A good time to re-tyre
Some people seem blessed with either perfect timing, luck, or access to personal data. I was just thinking that as the Alfa’s tyres had now reached their seventh birthday it was high time I replaced them. Then into my email inbox popped a message from Dougal Cawley at Longstone Classic Tyres. He didn’t beat about the bush, ‘When I saw the pictures of your lovely Alfa in Classic Cars the tyres on it made me cringe a little. You could do with some good rubber on that car – a set of Pirelli Cinturato CA67S.
‘The thinner you go the better – 165R14 will be best, 185/70R14 would be second best. But in either case a set of Cinturatos will be perfect. Because a carcass that is more suited to that car will make the handling so much more enjoyable.’
To be honest I had been happy enough with the 185/70R14 Bridgestones I had put on the Spider just after I bought it, but the thought of driving the car on the size and kind of tyres it would have been fitted with when new was too great a temptation to pass up. Even with the inevitable ribbing it provoked from friends – my misspent hot-rodding past means this is the first time I’ve fitted narrower tyres to anything.
A trip to Doncaster was arranged and I enjoyed a tour of Longstone’s premises and the Cawley family’s vintage car collection in the company of the effervescent Dougal while the tyres were fitted. But not before establishing something important. I had raised the idea of fitting inner tubes because two of the Alfa’s wheels have always steadily lost air; a footpump has long been part of my fitness regime. Then on removing the first of my tyres Dougal’s fitter declared, ‘These aren’t tubeless rims – we need to fit inner tubes.’ Sorted, one less regular hassle, and I’ll have to get out on my bike more often to make up for it.
Dougal had been convinced I would be impressed by the Pirellis and – damn it – he was right. Three things stood out on my run home – a noticeably better ride with less crash over potholes; slightly lighter steering though with no loss of feel; and an almost vanished tendency to tramline on uneven surfaces and left-lane truck grooves. Downsides? None yet.
The new tyres appear to be very slightly taller than the 185/70s that came off, because I recorded 113 miles on the way up to Yorkshire and 109 on the journey home on the same route, though that difference didn’t seem to be enough to affect the speedo’s established lack of accuracy. Compared to my satnav that still overreads by 5mph at 70mph, and by about 10 per cent lower down on the gauge.
What I did discover in a downpour near Grantham on the way home was the need for new wiper blades and probably arms, so that’s next on the to-do list. Along with a new rubber grommet for the driver’s side wiper spindle, going by the steady stream of water onto my shoes. Alfas eh? It never rains but it pours... straight onto your feet.