Pagoda SL Group
W113 Pagoda SL Group => Body, interior, paint, chrome, and cosmetic items => Topic started by: Hernan on May 20, 2021, 02:31:24
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I am looking for new tires for my car and after many calls I was told that no manufacturer makes them anymore. So the closest ones I was able to find are at Discount Tire, and they are 185/70 R14 87T SL WW I would appreciate if anyone has experience with these ones or is there are others better from another source.
Thank you kindly,
Hernan Scaglioni
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Hernan
There is a massive amount of information on this site about tires — maybe you are not comfortable with the search function.
A tire that many like that is available at Discount Tire is HANKOOK Optima 195/75/14
If you have the original 14 inch wheels, these whitewall tires should fit and are liked by many. This size is close to original.
Here’s a link to the tire at your Scottsdale Discount Tire.
https://www.discounttire.com/buy-tires/hankook-optimo-h724/p/10702
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I am not sure if you would consider something like this:
They look great , have a tire protector behind them.
I have been using them for years and the make choosing well performing tires a lot easier (i have vredestein 185r14 classics)
https://www.ravus.de/
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I have the Hankook Optima and I’m pleased
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I purchased the Maxxis MA-1 for $114 per tire about a year and a half ago. They have a 3/4 inch white wall. They were available through Coker and on Amazon. Amazon was cheaper and free shipping.
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I just got a set of the Blockley 185-HR14 WW. My car is being finished now and I expect to report on these soon.
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Hi there
I recently bought a set of Uniroyal 195/75 R14 “Tiger Paw II” with 17-18 mm white stripes. Bought them off EBay and had them shipped to a US friend, who was moving to Denmark with all his stuff in a container, and could bring them along. The Uniroyals in this size and with white stripes are not sold in Europe.
I have them here now, but I have not yet mounted them. But they look great! :D
I looked also at the the similar Hankooks mentioned above, but I wanted an inexpensive tire with white stripes manufactured in the US (or Europe) by a US/European tire manufacturer, and Uniroyal in the US is indeed owned my Michelin and manufactures its tires in the US. Thus, they fitted the bill! :)
Hankook is a South Corean brand, and what I could find in Europe with white stripes (Maxxis, Dimax, Nanking etc.) are all Chinese manufactured tires, unless you go for the more expensive brands like Michelin, Vredestein, Pirelli, Dunlop, Blockley, etc., where several of these tires do not have the white stripes on the tires from the start (except Michelin and Blockley), but they are added later by a sub-supplier when you order the tire with white side stripes, and I think that looks less good, as they sort of look like they have been added later, and are quite thick.
My thinking was that I do not want to pay a fortune for tires, which will see limited mileage and will grow old after 5-10 years. Here you pay from around 400 USD and up per tire with white stripes from the expensive European brands, and the Uniroyal were around 80 USD per tire. I can get a lot of set of Uniroyal tires for the same price as the more expensive brands!!
I see that several of the w113 part suppliers, eg. Palm Beach Classics in Florida also carries the Uniroyal 195/75 R14 Tiger Paw II 🐾. Thus, I guess it cannot be that bad if they sell it. ;)
In any case, I love the thread pattern and sidewalls in the Uniroyal tires, and I also for my late 280SL wanted narrow stripes (less than 20 mm) which I think looks best on the 280SL with the late one-piece style hub caps - for the 230/250SL with the early style two-piece hub caps, I would go for wider side stripes, 20-25 mm. :)
Cheers,
Christian
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Hi I am looking for a set of 4 tyres. I fancy going for a whitewall, just to add a bit of Jazz. My car is midnight blue which can look a bit dull.
I have read everywhere about the Tyres. Michellins look great but are too expensive and as others have said will go out of date before they wear out.
I liked the look of the Maxxis and thought about ordering them, then can't get them anywhere? Any clues?
These things are probably fluid and manuafactureres will start/stop manufacturing on demand.
Available is: 195/75 R 14 Hankook Whitewall @ £85+ Each. But this is a 195 and not 185 and a 75 rather than a 80. Has anyone tried this or expreienced any difficulty?
Similarily there are 185 TR 14 Galaxy Whitewall @ £77+ but I have never heard of them again 185's and not menton of the profile.
Seem to be going around in circles.
Thanks
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Hi I am looking for a set of 4 tyres. I fancy going for a whitewall, just to add a bit of Jazz. My car is midnight blue which can look a bit dull.
