Sourcing Avon CR322 185/70R13 tires in the States

[Arwed]

Hello,

 

I am new to the forum. Also because I just became a proud owner of a 1965 Lotus 7 Series 2 based Lotus/Caterham (SB2180). I live and summer-drive (no tracks) in MA (Boston area): getting my arms around this lovely car of which I have been dreaming for decades. The car came with some OK Kumho tires (175/70R13) on 'Panasport' R13 5.5" rims. Need a tire set replacement. After some 'tire' googling/reading I think I want to go easy (and somehow original) on road tires and mount a set of Avon CR322 185/70R13 (a Caterham choice).

 

They are not sold in the US. Correct? Or? I could order from Europe (get regular shipments from there). Any recommendation from whom to source it over there?

 

Thanks!

[Davemk1]

Have you tried Roger Kraus racing?

 

http://rogerkrausracing.com/

 

 

dave

[xcarguy]

Ditto on Roger Kraus. All Avon tires I've ever purchased were through him.

[Arwed]

Thanks for pointing out Roger Kraus Racing. I got in touch with Roger yesterday. The CR322 wasn't very familiar to him but Roger would have tried to get them for me (10-12 weeks lead time). On the other hand he had a set of Avon CR6ZZ 185/70R13 in stock which I bought. Should get the tires in a week or so. Quite expensive ones, indeed. USD 239 each. But Roger talked highly about them. Let's see on how they work out for me respectively the car. BTW: Roger was very helpful and professional.

 

Arwed

[Al N.]

Any update? I am about to pull the trigger on new tires for my 1961 7.

[Kitcat]

Not much selection in 13" tires. Avon has the widest, but as you note, they are big $. On the other hand they do last forever, given the car's light weight.

 

I run Toyo R888's on the front of my track car (185/60R13) and they were $133. They have decent tread for rain. I ran Toyo R1's on my street Cat for 10K miles with no issues. The new R888R is suposed to be better than the R 888's. As with any track tire, they are all sticky and will toss lots of stuff into the cockpit.

[TheDingo8MyBaby]

When I considered tires for my series 2, I thought pretty hard about R888's, but they are a bit wider than the 185 tread width suggest and the tread pattern to me was a bit of a put off considering I'd tried my best to make the car look period correct.

 

I had 4 main criteria: size, tread pattern, grip/feel and cost (as kitkat cat says - wear wasn't a concern of mine).

 

Toyo R888 - ok size (likely to rub on my fenders - my 7 car is pretty low), modern performance tread pattern, excellent grip, moderately priced

Avon CR6zz - perfect size, period tread pattern, excellent grip but very expensive.

Avon CR322 - perfect size, modern all-season tread pattern, poor grip, expensive

Vredestein - perfect size, period tread pattern, poor grip, expensive

There are also a multitude of other cheap all season tires in the right sizes, that have a modern all season tread pattern with poor grip that are inexpensive.

 

If you're brave, you could also run bias ply racing tires. I personally love the tread pattern of Dunlop CR65. They are used on all sorts of period formula cars and it's actually a lot of fun to drive on bias ply tires because they operate at much higher slip angles. They're light, have good grip, and are hard enough that they don't heat cycle to death.

 

I do have Dunlop CR65's, but will likely be giving Avon CR6zz's a shot in the near future

 

Another thing to keep in mind is camber. Modern radial tires like a good amount of negative camber and a series 2 (unless fitted with special parts) doesn't have very much.

Edited April 13, 2017 by TheDingo8MyBaby
bad punctuation

[werthie]

I've posted about these before, but Pirelli has re-issued the 185/70VR13 . . . I have a set on my Bugeye Sprite, and I love them. Definitely period correct.

Before I mounted these I was running Hoosier bias-ply racing tires . . . terrible tires for the street.

alan