Morris Minor Owners Club

Hi all, the lowlight is in a need of a new set of boots all round and is currently fitted with some old and crusty crossplys, whats the general school of thought regarding which ones to go for ? I have radials on the daily but would crossplys be okay on the lowlight ? or is it best to stick to radials ?


Cheers,

Will

Depends what the lowlight will be used for? And how often..

Well its going to be no ball of fire, and realistically not as fast or as practical as my '67 so it'll probably be confined to short drives to the beach/ shows...

others will disagree BUT radials are like riding in a roller whilst xply are like riding in a steam roller over bumps !!!!!

first and best change I did


pays y'a money takes ya choice

good luck

Unless you are showing the car in concours then definately radials, the cornering is far better. If you have no acceleration then don't slow down!

Avon used to make low profile 'Wide Safety' crossplies - and they were GREAT. But sadly no more, and current supply crossplies are both expensive and poor for roadholding.

I've got a friend who can get my both radials and crossplys at cost price, interstingly theres only about a pound or two in it, so cost for me isn't an issue.

Cheers,

Will

Crossplies look better on the car and give you the real driving experience...

I have Dunlop D75s (expensive) on my S.II and have not had any safety or braking issues with them. Sometimes the back end kicks out if I corner too fast, but then don't all Minors do that?

JOWETTJAVELIN, I'm tempted to go for crossplys for the different driving experience too, though I'd like to hear some other people views on this too

youngcamper wrote:JOWETTJAVELIN, I'm tempted to go for crossplys for the different driving experience too, though I'd like to hear some other people views on this too

Go for the crossplys then! My Traveller had these when I first got him, I changed them to a set of radials when the crossplys wore out. The only difference I could notice was the car was more slidy in the wet. Great fun and quite controllable on wet roundabouts. Other than that no problem with the crossplys.

corner too fast in a moggie do you go round on two wheels? or backwards

Go for crossplys if there is no difference in price. You will probably need inner tubes though, if you haven't already got them.

Thanks chaps, Crossplys it is!

Controversial, go for mgb wheels.. Much wider, better grip, cheaper tyres, better in every way...

Alex'n'Ane wrote:Controversial, go for mgb wheels.. Much wider, better grip, cheaper tyres, better in every way...

Can you post a picture?

Alex'n'Ane wrote:Controversial, go for mgb wheels.. Much wider, better grip, cheaper tyres, better in every way...

Fine for MGBs, but no use for Minors: 4.5" pcd, iirc, cf 4"

MG Midget wheels apparently fit, but do check the wheel nuts. Rostyle wheels need different wheel nuts to older Midget wheels, which in turn need different taper to some other BMC wheels of the period. Also check thread diameter and form.

As for crossplies versus radials: I've just come back from my first wedding with radials on the wedding car, and its steering is utterly transformed. OK, not a fair comparison going from old crossplies to new radials, but it doesn't tramline, it doesn't squeal on roundabouts, and I generally felt far more in control of the beast. Absolutely wonderful. I do sometimes wonder, though, if some of the accidents in Moggies that we read about, particularly where people have managed to overturn their car even on straight roads, are due to too much grip: with crossplies it's harder to generate enough lateral force to overturn them.

Kevin

autolycus wrote: Fine for MGBs, but no use for Minors: 4.5" pcd, iirc, cf 4"

Nope, early minors, eg this lowlight, are 4.5" pcd.

Right - sorry, I'm not familiar with the early cars. Same bolt or stud diameter and cone angle?

Kevin

I find crossplys tramline horribly, very disconcerting as the car seems to have a mind of it's own

After 35 years and over 200,000 in my Series MM I would go for radials every time but increase the pressures to 26psi minimum.