New Shoes For Miss Daisy

[Mark DiSilvestro]

Are you now having problems that could be caused by poor alignment? Pulling, weird handling or odd tire wear?

After my experience with Japanese Dunlops and reading the Bridgestone tread, I was reluctant to test any 13 inch Kumhos or Toyos on my Fintail.

I've been very pleased with the Pirellis on my vehicles.
Without getting 'Miss Daisy' an alignment,
I'm hoping new 70 series 14 inch Pirellis will perform at least as well as, if not better than, my old 13 inch ones.



Happy Motoring, Mark

[joshhol]

A slight pull to the left.

Toyo's seem to have a good reputation. I'll let you know.
Hopefully there is a grace period.

[Walter59SL]

The Toyos DO have a grace or test period. That is one the of reasons I thought I would try them. Although, I too may join the 14 in crowd. Maybe next set of tires will be 14s. I just don't know. I can either paint my 13s or a set of 14s at this point. I recall that the 14s with the beauty rings looked a lot like the 190SL set up. Just the vent holes are different. My car is going to be finished painting here in the next couple of weeks so I have do decide soon.

-Walt..,.

[Mark DiSilvestro]

Well, my four 14 inch rims with used tires + my original spare and two crates of spare parts, fit in Miss Daisy's trunk, with room to spare. Try that with a late model 'jellybean' car.
(Or, as someone on 'Open Discussion' said about their vintage Oldsmobile, "...a trunk big enough to hide the entire Gabino crime family!")
I wasn't successful in my initial quest for 14 inch Pirellis. Only had one day to shop and then the rains came, bringing 4 days of cold soggy misery. (I miss the drought!)
Will try again next week.

Happy Motoring, Mark

[Mark DiSilvestro]

Today the sun came out but I had a BMW brake job this morning so I only had time, this afternoon, to 'test' one of my used 14 inch rims with their ancient 185SR14 Pirelli tires on the right front of Miss Daisy. I kept the 13 inch wheel on the left front. This 14 inch tire/wheel combination is about one inch larger overall than my original P185/80R13 tires but still no rubbing or other noticible problems except for some slightly higher steering effort.
The 14 inch wheel bolts on and fits my original hubcaps perfectly but, as expected, not my original 13 inch trim rings. Instead of the 3 hubcap holding pins used on the older Fintail/Ponton rims, each of the W108 14 inch wheels have three hubcap retaining nubs press-formed out of the steel, like on most '60s American cars.

For those interested in upgrading their Fintail, these 14 inch wheels came off of a '68 or '69 W108 280S. The W108 wheels may also fit Pontons. Last year, someone on this Forum Emailed me pictures of the 14 inch rims on a late '60s W115 that also looked similar to mine, including the hubcap nubs. Those may work too, but I haven't personally tried them. My 72 W114 250 also has 14 inch rims but they look different and don't have the hubcap nubs. Hopefully, tomorrow, I'll have time for more tire shopping.

Happy Motoring, Mark

[j9fd3s]

heres my experience with tires. all of these are on various rx7's (i havent had a piston engine car in almost a decade), a lot of these tires get used on the racetrack, and on the street. i like a quiet tire that has decent grip, and that doesnt wear out in 15 minutes

toyo: hard to find, t1s is quiet, with excellent wet and dry grip. i forget the model, but they are the spec tire for our race car, they last a while (3-4 races)

kumho: they make some sticky tires, inexpensive, but not long lasting. we had one on the race car that we blistered bad

falken: these are my favorite for a street car. they are cheap, and after a couple track days so hard i think the ground will wear out first. not much traction, but they do have a nice progressive breakaway.

yokohama: i have a set on the 3 rotor, they are quiet and grip well, i really like em

bridgestone: i have s02's on my 93 rx, and they are expensive, loud, and not very grippy. not happy with em


mike

[Mark DiSilvestro]

I called around Friday and nobody near me stocks Pirelli P400s. One tire store across town has some, but not in one size I was looking for. Closer to me, NTB carries the expensive Michelin Harmony and B F Goodrich TA. Walmart carries the Michelin Symmetry.
I checked Tire Rack's website for tire specs and customer surveys. Customers generally were satisfied with the Pirelli P400 and B F Goodrich TA and the most expensive Michelin Hydro-Edge. Most disliked the Michelin Symmetry. A few weeks ago, a Forum member posted his displeasure with the Bridgestones he tried on his 220S. Previously, when I checked the Tire Rack surveys on 13 inch tires, the Yokahamas rated pretty well and the Kumhos only so-so, but Tire Rack only listed a Goodyear Marathon trailer tire availible in a 185/80R13. I didn't research the other brands.
With the 14 inch rims, my decision now is between a 185/70R14 or 185/75R14. I ruled out a 195/70R14 as I fear a fatter tire will make my non-power steering even more truck-like at parking speeds.
Regardless of tire brand, according to Tire Rack's specs, a 185/70R14 will be almost exactly the same diameter as my current 185/80R13.
The 185/75R14 diameter is equivalent to the 185SR14 I tried on the right front - about 1 inch larger for slightly lower revs at highway speeds, but my speedo will read about 2 - 3 miles slower at 60 MPH.
What do you think?

