Morris Minor Owners Club

Have just fitted a pair of Toyo 155's on the front of the Traveller(Molly to her friends). Now the front sticks like a limpet, but if I overcook it, I can feel the back is unhappy, as if the tyres are rolling on the rims. The back tyres are Nankang of same size. This is aggravated cornering by the way, things are fine normally. Should I look at Toyo's for the rear, or is this expected behaviour? I haven't been the cars' Guardian long enough to get much idea, and never pushed it before fitting the Toyos as the old front tyres were not nice!! Does anyone have a favourite brand of tyre?

I had Nankang 155 tyres on the front of my Series MM and Firestone F60 155s on the rear. The car felt terrible, you could feel the front tyres squirming around on the road surface. Replaced the fronts with Firestones and sticks to the road like s--- to a blanket. Conclusion - Nankangs are rubbish!

Aha- that sounds a bit like my experience. Are Firestones still available?

can you still get the firestones,i have got 145 bridgestones on the back and camac 145 on the front car handles fine.

i have had nankangs and found them very good
wear is good without walls cracking

i also had firestones but walls started to crack

camac are very good also

khuno is another pretty good tyre


of course all radials

Cooper 175/14 steel-belted radials. No complaints!

Uniroyal 165/14 radials ... I find the 165's give great road holding but make the steering a bit heavy .. I'll be switching back to 145's as soon as these wear out.

Bazzalucas wrote:Cooper 175/14 steel-belted radials. No complaints!

It was reading the other post from over the water that made me think of my tyres(tires). But surely you can't fit 175........... Don't think I've ever bumped into the Cooper brand over here. Thanks for the input!

185/14 yokohama seem to work quite well....

145 Firestones all round for me.

I do have a 155 Firestone (off the rim) in reasonable nick if anybody wants it...

bpr81a wrote:185/14 yokohama seem to work quite well....

Wasn't thinking of a wheel change as well-Molly is a dignified old lady and shocked easily

anything over 155 is too wide for standard rims - in fact 155 is really too big.

I enquired about another Firestone to fit the three I already had on my car and was told they haven't been made for years
Yes - you can still get them but as NOS.
In the end despite decent tread I noticed my Firestones had started to crack so changed them all for Toyo's.

Paul Humphries

I like the Bridgestone 145s. They seem to grip better than the Firestone 145s on my other car, though that might be in part due to their relative ages. I certainly wouldn't hesitate to get the Bridgestones again.

The grip often depends on the age of the tyre - since many Minors only do small mileages, the tyres can be many years old - and the tread rubber does go hard and lose it's 'grippiness'!