Tyre fitting

[Mr Spigot]

If anyone needs tyres fitting in the South East, I can recommend Steve at Mobile Tyres Tech. He has just fitted new tyres and tubes to my 1952 MM on my driveway. He was happy for me to take off and replace the wheels once he had changed the tyre. I had spent many weeks trying to find someone to fit tyres that a) they had not supplied and b) had inner tubes to fit; about 8 local fitters, from nationwide firms to one-man bands, all said no. Unless you know someone locally, it is becoming increasingly difficult to get tyres fitted to Morris Minors, although you can get them posted from suppliers like Blockley, Vintage Tyres and Longstone, but you then have to get them fitted.
He is based in Uckfield, but goes across Sussex and into Kent and Surrey with his van.

[geoberni]

If you still have original MM riveted wheels, I can understand your need for tubes.
I wouldn't recommend them for fitting to Tubeless Radials in any other circumstances.
What tyres did you get?

[Mr Spigot]

I had Excelsior 500/520-14 crossply tyres fitted. They are almost exact replicas of the original Dunlop tyres fitted. This was on my 1952 MM with original wheels. They replaced East German Pneumants that were nearly 40 years old!
I have tubeless radials fitted on my 1960 Morris 1000 and have always had tubeless radials fitted to it, with no problems, for over 35 years.

[geoberni]

I had Excelsior 500/520-14 crossply tyres fitted. They are almost exact replicas of the original Dunlop tyres fitted. This was on my 1952 MM with original wheels. They replaced East German Pneumants that were nearly 40 years old!
I have tubeless radials fitted on my 1960 Morris 1000 and have always had tubeless radials fitted to it, with no problems, for over 35 years.

Nice and original.
When I had Blockley's fitted to my '55 about 2 years ago, I was replacing Radials that only had a 3 date code on them; so they could have been 1990s or older.
The change to new rubber made a big difference to the general feel when on the road.

[myoldjalopy]

And a quieter ride, as well.....

[mike1864]

Berni, when was the changeover to wheel construction that made tubeless an option?
My February 56 S2 has had tubes since its 2012 restoration. But I can't recall what it had previously.
Is there a visible (tryes on!) difference?

[geoberni]

Berni, when was the changeover to wheel construction that made tubeless an option?
My February 56 S2 has had tubes since its 2012 restoration. But I can't recall what it had previously.
Is there a visible (tryes on!) difference?

I believe the official line from BMC was that after the switch to the wheels with the integral pressing to retain the hub cap, then the wheel is tubeless capable, which was Dec '53.

if you have the AKD530 Workshop Manual read the Tyres section, sections O5 & O6.
But remember, there were also tubeless Crossply tyres so they were fitted long before Radials were an option.