88 Tyres

Hi there

My recent aquisition of an 88" hardtop (1984) has already cost me an arm and
a leg, what with paint, man sized tools, untold purchases from paddocks etc
etc. Now I have decided that the reason the steering is so heavy (alright,
as a Monday to Friday Vauxhall Vectra company car driver, it would do,
wouldn't it...) is because of the damn great tyres currently fitted. In my
anxiety to return 'Lizzie' to something approaching bog standard, can anyone
advise what would be the bestr option(s) for a set of (mainly On road) tyres
for the 15" white steel wheels. At the moment, she has 31/10.5/15 something
or others - tyres are badged Challenger Invader or something like that -
Exotic names, but heavy as hell to pull around without my accustomed power
steering. I also have a replacment steering wheel, which seems smaller than
the standard.

Any suggestions welcome. Thanks

On Sun, 8 May 2005 09:40:18 +0000 (UTC), "Neil Paxman"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>Hi there
>
>My recent aquisition of an 88" hardtop (1984) has already cost me an arm and
>a leg, what with paint, man sized tools, untold purchases from paddocks etc
>etc. Now I have decided that the reason the steering is so heavy (alright,
>as a Monday to Friday Vauxhall Vectra company car driver, it would do,
>wouldn't it...) is because of the damn great tyres currently fitted. In my
>anxiety to return 'Lizzie' to something approaching bog standard, can anyone
>advise what would be the bestr option(s) for a set of (mainly On road) tyres
>for the 15" white steel wheels. At the moment, she has 31/10.5/15 something
>or others - tyres are badged Challenger Invader or something like that -
>Exotic names, but heavy as hell to pull around without my accustomed power
>steering. I also have a replacment steering wheel, which seems smaller than
>the standard.
>
>Any suggestions welcome. Thanks
>

You'll find Disco steel wheels and tyres (205/75 IIRC) fit well and
fairly cheap / easy to come by.

However, I've been here. I had 750x16 KingPin cross plys on mine and
the steering was very heavy. They were worn out and I replaced them
with 235/85 BFG Trac Edges on new steels. At the same time I had the
swivels reshimmed.

The transformation was astonishing. The steering became much more
direct and (at least by perception) lighter. The fact I wasn't
constantly correcting probably makes it feel that way, but at low
speeds its also much better.

I rate BFG tyres above anything else, having had the Trac Edges in
some serious gloop without getting stuck. The Long Trails on my old
Disco lasted forever and also did rather well in the mucky stuff. You
get what you pay for with tyres IME (Pirelli P6000 aside...)


--

Tim Hobbs

'58 Series 2 88" aka "Stig"
'77 101FC Ambulance aka "Burrt"
'03 Volvo V70

Neil Paxman wrote:

> Hi there
>
> My recent aquisition of an 88" hardtop (1984) has already cost me an arm and
> a leg, what with paint, man sized tools, untold purchases from paddocks etc
> etc. Now I have decided that the reason the steering is so heavy (alright,
> as a Monday to Friday Vauxhall Vectra company car driver, it would do,
> wouldn't it...) is because of the damn great tyres currently fitted. In my
> anxiety to return 'Lizzie' to something approaching bog standard, can anyone
> advise what would be the bestr option(s) for a set of (mainly On road) tyres
> for the 15" white steel wheels. At the moment, she has 31/10.5/15 something
> or others - tyres are badged Challenger Invader or something like that -
> Exotic names, but heavy as hell to pull around without my accustomed power
> steering. I also have a replacment steering wheel, which seems smaller than
> the standard.
>
> Any suggestions welcome. Thanks

You'll get used to it - does wonders for the physique!

Seriously - if you are in the habit of steering whilst at rest, get out
of it. Barely rolling motion will reduce the load dramatically.

A smaller steering wheel than standard will not help.

Tyre pressures? I tend to err on the high side of any recommendations.

Partially seized steering relay - mounted in front crossmember?

Swivel pin bearings?

In short - don't start with the tyres. You'll learn a lot by having both
front wheels off the ground and turning the steering wheel.

Many thanks for the info

"Neil Paxman" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Hi there
>
> My recent aquisition of an 88" hardtop (1984) has already cost me an arm
and
> a leg, what with paint, man sized tools, untold purchases from paddocks
etc
> etc. Now I have decided that the reason the steering is so heavy (alright,
> as a Monday to Friday Vauxhall Vectra company car driver, it would do,
> wouldn't it...) is because of the damn great tyres currently fitted. In my
> anxiety to return 'Lizzie' to something approaching bog standard, can
anyone
> advise what would be the bestr option(s) for a set of (mainly On road)
tyres
> for the 15" white steel wheels. At the moment, she has 31/10.5/15
something
> or others - tyres are badged Challenger Invader or something like that -
> Exotic names, but heavy as hell to pull around without my accustomed power
> steering. I also have a replacment steering wheel, which seems smaller
than
> the standard.
>
> Any suggestions welcome. Thanks
>
>