Happy Motoring, Mark

[psfred]

Unless you plan on really fast driving, I'd stick with the skinnier tie without power steering. I'm fairly certain you don't have the horsepower to do much rally driving, so unless you are really into max speed cornering, the skinnier tire with be otherwise un-noticable. You can remember that the speedo is slightly off.

Peter

[klaus kallas]

How about 175/80 13's ? These maybe a little more narrow than what you have but they look very period correct. I'm running Uniroyal brand which should still be easily obtainable. I've yet to break them loose on the random occasions when I try to push the old 52-hp beast to it's limit!

[Mark DiSilvestro]

Klaus & Peter,
My 220S is about 300 pounds heavier than the 4 cylinder Ponton, so I'm going to stick with the 185 series tire. Compared to 52 HP (or even the 68 HP of my first 180b) often my 120 HP Fintail does feel like a rally car. I plan to hang onto my original 13 inch wheels, but I was fortunate to get a set of 14 inch Mercedes rims that will fit my original hubcaps and allow me to choose from a much larger selection of replacement tires. Now my decision comes down to - should I go with the 185/70R14 size and retain the performance and speedometer reading that I have with my current 24 inch diameter 13 inch tires, or should I go with the 25 inch diameter 185/75R14 tires, for a bit lower highway revs, but with some speedometer error and, possibly, slower acceleration.

Klaus,
I really like your Ponton. That's my favorite color on a vintage Mercedes.

Happy Motoring, Mark

Hi from Adairsville, Georgia. You may want to try Coker Tire Company. I believe they are in Chattanooga, Tennessee. I know they are in TN, I am just not sure if it is Chattanooga. Anyway, they make reproduction tires that look like vintage tires but are made the modern way. You can get ANYTHING you want from these guys!!! Thanks, Chris Fett. P.S. I am going to call on them when I get my fintail WAGON back on the road. I has OE 15in. rims. Thanks again, Chris Fett.

[Mark DiSilvestro]

Chris,
Mercedes did offer 15 inch steel rims as an original option, for police, ambulance and competition use. Those look look like '70s 'bundt-cake' alloys on your wagon.

Anyway, there's only a limited tire selection availible for my original 13 inch rims. Mostly cheapie tires. It's my understanding that Coker reproduces only vintage type bias ply tires. When I checked their website, they didn't list any 13 inch radials. The point of getting the 14 inch rims is to give me more and better tire choices and be able to use my original hubcaps.

Happy Motoring, Mark

Hi from Adairsville, Georgia. I know that the picture shows the 14in bundt cake mags, but it originally came with 15in "ambulance" style wheels with the small center hubcap. The wheels and tires in the picture are just junkers to be able to move the car. I have the OE wheels stored for future use. I wish I could store the car indoors while I am saving the money for the restoration. I bought a 99% rust free fintail on eBay for $236.00 to use as a donor car. It will end up donating its rear quarter panels, perfect bumpers, and floorboards to the wagon project. Well, gotta go for now, Thanks, Chris Fett.

[Mark DiSilvestro]

I always liked those 'Universal' MB wagons.
2 years ago, there was a 230S wagon for sale at the local 'German Marque' car show. Poor running and very rusty, even compared to my 6 year older 220S. I think the seller got $2800 for it.
20 years ago I looked at a nice 230S wagon, priced at $1500. In hindsight, maybe I should've bought it, instead of spending what I did to keep my '71 Audi wagon going for 10 years!
Someday, when I can afford a garage like Jay Leno's, I'll add a 230S 'Universal' to my collection.

Happy Motoring, Mark

Have a set of four M+S original tires 7.25/13 on rims and for free you hole’ them. They are all Made in Germany around 1970, 3 of them are Continental and one is Dunlop and they all have tubes and steel pins. I used them once for 20-30 miles and my wife could take the German noise of the snow tires on the Las Vegas Strip and she bought me a new set for my ’64 220Sb. Now they are sitting for ten years and they start to crack and rotten, two of them are loosing air, have to refill them every 3-4 month. Anyone interested?