Blockley Tyres on a 401

[Geoff Kingston]

I am considering a set of Blockley radial tyres for my Bristol 401 as I see they have a V rated 185/16 tyre available at quite a reasonable price.
Has anyone tried these on a 401 or other 2 litre and how did you find them.
Geoff.

[405dh]

I saw a 2 litre at the Concours on Blockleys and asked the owner what he thought of them and he said they were "very noisy", however he said he believed they had changed the tread pattern since he bought them.
Can thoroughly recommend Michelin X as being a lovely smooth riding and long lasting tyre. They are expensive, though I believe worth it.
Regards,
Chris.

[pasini s]

Hello Geoff,

I can't say how radial tyres perform on a 2-litre as the 403 that you so kindly sold me in 2013 is still being restored (I am entering the contest for the longest laziest restoration in the world) but on my 409 the adoption of radials changed the car completely. Admittedly the crossply Avons were quieter but the road behaviour of the car was erratic, and the high-speed stability, tramlining and performance on the wet all improved immensely with the 'new' 185/16 radials. I adopted the Vredestein Classic Sprint tyre:

Bristol 409: Vredstein tires

They are still on the car and 10.000 miles later they still as good as the first day I fitted them. I shall try the Avon Turbospeeds again on the 403, mine are still practically new, but I'm sure that I shall switch to radials also on it; I'd buy Vredestein again as Michelins are surely very good but cost twice as much.

All the best

Stefano

[Nick Challacombe]

I am not lucky enough to own a 2 litre but have seen Blockley tyres used on Roger Williams reproduction SS cars and C types. I know not of the tread pattern you are looking at but the ones used on the SS and C type look very "block like" and I wonder about the road noise on a post was car. Not very helpful I know but I think Roger uses them as they look very pre war and they look very good on his reproductions.

[Geoff Kingston]

Thank you all for your thoughts on some of the options, like Stefano I was very pleased with the performance of the Vredesteins I put on my 410 and they would have been the tyre of choice except that they seem to have shot up in price quite a bit since they were introduced in the 16 inch size.
Thoughts then turned to Michelin which after all was the first radial Bristol's fitted and with most of the vintage tyre suppliers are quite a cost effective option, then I remembered Blockley had introduced a new range of V rated radial Tyres though since I last looked at their site the prices have gone up a bit which might be because of the re design?
Their pre war tyres and to some extent their post war crossplys have a very pronounced block tread and while they seem highly rated on pre war cars their post war crossply's attracted some adverse comments from Octane magazine when fitted to an R Type Bentley, looking at their site the radials have a very different tread design and at £169+Vat are about £14 more than the Michelin so that was putting them in second place.
Vredesteins were coming out at around £240 each inclusive of Vat, though one of the vintage suppliers was offering a significant discount on eBay at £129 each including Vat!
Another internet supplier had them at £154 but these prices were kicked into touch when I came across an on line retailer called Jungle Tyres, they have the Vredestein Classic Sprint 185r16 at £73.90 each including Vat!
I actually phoned to check this wasn't a mistake, it wasn't so while I was not intending to purchase tyres yet 5 are now on their way to West Wales which means we are going to have to work a lot harder on the project.
Jungle Tyres offer a fitting service through associates but that puts the price up a bit but I chose the delivery only option which was an extra £15.
It will be interesting to see how they perform on the 401, my 403 is fitted with 175r16 Michelin's but it is so long since I last used that car I can't remember how they compared with the Vredestein's on the 410.
There does seem to be some quite good deals out there on tyres but I had not expected to make such a saving on Vintage tyres or to be buying so quickly after posting the question but I was afraid the price might go up!
Regards,
Geoff.