I have read everywhere about the Tyres. Michellins look great but are too expensive and as others have said will go out of date before they wear out.
I liked the look of the Maxxis and thought about ordering them, then can't get them anywhere? Any clues?
These things are probably fluid and manuafactureres will start/stop manufacturing on demand.
Available is: 195/75 R 14 Hankook Whitewall @ £85+ Each. But this is a 195 and not 185 and a 75 rather than a 80. Has anyone tried this or expreienced any difficulty?
Similarily there are 185 TR 14 Galaxy Whitewall @ £77+ but I have never heard of them again 185's and not menton of the profile.
Seem to be going around in circles.
Thanks
In the past season, I bought a set of Uniroyal 195/75 R14 “Tiger Paw II” with 17-18 mm white stripes, and I am very happy with them. They drive and perform perfectly and are also very quiet. They were also around the same price as you mention below, and I bought them on Ebay and had them shipped to a US friend, who was moving to Europe / Denmark with all his belongings and could bring them over where I live in the world. ;)
Also, Uniroyal tires are made in the USA (and not in China or Korea like the Maxxis, Hankook etc.). Furthermore, Uniroyal in the USA is actually owned by Michelin. So if you want Michelins but cannot afford or want to pay the high price for a set of Michelin MXV-P 185R14 tires, the Uniroyals are a good and much cheaper alternative.
195 tires have to be 75 height in order to have approximately the same diameter as a 185R14 tire. The 75 stands actually for 75% of the width, thus the height will be 195*0.75=146.25. Whereas the 185R14 has a fixed height of 80% (or 78% to be exact) of the width, thus 185*0.78=144.30 which is a small difference. So 195/75 R14 is the right size for the w113.
Hope this helps you. :)
Cheers,
Christian
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I just got a set of the Blockley 185-HR14 WW. My car is being finished now and I expect to report on these soon.
I have the Hankooks and they are OK but the WSW is hard to keep "white".
I haven't seen anything from Michael on the Blockley's but I am thinking that will be my next tire for my 230 SL.
Norm
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Sadly your link is dead as is the company it seems?
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Sadly your link is dead as is the company it seems?
If it is the Blockley tyres you are looking for, then you can find them here:
https://www.blockleytyre.com/product/185hr14-white-wall
Cheers,
Christian :)
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Biff, Berg, Norm, etc.
My own personal opinion here: there are basically two "classes" of tires still made in the appropriate size(s) for our car.
These are the standard, production tires, nearly all of them would be in the P195/75-14 size (some slightly larger/smaller), generally with the "S" speed rating. This is a changing cast of tires, since no production car in "the west" (North America and Europe) to my knowledge, uses a 14" tire any longer. Thus they are all supplied as replacement tires, not OEM. Even the minuscule Honda "FIT" has a 16" tire; The tinier Chevy Spark has 15". 14" tires are all but obsolete in today's car production. I'm sure there's some bizarre cars in the Far East, South America, or India that may still use 14" wheels but they in all likelihood would not be in the 185 size. As a production tire, they are made in higher volumes and feature lower price points, generally less than $100.00. Sets of four can be found in the $350 +/- price range. If you are interested in these kinds of tires, look up Hankook, Uniroyal, Kumho, Tornel, Nexen, Toyo, Primewell, Starfire, Travelstar, Douglas, Westlake, Milestar, Sceptor, and probably a few more...or visit any local tire store to where you are.
Then we have the low-volume specialty tires. These are in the appropriate size of 185-HR14. That's either a 78 or 80 series profile (generally unmarked); H-speed rated in the 14" size. For these we have the Vredestein Sprint Classic; Coker Phoenix; Michelin MXV, Blockley. The Vredestein is not available with WW. The Michelin WAS available with WW but not in the USA, and didn't come through the normal Michelin supply chain channels. The Coker Phoenix has been around for a long time. The Blockley is new-ish, and comes in both WW and BW versions. The pricing on these tires is significantly higher.
