Morris Minor Owners Club

probably been asked a million and one times before, but does anyone still make town and country tyres?
my grandad is always going on about having them on the back of his travellers, and says he reckoned they improved grip in the winter. i was thinking about seeing if i could get some and mounting them on some spare wheels, just to check his theory for this winter, especially if it snows! i do not want to use some old ones, used or NOS, due to the degradation of rubber over the years, despite how well they may have been stored. would someone like northants tyres or beaulieu garage stock them?

As far as I know there's no current manufacturer of town and countrys for minor sized wheels. The one that was often seen was the Firestone 5.20x14 which is of course a crossply. Not been made for a very long time and I doubt if anyone will produce them again as demand will be very low. I've had some old stock ones which as you say are only really suitable for show use on things like PO vans where they look very much the part.
Michelin did a very good M&S tyre in 155x14 with directional tread. I've got a pair of these and used them last winter and they are very effective, even on compacted snow. Not sure when these were last made, but worth looking out for.
I've seen other more budget brands in M&S form but only as narrow as a 165x14 which is a bit too wide for a Minor rim, but ok on a van wheel. May be worth an ask at your local tyre place.

Try looking verdisteen or something like that they are made in sweeden they do both normal tyes of tyre and special winter tyres even studded which unfortunetly are illegal in the uk mainland, but i do beleive you can still use them on Orkney abd Shetland.

Tyremen do a 13" winter tyre that looks quite good - could be an option, and would leave room to sling a set of chains round the tyre if it gets really bad. http://www.tyremen.co.uk/product/117/14 ... wtrac.aspx
and MYTYRES sell a Bridgestone winter tyre in 145x80x14 http://www.mytyres.co.uk/Winter_Tyres.html

These are too wide for the rims - and I think expensive for what they are... http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4-x-Morris-Mi ... 27bed51e78

Mud and snow tyres seem to have the right look, 14 inch is going to be the tricky bit!

My tyres do 14inch winter tyres
Icept W605

155/55 R14

£ 43.80 more on there web site

55 section is hopeless! See my link above to the 145x80x14 which are spot -on and not TOO expensive either.

This one?
http://ssl.delti.com/cgi-bin/rshop.pl?d ... sowigan=Wi

For me it was the chunky look of the side wall that made T&Cs attractive, these lack that look.

thanks for all your help. i was ideally looking for that "knobbly" look, rather there out and out good performance- however, i think that they are definately worth further reseaching. i am currently running 155's on my car, and i find these do balloon alot on the rim, but the 145's always seem to lack a suffient profile. i suppose the 5.20 was a taller tyre, crossplies always seem to be, although i'm reluctant to fit them as i heard they gave absolutely horrendous handling! snow chains are really a big no no for me, but thanks for the suggestion

Fraid so - Colway remoulds used to be v good - used for Rallying etc - but they went bust..... There are some good looking winter remould tyres from Poland on ebay. But generally only wide (why - narrow is best in winter!) and big sizes.

some of those colways look spot on- shame they have gone. may sound a stupid question, but most of the tyres i have found have a 65 profile. i'm pretty sure my nankangs are 80 profile- will this make a difference, or is it purely cosmetic, giving a shorter sidewall and less "slop"?

it'll affect the diameter (and therefore circumference) of the tyre. a smaller sidewall height will mean a smaller circumference, which will make the gears 'shorter'. acceleration and hill climbing ability will be improved, but top speed will be reduced. potentially a good idea in winter and you might benefit from the lower gearing when trying to get grip. the downside would be a slightly reduced ride height, reducing ground clearance.

your speedo would be more optimistic too. reading higher than your actual speed.

Minor will look really silly on 65 section tyres - big gap round the wheel arch - unless you go to 15" of course. If you can find wheels.......

bmcecosse wrote:Minor will look really silly on 65 section tyres - big gap round the wheel arch - unless you go to 15" of course. If you can find wheels.......

regarding the tyres, thats what i thought. as for the 15" wheels you are right - on a four inch pcd, that has to be impossible, i don't think minilites (cringe) even come in that size.
I think for now those bridgestones look the best candidate, although whether i will actually get any, only time will tell. the fact that i won't be driving the minor much in the winter for these next 3 years (uni) will probably make the decision for me.
Seems to me that if we have winters like we have been having recently, then snow tyres will be essential on all cars, like in many scandinavian countries and on the continent. until then, the UK will just slip slide around on our standard tyres, as foolish as it seems.

Marcus, those tyres were popular in the 60s but were very noisy due to the chunky tread. I haven't seen that type of tyre for years, only in 4WD sizes. F1 Autocentres do a 145/80/14 Continental winter tyre if that is what you are after.

JLH do 15 inch minilites with 4 inch pcd.

i'm considering using my original steel wheels as winter tyres. they've only got normal 155 goodyear tyres on, but the narrower tyre might help over the 185's on her at the mo!

Those 145 Bridgestones look the part and just the right size too. So they don't have the knobbly look of the old crossplys but tyre technology has progressed and I bet they're quite effective over a wide range of surfaces. The old knobblys were always worse on wet tarmac as you have less contact area, allways noisier and wore out quicker.
Still look good though![frame][/frame]

Probably these days we get much more 'hard packed' snow - and that's what the modern tread is designed for. In the old days - it was unploughed country tracks - and that's where the SP44/Weathermaster tyres worked best.

Sorry for the thread revival, but this takes me back. 'Town and Country' tyres, Wow.... I know we had Land Rovers fitted with them, and Minors, was this a generic term for a tyre type, back in the day, or any specific brand? I do remember them being very noisy.