Morris Minor Owners Club

Hi all. I have a 70 4 door saloon. I found a pair of 5.5js locally so snapped them up and had 175s put on. It made quite a difference to the handling so I was keeping my eye out for another pair for the front. A pair of banded morris minor steels came up on eBay with 185s on. There were pictures of them on the back of an Moggy and they looked fine. Filled the arch nicely etc. I was going to put the 185s on the back of mine and move my 175s to the front. When I put them on the tyres protrude the rear wing by 10mm. Obviously not legal. I messaged the chap and he said they were fine on his car and in all fairness the photos show they were fine from several angles. So I thought I’d try a 175 and see if I could at least get them flush but they are still proud. I’ve triple checked they are clearing the hub nut cover and are tight on. Had it on the ground etc. so they are a pig in a poke and I’m now stuck with two fat wheels with odd tyres and kinda wish I’d saved up for two matching ones from ESM but there we go. What I can’t understand is how they seemed fine on the sellers car but not on mine. Did some cars have narrower axles? I know I have 8 inch drums but they clear them fine. Any thoughts?. Any one with wider back wings that fancies em

The rim on a 5.5J wheel is placed central about the centre of the wheel whereas a banded wheel usually has the band placed/added to the outer face of the wheel rim. That process will cause the wheel/tyre to protrude past the outer edge of the wheel arch.
The width of the axle for a Morris 1000 is the same for all variants.

Yes spot on re the banded wheel .just can’t understand why it was fine on the sellers car .

Could you not just ask the seller what axle they had had in their Minor?

Yes did that he said it was standard.

If the wheels were covered on the sellers car and the wheels are uncovered on your car and the seller had a standard axle fitted then the seller must have fitted wider wings. 2" wider wings are readily available. I have them fitted to the rear of my Minor.

Yes I’m thinking same. My daughter has put them on facebook so hopefully will get some money back . All sorts of messages about it’s fine to have them stick out but I’m sure it’s illegal and I’m not gonna risk it.