Now going back to the original "as supplied" tires, back during the Pagoda production, the tires were the Firestone Phoenix and the [second sourced] Continental RA60. During the original specification time, radial tires were brand new, and the radial tire that was introduced at the time was the Michelin X. Pagoda engineer Rudolf Uhlenhaut indicated at that time, that the sidewalls of the X were too flexible. The regular bias-ply tires also available at the time didn't perform as well. So, MB commissioned the Phoenix which AT THAT TIME was known as a "half-radial" with both radial and bias plies in the construction. What this did was provide some of the improved handling characteristics of the new radial design, with a stiffer sidewall like a bias ply. That's history as written; what happened by later production is unknown to me. Perhaps more tires than those two were eventually fitted.
When I first had my car restored 20 years ago, the tire selection was a bit more than today. Nonetheless I chose a tire based upon price point. I bought a set of Pirelli P600 or P6000, now long out of production in that size. They were inexpensive tires at the time. On my car, I did not like the handling at all. To me, it felt as if the body was disconnected from the chassis; (even though there is no such separation). I felt like I floated over parts of the road, and when I braked, it felt as if the body wanted to keep going. It was a cushy, floaty ride I found disturbing. When I rode in Tom Sargeant's car with the Cokers, I realized that there is a better tire. So I did get a set of Cokers and kept them on until this past summer when I changed them to the Blockley because the Cokers had "aged out".
It's hard to do a real objective tire test since I've never driven or been in two Pagodas that had the same road feel; each is different. I can only judge my own experience with my car. The Pirellis were awful. The Cokers were great. The Blockley even better. As far as Hankook Optimo goes no personal experience on a Pagoda, but I had a set on my prior Ford Flex, courtesy of Ford who clearly bought them on a production price point. They too were awful, in my opinion. After one year, I upgraded to Michelin Primacy MXV4, sold the Hankooks on Craigslist, and what a remarkable difference. I kept those tires on for the next 40,000 miles, and was happy I made the change.
I'm trying to engineer a group buy with the Blockley. I hope to have some information on that, if its possible, soon.
I'm a bit of a stickler on tire quality and maintenance. It's the only thing between the mean streets, and your beloved and costly Pagoda: a small contact patch of rubber. I've sought out careful road force tire balancing with Hunter equipment. I learned my lesson on less costly tires, both on my Pagoda and on my other cars. There's a number of higher performance cars out there, some of them much less valuable than a nice Pagoda, that come fitted with costly Michelin Pilot Sports; and yes people complain about the tire price all the time. To wit: I had my Ford inspected for the upcoming registration renewal the other day, and there was a woman in with a Lexus ES, and just blew a tire, sidewall damage not repairable. Pilot Sport 4S. $350 each. Currently unavailable. She may have to get a set of two in another make...boy was she shocked.
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Biff, Berg, Norm, etc.
Thanks a lot for a really nice and insightful view on tires.
I fully agree, but unfortunately the price can be a major factor for many - even though the Pagoda is an expensive car.
I have too been through a number of different tires, and if you want to go for a budget S-rated tire, my favourite is by far the Uniroyal 195/75 R14 TigerPaw-II. You will also see that many of the classic Mercedes part stores carry that tire as a cheaper alternative to the more expensive 185R14 tires from Michelin, Vredestein, Blockley, etc..
At least I am very satisfied with the Uniroyals on my 280SL, and I can only recommend them to anyone looking for a cheaper alternative which does not bottom-out on performance.
Cheers,
Christian
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I am not sure if you would consider something like this:
They look great , have a tire protector behind them.
I have been using them for years and the make choosing well performing tires a lot easier (i have vredestein 185r14 classics)
https://www.ravus.de/
Now that’s clever!
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I see we again have our international differential in how tyre is spelt, and just for the hec of starting the debate again 😁
So TYRE is
noun
a rubber covering, typically inflated or surrounding an inflated inner tube, placed round a wheel to form a soft contact with the road.
However TIRE is
verb
1. feel or cause to feel in need of rest or sleep.
2.lose interest in; become bored with.
Or are you tired of trying to find tyres?!?!!
🤣🤣
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Those "add your own" white walls have been sold for many years here in the USA. One of the leading suppliers is a firm called Portawall.
Then there are other firms that will add WW a bit more proper as it were.
There are a LOT of mixed reviews out there. Sticking with factory made...
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I second the motion about the Hankook WW being hard to keep from yellowing. Plus it looks like the WW was a "tape" that was molded on and the ends don't meet very well with some gaps. Not just on one, but on all four. They were inexpensive but will be swapped out in a few years. If you are looking for a cheap WW tire, they are tolerable.
