Morris Minor Owners Club

hi just curious has anyone had any wheel rims crack around the wheel nut area ? i have a newly acquired 1955 series 2 with its 5 original wheels and 4 are perfect , no signs of kerbing or over tightening etc , so just wondered if it's common or just a one off

This stirs an old memory. The cracking was bad enough that the wheel collapsed. There was rust in the cracks showing they had been there for a while.
The cause was a bit of a guess. Overtightened nuts was one possibility. Another was hitting a washout some weeks earlier. There was no sign of damage to the rim at the time. Maybe both were the cause.
It made for a bit of entertainment for the lunch time crowd outside the railway station in the middle of town.
You also have to hope that you don't only have a bottle jack as they are a bit hard to get under the car when the front is on the ground.

Yes, 2 of them in the picture below within a very short space of time whilst in Italy a 3/4 years ago. One could be welded temporarily, the other could not, so 2 spares from home had to be couriered out to us.

As a result bought some 'genuine' Minilites; very nice wheels, but just do not like the look of them on a Minor, and have very recently got 4 more steel wheels from eBay, which are supposed to be 'stronger', as they do not have the brake adjuster holes in the centre. I need to measure the thickness of the centre material to see if there is a difference between what was bought in 1970 with A40 Farina centres welded into one-piece 5.5"J Dunlop rims, and what I have now.

Just need to get them shot blasted, checked and powder coated.

It's not unknown for the early wheels - and BMC didn't learn - the early Minis had terrible cracking problems on the wheels until they thickened up the steel..... I had several fail on me. I suggest cleaning the other 4 back to bare metal - and crack testing them before use. If your car has 3.75" PCD hubs Richard - then the 5.5J X 13 wheels ex TR7 (and some other Triumphs) would be ideal.

If your car has 3.75" PCD hubs

?? It has standard Minor 4" PCD hubs all round. Midget front hubs for the Metro vented discs and Peter May's double bearing rear hubs.

update, just cleaned the other wheels up and 2 more are cracked all in the same places , i will get a set of latter wheels and dump them all

I wasn't sure how you had done the discs Richard. I have a set of these wheels from my TR7 and am contemplating going 3.75" so I can use them!