New tyres for my W111 250SE

I recently drove down to Canberra in my 1965 250SE. This was the first time I had taken the car on a longish trip in a couple of years. The main reason for that was the running issue had been experiencing with the car over the last few years. I finally solved this issue last year by fitting a new electronic distributor.

On the way down I noticed how bad the ride was. The car was quite bouncy and not very enjoyable to drive. While the car didn’t do any long trips, I was using it quite a bit on […]

Choosing tyres for my 15×7 AMG Penta wheels

My new 15″ AMG Penta wheels did not come with tyres. Choosing a set turned out to be a lot more complicated than I thought.

The big downside of the 15s over the 16s is the tyre availability. The table below outlines possible sizes I could have considered. They are all compared to the overall circumference of the original wheel/tyre combination.

Tyre SizeRevs per KMDifference 205/70 R14496Standard 205/65 R15492+0.8% 205/60 R15508- 2.4% 215/65 R15482+ 2.8% 215/60 R15498- 0.4% 225/60 R15489+ 1.2% 225/55 R15506- 2.4% 235/55 R15498- 0.4%

The easiest and most obvious choice would have been one of the 205 […]

End of financial year tyre sales

At least in Australia, by far the best month of the year to buy tyres is June. Both the tyre retailers and manufacturers offer attractive end of financial year sales. Most people don’t realize, but tread wear is not the only reason to replace tyres. As the rubber ages, it hardens. Once the tyres harden the handling, particularly in the wet is compromised.

When I first purchased by 250SE I nearly spun it in the rain on an innocuous corner. The tread in the tyres looked fine, and I had thought no more of it. But on closer inspection they […]