The Uniroyal was out of stock last fall (as was everything else), and will try that next time.
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I see we again have our international differential in how tyre is spelt, and just for the hec of starting the debate again 😁
So TYRE is
noun
a rubber covering, typically inflated or surrounding an inflated inner tube, placed round a wheel to form a soft contact with the road.
However TIRE is
verb
1. feel or cause to feel in need of rest or sleep.
2.lose interest in; become bored with.
Or are you tired of trying to find tyres?!?!!
🤣🤣
. . . understood, noting that it was explained to me once (by a friend at the British Embassy here in Washington D.C.) that "kerb" is a noun describing the edge of a roadway, while "curb" is a verb expressing the action necessary to keep one's hound from chasing the neighbor's cat.
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I second the motion about the Hankook WW being hard to keep from yellowing. Plus it looks like the WW was a "tape" that was molded on and the ends don't meet very well with some gaps. Not just on one, but on all four. They were inexpensive but will be swapped out in a few years. If you are looking for a cheap WW tire, they are tolerable.
ALL white wall tires (the white band part, at least) are challenging to keep clean. I've had Pirelli and Coker, and all the same, since 1999-2000. One of the culprits to the discoloration is a bleeding of the carbon black particles from the black part of the tire onto the white part; this is exacerbated if you use any kind of tire foam, tire cleaner, tire brightener, or other spray on chemical. Guilty as charged. In my attempts to keep the entire sidewall clean and shiny, I give up a little on the white part.
The easiest way to restore the white is use a white wall restorer/cleaner. The one I used most frequently was from Coker. https://www.cokertire.com/accessories/wide-white-whitewall-tire-cleaner.html A bottle lasted me 10 years. But, I didn't follow the instructions on the bottle per se; what I did is, on a wet tire, spray some of the cleaner on some 1500 grit wetordry sandpaper (used in body/paint work) and carefully clean the white band with that wetted with the cleaner. As an alternative, that Mr. Clean "magic eraser" product (which I discovered years ago in a product from Germany that was not branded as such, and sold directly into the automotive marketplace before Mr. Clean got involved...) would probably substitute well for the 1500 grit.
Your car gets dirty just sitting there, whether there is covered in a garage or outside in your driveway. SOP prior to a show or showing of your car is cleaning or washing. Same holds true for the tires. If you think about it anything and everything that is white or close to it, will quickly soil outside. New white shoes? White slacks? The whitewalls are no different. They'll just be the first to show!
Tire/tyre. Kerb/curb. Boot/trunk. Hood/bonnet. Sweater/jumper. Elevator/lift, subways/underground, outlet/power point...and the list goes on.
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Thanks.
Interesting, does anyone have any feedback on the Blockleys?
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Fantastic detail. Thank you for that.
Before I read this message I had just discovered Blockley via google. But had never heard of them and was looking for a review.
Then I opened up this page and here is the review I was looking for. They are asking £160 each for them here in the UK. It would be interesting if your 'group deal' might be in the way of a code or something for us to use in different parts of the world to benefit from a more competitive purchase price.
I'd all but made my mind up on the Maxxis MA1 until I found that nobody had stock in the UK. I contacted Maxxis and they told me that they don't sell that tyre in the UK.
Interestinly my outgoing tyres are Michellin MX(something) are a 90 and not an 80. I am so used to looking at them, that I now wonder if an 80 or a 75 is going to look too small. Also of note I checked my speedo against GPS yesterday and I practically got a similar reading, despite the profile on my current tyres being worng.
I need to order 4x tyres asap, so if you are talking with Blockley anytime soon could you let me know.
Thank you
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I don't have the same problem with a yellowing WW from Diamond back. I have both the Hankook and Diamond back and the difference is obvious. My understanding is that the process Diamond back uses to apply their WW also blocks the carbon black staining. Have you ever stored a rubber suspension part in a plastic bag for a few years? Yes it stains the bag yellow. Same thing going on with most WW. But not Diamond Back. Does it cost more? Yup. But a better quality WW is what you get for the extra cost.
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Thanks.
Interesting, does anyone have any feedback on the Blockleys?
I have them. They are, in my opinion, better than the Cokers they replaced. The Cokers were better than the Pirellis that they replaced.
