Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms Game over!

Great clip Giles. Much more snow than we have here at the moment but it is still coming down, not the big heavy flakes that we had this morning but fine crystalline snow and lots of it.

Snow is forecast in Northwestern U.S. near the Canadian Border. As I am retired I will fill the wood stove and enjoy a good book.

I have been contemplating Cross Climates when I come to renew my tyres this year very happy with them on my Volvo and am now encouraged by your Morgan experience. Would be interested to know whether your fuel consumption has been affected, particularly when touring.

Rob. There are a couple of things to consider.

Firstly the tyres are uni-directional. If you have a spare wheel it is probably best to leave it as the original or, get a bidirectional tyre for the spare. This is not something that I had considered and the spare is really only valid for one side. I have never needed the spare anyway and if I had thought about it I would have kept the original unused tyre.

I found a slight difference in traction by comparison to the original Yokohama tyres under hard acceleration in a 90° turn in hot dry conditions, for example out of a side street onto a main road. Nothing to worry about, just a bit of tyre squeal, but if you are always driving like you had stolen it you may want something with a bit more grip.

Having said all that I would not hesitate to fit them again. Interestingly Callum had a CrossClimate fitted to the rear of Red Three and he quite liked it too.

... Or carry 2 spares as pioneered by the early Morgan 'Series One's'!!

My Vredestein all season tyres have served me very well over the years on my smart Roadster, including this morning. The quatracs I have just are sided not directional, ie they state which is the inside and outside, rotational direction isn't an issue.

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Rob. There are a couple of things to consider.

Firstly the tyres are uni-directional. If you have a spare wheel it is probably best to leave it as the original or, get a bidirectional tyre for the spare. This is not something that I had considered and the spare is really only valid for one side. I have never needed the spare anyway and if I had thought about it I would have kept the original unused tyre.

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Many thanks for the advice Peter.
I had overlooked the directional issue but I suppose one could always have the tyre turned on the rim at a convenient moment if the original was irreparable. I am not sure that I would feel comfortable with the potential variation in performance of the two tyre types if a bi-directional tyre was fitted as a spare.

In that case I weren't so worried. You know that in a few days you'll be going to the garage for a new tire and so long you drive very careful anyway.
The only problem would be whether the Michelin CrossClimate would be destroyed in the case when it has to be mounted the wrong way as the needed spare.

I think it would be just a matter of grip, particularly in the wet or snow. I once had a new motorcycle front tyre that was inadvertently mounted the wrong way round. I discovered this when it aquaplaned, fortunately without consequences, on a wet road.

What would happen is that the water would be fed towards the centre of the tyre instead of being expelled at the sides.

If you had a unidirectional tyre mounted on the spare wheel it would probably be best to mount it to fit the curb side (near side in the UK). Nearly all the punctures that I have ever had have been on the side of the car nearest the curb.

In any case, as you say, as long as you knew about it you would have it rectified as soon as possible.

I have unidirectional tyres on at the moment but hadn't thought about fitting the spare for the near side. Would be interesting to know whether others had experienced the same puncture rate on the near side.