using bicycle wheels on the front without the tyres. The F560 just seemed softer.

[Nico86]

Personally I don't worry too much if front and rear tyres don't match. After all, we run different sizes front and rear...

Yeah that doesn't make any difference, even if you have the same design but 2 different sizes it's the same that having 2 different tyres.
Another option is 135/15 tyres on front (Firestone still makes it no ?) but I'm pretty scared to run this on my car .

[ESH]

... I remember chatting to Richie Webb at DDD4 about XZX's and I told him that I didn't like them following the long drive to Bitburg from the UK, but he then said he ran them on the Cabrio which does 140+ mph so they can't be that bad ...

Yeah, they didn't blow either.

[ESH]

... Personally I don't worry too much if front and rear tyres don't match. After all, we run different sizes front and rear ...

... Yeah that doesn't make any difference, even if you have the same design but 2 different sizes it's the same that having 2 different tyres ...

It doesn't worry me either, it's just they don't match, that is all. I had some bakelite rears and rubber fronts at one point.

 

[Tim C]

... I remember chatting to Richie Webb at DDD4 about XZX's and I told him that I didn't like them following the long drive to Bitburg from the UK, but he then said he ran them on the Cabrio which does 140+ mph so they can't be that bad ...

Yeah, they didn't blow either.

Good to know. 

[Neil Davies]

... Personally I don't worry too much if front and rear tyres don't match. After all, we run different sizes front and rear ...

... Yeah that doesn't make any difference, even if you have the same design but 2 different sizes it's the same that having 2 different tyres ...

It doesn't worry me either, it's just they don't match, that is all. I had some bakelite rears and rubber fronts at one point.

 

Bakelite rear tyres are rather good for burnouts though...

[gibber!]

I'd love to find some Goodyear Blue Streaks!

Like mine?

[BeetleBug]

I'd love to find some Goodyear Blue Streaks!

So why dont you buy new ones from Goodyear?

http://www.racegoodyear.com/tires/pdf/vintage.pdf

http://www.racegoodyear.com/tires/sports.html

[Endre D]

I'm running Vredestein SprintClassics on all four on my 67'. Very nice classic looking tyres, dimensions are 205/70 and 155. I wish they'd make a narrower front tyre though - a lil' bit of rubbing goin on.. 

[ESH]

... I remember chatting to Richie Webb at DDD4 about XZX's and I told him that I didn't like them following the long drive to Bitburg from the UK, but he then said he ran them on the Cabrio which does 140+ mph so they can't be that bad ...

Yeah, they didn't blow either.

Good to know. 

[ESH]

... Bakelite rear tyres are rather good for burnouts though ...

Yeah, I wasn't sure it handled badly enough, when the rear end unloaded on rubber it wasn't quite as exciting as I'd hoped. 

I'm running Vredestein SprintClassics on all four on my 67'. Very nice classic looking tyres, dimensions are 205/70 and 155. I wish they'd make a narrower front tyre though - a lil' bit of rubbing goin on ...

The place I get my tyres from at the moment sell a lot of them and rate them pretty highly, 155s are OK but as you say can be an issue depending on wheels etc.

 

[Martin Greaves]

Personally I don't worry too much if front and rear tyres don't match. After all, we run different sizes front and rear...

Yeah that doesn't make any difference, even if you have the same design but 2 different sizes it's the same that having 2 different tyres.
Another option is 135/15 tyres on front (Firestone still makes it no ?) but I'm pretty scared to run this on my car .

Why are you scared running them on your car. I have 135XZX's on the front of my bug and they have been OK.

[benssp]

145's are perfect for a 5.5 rim, the sidewalls are about right

[streetvw]

old tyres are rock and roll baby 
my old rag with 135 zxz's and 185 xwx's looked great but wasn't much fun in the wet


then my bro's old 67 with 145 zxz's and the same 185 xwx's

[beetletom]

what would 135/70's look like on a 5.5 wheel?