The mark of a good tire, almost the same for a shoe, is you shouldn't notice them. They shouldn't give you any concern for noise, handling, braking, or anything else in your normal driving. I have no technical data to back up the feel; in order to "properly test" tires, you'd have to have a skid pad, some controlled conditions and various sets of tires ON THE SAME car to test. Without that costly setup, it's all anecdotal evidence.
I suspect any Pagoda owner would be extremely pleased with them, with the exception of price. There's a lot of folks out there that are looking for inexpensive when it comes to tires, and the Blockley, the Coker, the Michelin and Vredestein Sprint Classic are all a good step above in price from Uniroyals, Hankook, Maxxis, etc. which are all less than USD $100 each, and generally in the $300-$400 range for a set. Any of these mentioned will be somewhat more costly.
But, the "look" is as original as you are going to find in a modern tire, and the size is identical to original...and for the Americans out there like me who have WW, they are one of the few that have WW.
I could be wrong, but in the past when I looked at Diamond Back, it added at least $75 each to the cost of a tire, plus shipping. So, if you wanted to add WW to say, a Vredestein Sprint Classic, you first have to get the tires to Diamond Back, pay the fee and by the time you're done you are at one very costly tire. Probably one reason I kept the Cokers on so long...
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Blockley Tyres are well respected in the vintage M.G. community, so I was glad to hear that they are now making blackwall and whitewall tires that fit the Pagoda. Many of my M.G. friends on this side of the pond have found ordering Blockleys through Longstone Tyre in the U.K to be very convenient: they ship to North America and several folks have been amazed to receive sets of tires in a matter of days from the U.K. I have a '37 M.G. TA that needs replacement tires and Blockley makes a 19" tire that is nearly identical to the pre-war Dunlop "Fort" tires that were fitted originally. Like Michael, I have a set of aging Cokers (with which I have been very happy!) that need replacing and Blockley is high on my list of replacements. I'm look forward to hearing details of the group buy arrangement.
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I put Vredestein Sprint Classics on my car 3 years ago and only have 2,000 miles on them, they are great as far as ride, handling goes huge improvement over the Uniroyal Tire Paws. They are very industrial looking, almost like they belong on a small tractor IMO. I do miss the white wall look and will be looking at getting the Blockley white walls for the spring.
Like Mike Salemi said we are looking at possibly doing a group buy from Blockley for the group. More info to come soon.
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. . . understood, noting that it was explained to me once (by a friend at the British Embassy here in Washington D.C.) that "kerb" is a noun describing the edge of a roadway, while "curb" is a verb expressing the action necessary to keep one's hound from chasing the neighbor's cat.
Tee hee
Isn’t the English language great!?! Good thing is because the words are pronounced the same no one would know about the spelling differentiation 😁
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I put Vredestein Sprint Classics on my car 3 years ago and only have 2,000 miles on them, they are great as far as ride, handling goes huge improvement over the Uniroyal Tire Paws. They are very industrial looking, almost like they belong on a small tractor IMO. I do miss the white wall look and will be looking at getting the Blockley white walls for the spring.
Like Mike Salemi said we are looking at possibly doing a group buy from Blockley for the group. More info to come soon.
Sooner the better if we can, I need some now :-)
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A shortcut to white walls could be these: https://www.hansen-styling-parts.de/epages/63246837.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/63246837/Products/887M
I have them myself on my Vredesteins. Very hard to reveal the ”fake” strip unless looking very close.
Regarding different tyre makes, have a look at this test, although a few years old: https://www.cinturato.net/images/test-classic-tyres-0716.pdf
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Thank you Johan.
The tyre/tire test most likely will not make the Blockley fans very happy: "not recommended". :o
Have the tires improved since then (2016)?
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So let me understand this. We should not put Blockely tires on Pagodas because of a 7 year old report based on Porsche's test drive on a wet track? I would venture to guess the vast majority of Pagoda owners (99% +) are probably not driving their cars on wet pavement around curves at high speeds as part of their normal driving experience. We need to preserve Pagodas not pull them out of a ditch wrecked.
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??? Alex, did you read the complete article? What about braking on a dry surface?
Driving on the freeways around here I sure want to have the shortest braking distance in an emergency.
🤔 Perhaps not so important in rural N.C. ;)
How about starting a request to USA-based testing sites to do a repeat?
