A problem with my Morris Traveler's Wheels

[JohnnieBriggs]

Hello. I hope someone out there can offer some help. It seems my steel rims are at the end of their working lives. The question is, do I replace them with alloy wheels, and if so which ones? Or, do I replace them with steel rims?

It seems a good idea to have slightly bigger tyres and to have rims that can simply take a tyre without an inner tube. I use my car every day and lately I have been plagued by a series of punctures and problems with the rims.

Does anyone have any advice, or thoughts. They would be most appreciated.

If I do go down the alloy route, what size would fit and what manufacturers are there? As always, there is a tight budget.

[jagnut66]

Hi,
I ran Abby for eight years, before I sold her, on standard rims with tubeless tires and never had any problems, she was also my everyday car.
I didn't even alter them when I up sized the engine to 1275cc. I personally felt they performed better in the snow than some wider wheels.
So my vote would go with a good set of standard wheels.
It also depends what look you are going for of course..........
Best wishes,
Mike.

[simmitc]

The standard rims present a conundrum: They are designed for cross ply tyres with tubes. These days virtuaally everyone uses radial tyres which are not designed for tubes - the inner rough surfaces wear the tubes and cause punctures. So, run tyres without tubes for a better result. However, if the rims are very rusty then tubeless tyres will not seal very well and so deflate.

My Travellers are used every day and run standard rims with tubeless tyres. 145 x 14 is the best fit, some stretch to 155 x 14. Watch out for whether the spare will fit in the proper place. I will leave others to comment on alloys, but I would look for a good set of standard rims and fit tyres without tubes. Mind you, what's actually wrong with yours? It could be the tyres causing the tube problems.

[Chipper]

Indeed, steel rims are rarely at the end of their working lives unless very badly buckled or rusted.

They may just need a good wire-brushing or ideally bead-blasting with the tyres removed to remove any crud to ensure good sealing. Any decent tyre fitting centre should be able to do this.

Alloys are hard to find for Minors, since the PCD is 4" (101.6mm), whereas most modern cars with 4-stud fitting use a 98mm or 100mm PCD. They also tend not to really suit the car, unless of the Minilite type - new sets of these with tyres can be bought from Minor/MG Midget specialists or E-bay but are usually fairly expensive, and don't forget you'll need the matching wheel nuts and centre caps.

I gather Wolfrace also offer a wide (4.5J) steelie for the Minor, which is designed to take modern tubeless tyres.