Tyre sizes

Post by **jollyroger** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 9:26 pm

I currently have Firestone 155 by 14 80s tyres and am looking to replace all 4 of them. I had a look on ESM and BM at they work out at just over £100 for cheaper ones and I would have fitting on top of that.

I went to my local Costco and after the usual a Morris what? they gave me a price for a 155/65 by 14 Michelin Energy tyre. Will they fit my minor?

Post by **Matt** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 10:19 pm

Yes and no....

That will fit, and is probably a similar radius to the original crossply's however 155s are really to wide for the rims and handling is much better on 145 tyres.

(I think 155/65/R14's are fitted to the new small Citreon/Peugeot/Toyota badge variant cars)

Post by **bmcecosse** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 3:31 pm

Too small sidewall - and I bet the price was eye-watering! Places like Bull Motif etc usually will usually do you a 'deal' if buying 4 tyres. They are easy to fit with a decent couple of tyre levers anda soft face mallet.

Post by **Stig** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 5:17 pm

bmcecosse wrote:...They are easy to fit with a decent couple of tyre levers and a soft face mallet.

and a compressor I imagine.

I got mine fitted & balanced for a tenner each locally. With the price from Bull Motif (incl. very reasonable delivery charge) that's not bad. Worth asking around local tyre places if they'll do fitting, mine even let me have the tyres delivered to them - when I tried that with Humphries they said they couldn't do that for "liability reasons" so they lost a customer.

Post by **leafie** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 6:28 pm

What size of radial matches the original crossply tyre?

Leafie

Post by **bmcecosse** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 7:18 pm

Actually 135 is the nearest - but unobtainable, and so 145 it has to be. I prefer my 155s - but they are a wee bit wide for the standard narrow wheels.

Post by **jollyroger** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 7:56 pm

Thanks for replies guys.
I ordered a set from BM tonight 155 x 14s for £100 delivered.
I have arranged for my MOT garage to fit them for £8 ea - which I think is OK.

Costco tyres - well the price for the Michelin ones were £41 ea inc vat fully fitted - if you buy 4 they are doing a special of 20% offf for the next 5 weeks - only seems to be on the Energy range though.

Post by **bmcecosse** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 8:19 pm

That's a good price for the 4 from BM! Wee bit high on the fitting charge though. Would the fitter not do 'in his lunch break' for a cash transaction ?? Make sure it includes new valves - and balance - they should not put tubes in modern tyres - unless there is a puncture in the tyre which will allow any trapped air between tube and carcase to escape.

Post by **jollyroger** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 8:45 pm

I use this garage for my MOTs and they are very sympathetic to the Morris.
I feel obliged to give him the business as it is a 2/3 man affair it's the owner I deal with.
Kwik fit are charging £17 to mend a puncture!

Post by **WPR678B** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 9:29 pm

I was quoted £20 a tyre to have them fitted and balanced at a local tyre centre if buying the tyres elsewhere!

Needless to say i didn't take them up on the offer!

Post by **alex_holden** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 10:36 pm

I just paid £12 to have a puncture repaired, vulcanised, and the wheel rebalanced.

Post by **alanworland** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 12:06 am

Are you still allowed to fix your own punctures? Years ago I used to use a kit by Dunlop to plug a puncture (I still have it!) and on one occasion I had to use 2 plugs in the same hole cause it were that big!

Post by **bmcecosse** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 9:05 am

You can probably do what you want to your own tyre - but a garage can't do it for you. The kits are sold by Canadian Tire - and refills too - I have some. However - a steel belt reinforced carcase may just cut through the repair plug in no time!

Post by **Willie** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 2:00 pm

In the early days of Radial (tubeless) tyres you could buy a repair kit
which consisted of a selection of varying diameter lengths of rubber with which you could repair a puncture by coating the rubber with adhesive and inserting in the hole in the tyre from which you had extracted the nail without removing the wheel from the car! Worked perfectly on my daily runs up the M1 but is illegal now. They have to be vulcanised.

Post by **Gareth** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 4:52 pm

IIRC that form of puncture repair is mentioned in the handbook. I've always thought it rather quaint, from a modern point of view, but I don't doubt that it worked. Wouldn't trust if very far, though.

I've had tyres from BM before and had them fitted at my local place for between £5 and £10 a corner.

Post by **pmdavies** » Fri Apr 04, 2008 1:14 pm

Out of curiousity, does anyone know what %profile equates to a 'normal' tyre, before low profile tyres became common?

For example: 155/?? x R14 = 155 x R14 ?

Post by **Kevin** » Fri Apr 04, 2008 8:08 pm

155/80 x 14 for a radial I will have a look at a crossply and let you know what thats got on it

Post by **bmcecosse** » Fri Apr 04, 2008 9:20 pm

Crossply tyres didn't have a profile marking - although Avon used to make some absolutely excellent lower profile 'Wide Safety' tyres which were great on a Mini. This was their attempt to keep making crossply tyres and so keep their tyre building equipment busy! The radial needed vastly different buidling machines - I was in the tyre industry at the time !

Post by **kennatt** » Sat Apr 05, 2008 8:59 am

Was going to ask this on a new thread but it is relavant to this . Right wait for it..................When I got my 55 about 22 years ago it had 175x13 wheels and tyres fitted,they are still on the vehicle,they had hub caps with an A embossed so supose they were from an austin of some sort.The original owner had fitted them to help with towing a camping trailor (Don't know what difference he thought it would make) The rears fit o k but he had to flatten the flange on the underside of the front wing for about 6 inched to get clearance,I welded this flange up some time ago to prevent rot behind the flattened bit. Iv'e not had any handling problems,even in the wet,though I don't push the speed much these days.Can anyone tell me how much the speedo will be out,and since I will soon be needing new tyres would you go back to original 14s,I have found a set of 5 secondhand with decent tyre for £100,but at present only need to change the front ones so less than half that to get legal,to be honest I like the look of the car with the fatter lower tyres.Does anyone know what austin the wheels were from,the hub caps have gone long ago and if i keep the wheels I would like to find new hub caps. cheers to all

Post by **bmcecosse** » Sat Apr 05, 2008 9:44 pm

Wheels from Austin A30/35/40 and Spridgets (would have holes around the centre) would fit. But with wide tyres fitted they may be specialised wide wheels ? Obviously wider tyres will give better grip - so if the wheels look ok I would just stick with them and replace the worn tyres. You may well find that Minor hubcaps will fit.