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That test report posted from the Pirelli website Cinturato.net, if used to make any kind of judgement on tires for a Pagoda, can lead to very erroneous conclusions...such as all Michelin tires are the same, or all Blockley tires are the same because I read it in a test report on ONE tire model/size...
It is a test of tires on a performance car, a Porsche 911, for performance cars. The Pagoda is not, and was not ever, a performance car. The Porsche was designed from the ground up for performance; if it used any part or designs "from the parts bin", it was from earlier performance cars. The Pagoda was not designed as such, and used parts from common sedans. Cars like the W111 and W108.
One of the tires in the test, the Pirelli CN36 is quite specifically, a summer performance tire. You cannot even STORE the tire in cold temperatures, much less use it at those temperatures. Other tires in that test such as the Vredestein Sprint Classic and the Michelin XWX are also performance tires. The Blockley makes no such claim, though all the tires in that older test are V-rated. Here's more information on that "summer tire" thing about Pirelli:
Note: Tires exposed to temperatures of 20 degrees F (-7 degrees C) or lower must be permitted to gradually return to temperatures of at least 40 degrees F (5 degrees C) for at least 24 hours before they are flexed in any manner, such as by adjusting inflation pressures, mounting them on wheels, or using them to support, roll or drive a vehicle.
Flexing of the specialized rubber compounds used in High Performance Summer tires during cold weather use can result in irreversible compound cracking. Pirelli's warranty does not cover tires that develop compound cracking due to use in ambient temperatures below 45 degrees Fahrenheit (7 degrees Celsius) because it occurs as a result of improper use or storage.
The tires in that test were 205/70VR15. Not for our car. Not the correct size, not the correct profile. The Pirelli CN36 is NOT available in a 185HR14. Michelin's tire in our size is the MXV, not the XWX. The Sprint Classic of course, comes in our size. Blockley also makes both a BW and WW tire in our size, but it is NOT the same tire as in the test.
If you want good information on any tire applicable for our car, ask someone who owns or has owned them. Don't rely on an older test report on a Porsche, about tires you cannot get for our cars, in sizes that are not appropriate. A number of our members here have the Vredestein Sprint Classics. A smaller number, including myself have had the Coker Phoenix. I retired those from age and now have the Blockley. Not long after I had the car restored, I got rid of the Pirellis I had in the 205/70-14 size and went with the appropriate Coker Phoenix.
Both the Coker Phoenix and the Blockley in our appropriate size were developed for or with a German Mercedes club(s). Coker told us that many years ago when they first developed that tire. Blockley says today, "...being produced by Blockley Tyre Co. at the express request of one of the German Mercedes Clubs, who needed something better than the Michelin they all had, and at a price that was basically not a rip off, and the end result was the list price of the Michelin being lowered after the Blockley was available...
When the first Coker Phoenix came out, I believe they neglected to add the rub strip; that oversight was corrected and by the time I got my tires more than 15 years ago, they had them. The tires looked great and performed exactly as I would expect them to. They aged out, and were replaced with Blockley. I have nothing but great things to say about the Blockley. One of my caveats was that I wanted WW. That's how the car was delivered and I think in my opinion it looks best with them. That made a limited choice set even smaller. I have dismissed adding a vulcanized WW band onto and existing BW tire, since that would immediately remove the manufacturer of the tire from any kind of warranty or liability. I've had tread separation and tire failures in the past, and wouldn't look forward to trying to explain that I modified a tire to the manufacturer and expect them to replace it if it failed...
When I first reported on my happiness with the Coker Phoenix here, years ago, it was met with a number of snarky comments. Almost all of those comments were made by people who didn't have Coker Phoenix tires, thus were in no real position to make a comment. What they were really upset about was the cost; and now its about 50% higher than it was when I bought them.
If you want opinions on any specific tire for our car ask someone who has them.
I should also mention something about my own experience with what are called "performance tires". One of the things that makes a tire a performance tire is its stickiness or grip. When you make a tire perform, and make it sticky, what you give up on is tread life. The original tires on my 1979 BMW 320i were Continental TS771, in the 185/70HR13 size. After four years and 40,000 miles, it was time for a change, and I wanted "more performance"; so I read the test reports at that time, and bought a set of BF Goodrich Comp T/A, same size. I cannot tell you if they "performed" any better than the Conti, but at 12,000 miles they started to get a bit unbalanced due to excessive tread wear. By 15,000 they were useless. I replaced with Michelin XVX since Conti no longer made the TS771. I had those when the car hit 100K.
