Mk3 Cavalier Owners Club | Vauxhall Cavalier Dot Com

Telegram Sam wrote: Thought for a different thread perhaps: Is there a danger that 195/60 R14's will no longer be available in the interim?

I cannot see why you would struggle to get that size for a fair few years to come.

13" tyres may not be as common as they used to be, but 14" tyres are still readily available.
It is a common range of wheel rim size.

I have a feeling that it is not just the "14" rim size that is relevant but also the 195 : 60 ratio combination which may or may not continue to be available in future???

I presume you are suggesting that due to limited future demand, you feel that manufacturers will cease production of certain sizes.
And you feel that 195 / 60 R14 is a particularly low demand size.

I personally cannot see any urgency to worry about an inability to get such tyres just yet.
I am sure that they are not used on just a few Cavaliers and little else on the road.

I am sure there are plenty of cars out there with 14" rims and a 195/60 profile.

What causes you such concern.?

Some nugget of propaganda to add yet more worries to owners of cars of a certain age?

It will be the lack of unleaded and diesel fuels that will probably bring the final curtain call on Cavaliers and other fossil fuel powered vehicles in 2040.

By which time I will be in my early 70's and totally senile or suffering from dementia.

Other than that, I don't anticipate any tyre supply issues within your "proposed" ten years into the future... which is how long you'd hope your cav will last.
As per your Haynes topic post.

I must say I've had problems getting this size recently.
None of the well known brands I normally buy produce this size anymore.
It's not that they are a difficult size to get hold of, it's just getting hold of a well known quality brand in that size is difficult.

I've got a full set of Hankook Kinergy Eco K425 tyres on both the CD auto and CD manual.
I've just checked and they are still available and I recommend them.

Just fitted a set of Nexen's which seemed to get good reports, pleased with them and quiet!

Alan

I will report on what my local tyre man, who seems to have the right trade "connections", reports back next week.
He seems to be able to undercut most other sources including the online people ("Black Circle"??) but may be the latter have a wider source of supply.
I confess that I'd never heard of Nexens - and out of ignorance would not have opted for them previously. Hancook rings a distant bell somewhere .. The last report I consulted was Which? but I don't think they covered "my" tyre size specifically.
Are the 195/60 R14's peculiar to the SRi's or are they shared by some if not all Mk 3's?

That's what's on my CD

Alan

195/60r14 was one of the more common tyre sizes for the cavalier.

They were fitted to:
the SRi up until they introduced 15" alloys with the facelift in late 1992.
all 2.0 L, LS and GL, GLS models
all CD models

The most common size was probably 175/70r14 which was fitted to a lot of the 1.6 and 1.8 models which were the most abundant by far.

195/60r15 is a reasonably common size to for models like the Diplomat, CDX and late SRi.

GSi and turbo models had different sizes just for them. 205/55r15 for the GSi and 205/50r16 for the turbo from memory.

Very early 1.4 and base 1.6 models had quite narrow tyres. 165mm width, something like 165/75r13 or 165/70r14. Cant remember if they had 13" or 14" rims.

Far too much info for you I know. Couldn't help myself.

The 175/70 R14 was also the most common tyre for the diesels.

So is this an issue with just 195/60 R14 tyres,
or are 195/60 R15 tyres also just as difficult to source from the well known brands.?

I ask this, as my Ex-C18NZ, now C20NE is shod with 175/70 R14 steel wheels,
and I am looking at fitting 195/60 R15 tyres to my Fan-Blade alloys once they have been stripped and freshly powder coated.

195/60r15 are very easy to get hold of Rob, you've got no worries there.
They are actually a bit cheaper than 195/60r14 as well.

I've got a full set of Goodyear EfficientGrip Performance tyres on my Diplomat that I had fitted last year.
But a full range of brands are available including, Avon, Continental, Michelin, Bridgestone, Pirelli, Dunlop and Yokohama.

With 195/60r14 you've got a choice of two really and that's Hankook or Firestone and that's about it.

Done a round trip of 170 miles today on my new Nexen tyres they are performing well and are very quiet. Previously was shod with BF Goodrich which I was pleased with but I do believe these are quieter.
I just like quiet tyres!

Alan

Not quite relevant, but if you travelled to see Manchester City play at home any time in the past 2 or 3 years, you would know exactly who Nexen Tyres are.

There is a bridge over the main trunk road east out of Manchester, adjacent to the Etihad football ground saying that Nexen Tyres are a sponsor for Manchester City.

I have never used Nexen tyres, but have seen several artists perform there..
Bon Jovi, Robbie Williams to name a couple. (My wife has a strange taste in music).

Don't watch football either -
I have no interest in over paid divas kicking a ball around a field... pah!!

As for brands I have used... Landsail are a budget firm, but the last set of their tyres worked well and quietly - and lasted well over 40,000 miles.

James McGrath wrote: ↑Tue May 15, 2018 10:25 am 195/60r15 are very easy to get hold of Rob, you've got no worries there.
They are actually a bit cheaper than 195/60r14 as well.

I've got a full set of Goodyear EfficientGrip Performance tyres on my Diplomat that I had fitted last year.
But a full range of brands are available including, Avon, Continental, Michelin, Bridgestone, Pirelli, Dunlop and Yokohama.

With 195/60r14 you've got a choice of two really and that's Hankook or Firestone and that's about it.

I've just had a bit of a drive in a newish Jaguar XE which has 45 aspect ratio tyres on 18" wheels (225-45 x 18). The road noise from these tyres was VERY intrusive - and XEs often come with 35 aspect ratio tyres on 20" wheels, which will be even worse. In comparison, my Cavalier V6 runs on 195-60 x 15 wheels shod with Michelins and is MUCH quieter, despite the cruder suspension in comparison with the XE.
The modern craze for low aspect ratio tyres is something I have difficulty understanding - the big wheels look good but the noise and potential for damage on the UK's potholed roads is much greater.

Oddly, I dont like the look of very low profile type, maybe it's a side effect of growing up in the 70's, but cars look better with a decent amount of sidewall.

Quite agree I like to see a bit of tyre. Plus more comfortable and quieter.
We have probably all seen big 4 X 4's with super skinny low profile tyres - just don't look right!

Alan

I agree with all of the above.

I think that more advanced suspension would be needed to compensate for running a car on ultra-wide (not known for comfort) mountain bike tyres ?

Yep, it's just form over function.
It's been going that way for years though.
Even the Cavalier was part of it though.
15" alloys were above average for the time and the Turbo's 16" were some of the biggest for a saloon car.

It's just one-upmanship.
Trouble is, it hasn't stopped for the last 30 years and shows no signs of reversing.

Hard to belive now that 14" and 15" were the large sporty option of the early 90's

My Mk3 SRi on 15" slabs runs on Conti winters all year, my 'new' GLi has random summers again on Cesaros, whilst my Mk2 Cav CD with SEH etc runs on CrossClimate+ all year. With my collection of wheels I am moving towards all year tyres always on the back and then summer or winter as per season on the front.

I have an S3 and just couldn't cope with the 19" 35 profile so put them in the shed and bought some old Skoda RS 18" 225 40 profile which are much quieter and more comfortable, this is on an S3 with magnetic suspension too. Tyre choice was again CrossClimate+ which have now done 20k miles with 4mm tread left, even so found a really good deal and I get new CrossClimate 2 fitted Wednesday. Its a safety issue given the way I drive

John