Morris Minor Owners Club

Hi

Just a little survey

How long have your tyres lasted(in miles and time) before you have had to replace them.

What brands lasted the longest and do you use tubes or not.

One more question how many of you still insist on cladding your wheels with cross ply's

Jamie

p.s Minors only please

i had a set of nankang radials on a van for 3 years and the van was used everyday

around 40000 miles

ssnjimb wrote: How long have your tyres lasted(in miles and time) before you have had to replace them.

Just taken off two Firestone's or Bridgestone, can't remember which, tyre mechanic dated them to around 1993. They must have done about 20,000miles.

ssnjimb wrote: What brands lasted the longest and do you use tubes or not.

I don't use tubes. Never have in 23yrs.

ssnjimb wrote: One more question how many of you still insist on cladding your wheels with cross ply's.

Radials for 23yrs.

I'd worry about tyres if they were 10 years old. Ford says 6 years max.

The rubber gets very hard and can split without warning.

when i was driving regularly i used firestones and they would do 25 - 30 K before replacing them.. however i noticed the difference after doing the tyre change!

never used inner tubes.. when i got the traveller they had cross plys but i changed them all to radials as soon as i got back to south wales having picked the car up.

I've used radials since I got her, I had Kumhos on when I got her, which lasted maybe 20k, then I had some very nice Firestones on which did about 20k, maybe 25k. Then I had the fairly lousy Nankangs on, which are 'adequate' - and they've been on a while, and don't seem to be wearing out.

I've never had tubes, although I had to fight to get them to fit them tubeless, and never had a problem with running tubeless*.

I'm a bit more phobic about tyres, when I very first got the car back from the alledged restorers she was wearing the same tyres she'd worn when I put her into the garage 8 years earlier, albeit with the advisory that they were a bit tired. A journey on the motorway flung some largeish bits of rubber from them, leaving cords exposed. And they were quite quickly, all, replaced with the Kumhos. Now I keep a close eye on tyres and try and keep them youthful




* Direct them to section O of the manual http://pyoor.org/photos/cars/tyres.jpg

ive just replaced all my tyres from crossplys to radials, after one blew on the A5 luckily i was driving level with a layby at the moment it happened cause it pulled me to the left suddenly into it. dont know how old they were they were on the car when i bought her about 3 or 4 years ago.

I have four new tyres.

They are all 155 80 14's the two rear tyres are toyo's and the fronts are nankangs. the rears have tubes iam not sure about the fronts

Jamie

Not long after I got the car I managed 12,000 miles on a set!
My driving tecnique has improved since then.

I had a new set of 4 not long after I got the car (then got a sidewall puncture and needed a replacement about a week later )

I reckon about 35K and they're still looking good.

Andrew

RogerRust wrote:I'd worry about tyres if they were 10 years old. Ford says 6 years max.

The rubber gets very hard and can split without warning.

That's why I got rid of them, they weren't worn, just old and tired looking.

the two michelin x tyres that were on my minor when i bought it were easily 20 years old. I had to change them to get through the mot as the tread was cracking. They were brilliant quiete tyres

Jamie

I've just changed the set of Michelin X 145s on my convertible. Tread was nearing the limit and they'd started to get a few light cracks int he side walls. Nothing dramatic but noticable when you looked close. Having said that I fitted them for the 1999 JOGLE Run and the cars probably done 3-4k miles a year since then, sometimes a lot more, sometimes less, so its what I'd call a good set of tyres!
I'd only use crossplies on a nice original 'show' car, they do look so much more 'right' especially on early cars with the high cut rear wings. And new crossplies aren't half as bad as the old perished 'non stick' ones that many of us have experienced.
The convertible got Michelin Xs again. Pity they don't make them now...

I really recomend the toyo tyres that my local supplier sells(not sure if iam allowed to name). I rarely lose grip even in the wet.

Iam not too sure about these nankang tyres up front they have an older tread pattern and are a bit noisy.

If i could get two new firestones for decent money i would get some more of those.

Jamie