More recently, my aunt (who used to own my Pagoda) had two SLKs. A 2011, and a 2016 SLK350. The former was a two year lease, the latter a three year lease. When it came time to turn in the 2016, the OEM tires, which were 225/45ZR17 MO Michelin Pilot Sport 4S. MO=Mercedes Only, had worn out in the front. Couldn't turn the car in w/o replacement. Less than 15,000 miles on the car, quite literally driven by a little old lady to church on Sundays. She was 90 years old at the time of turn in. $700 to replace the pair of tires to turn in. Had we turned it in w/o replacement it would have been at the dealer price which was over $1,000 for the same two.
So, be careful when selecting "summer only" or performance tires, if you are expecting any kind of life out of the tires.
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So let me understand this. We should not put Blockely tires on Pagodas because of a 7 year old report based on Porsche's test drive on a wet track? I would venture to guess the vast majority of Pagoda owners (99% +) are probably not driving their cars on wet pavement around curves at high speeds as part of their normal driving experience. We need to preserve Pagodas not pull them out of a ditch wrecked.
[Hahahaha]
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I’m looking forward to the group buy information. Any idea of the timeframe for availability?
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Timing is imminent. I’ve been in discussion with Blockley this week and waiting for a plan from them.
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great stuff. I am ready to order x4 in the UK.
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I need new tires as well.
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I expect an answer any day on the group buy from Blockley...
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Just heard back from Blockley. I think we shall have a good program together. Ironing out a couple of details now, so stay tuned!
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Thank you Michael for all the footwork on this project. Dang, where do you find the time and energy??!
I’ve read a fair amount about Blockley tires. Everything, including testimonials by those who have them on their cars, has been very positive: handling, wear, appearance and build quality. AlexD makes a very valid point about when most Pagoda owners take their cars out on the road. I want a tire than can perform under wet conditions, of course. (Living in all-too-dry California and not taking out my car in the rain, makes it a somewhat moot point.) Apart from the referenced article, I’ve heard nothing negative about their ability to navigate in the rain.
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Happy to report that I now have 5 tires (tyres?) on order with Blockley. Email communications including quote and invoice have been quick and seamless. Once again, thank you Michael for putting this together for the full members. :)
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ME to. Happy to report, I have ordered 4 x Blockleys, signed and paid for. Just waiting for the delivery.
Thank you for your hard work.
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Nice to hear that my efforts have paid off, and at least two of you have ordered tires...er tyres.
I suspect that there are some silent about it...and hoping more take advantage of the offer.
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Michael, how do we notify Blockley of the group buy to get advantageous pricing?
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Michael, how do we notify Blockley of the group buy to get advantageous pricing?
Hi Chip,
WHOA...did you read the dates on these posts and this project? To you and any others that may be reading this...
...the project of getting a "group buy" discount for our members from Blockley Tires began in 2021, and I was finally able to pull it all together over a year ago in early 2022. So, this project has been completed.
To the best of my knowledge, there was enough takers here (many lurkers who don't ever post included, as well as those that do) to clean out the inventory of this tire in both BW and WW. As these are specialty tires, they are ordered in "batches" as opposed to a tire for daily drivers that are sort of made "continuously" if that makes sense. It's probably back in stock, albeit at a higher price from Blockley.
If you are interested in tires of this nature from Blockley, call them/contact them and ask if they'll still honor a discount for our club members. They may very well do that. They were quite pleasant to deal with. I have a set, some others I know have a set, and I've heard nothing but good things about them. Like the Coker Phoenix before them, the only naysayers or complainers about these tires are those that don't have them. I had the Coker Phoenix for nearly 15 years before getting the Blockley WW on my car last year.
Periodically, the club will offer "projects" and "programs" that are always of a limited nature. For example, this tire discount program. Pagoda World Book Volume I. Pagoda World Book Volume II. The grill badges. The embroidered patches that were sent out to full members with the last issue #32 of Pagoda World magazine. If you don't act on these offerings AT THE TIME THEY ARE MADE, it's likely you will lose out on them. Many times we plan things based upon pre-orders. So during the offer process we can accommodate ANY and ALL members. Once the project is concluded however, we're only left with a few items and sometimes we cannot fulfill a request. To that end, we have no grill badges left, until we do perhaps another run next year.