Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms Centre lock alloys

Does anyone else have Morgan centrelock alloys on their car? My local Morgan garage (Miller of High Wycombe, long since retired) told me such wheels were ‘rare as hens’ teeth’ - but hard to get off.
Personally, I prefer the look of the original Plus 8 alloys wire wheels. I have also admired minilites on some cars, but In the end I decided to stick with the centrelock wheels, as fitted by the factory.

Richard has this wheels when I remember right.

Yes well remembered Heinz I do have the factory Lightweight Alloys on my car, I'm not a fan of wire wheels.

I too have the factory centrelocks, and there is one for sale at Beamish right now similarly equipped , I prefer them to wires but dont let people do them up with rattleguns or you may have trouble getting them off.

I have them on my Porsche. Easy enough to maintain but you do need to the follow factory procedure and have the correct tooling .

I have Minilites on my P4SS..love the look and easy to clean.

The factory centre locks developed a reputation for seizing onto the hubs (mainly I suspect on cars where the wheels were not frequently removed)

There was talk of electrolytic corrosion between the wheel and the hub and that the securing nuts were distorting with over-torquing. Not sure really what the root cause was, but they did become unpopular , possibly as a result of these tales.

They do have one big advantage , in that they are 16 inch diameter , so you get a much larger choice of performance tyres than is available for 15s.

Like Richard I prefer alloy wheels , after 32 years of wires on my +4 I was getting fed up of the constant battle to keep them looking reasonable, I didn't go down the centre lock route at the time, but perhaps wished I had in retrospect.

I have centre lock alloys on my Plus 8. They do take an extra nudge to remove or tighten but otherwise no issues. They have some nice embossing on the wheels, describing themselves as Morgan Centrelock alloys.
I have had an extra extension bar made which fits behind the seats for any eventuality regarding puntures.

I have centre lock alloys on my Plus 8.

When I purchased it the wheel nuts were particularly difficult to remove, probably due to lack of maintenance and heavy-handed over tightening.

Whenever I remove and refit the wheels I always smear the tapered faces with Moly Copaslip grease and torque the nuts up to 160 foot pounds. When I tighten the wheels, I also make a point of supporting the end of the socket with the scissor jack, so that all of the force pushing down on the torque wrench goes into rotating the nut and not chewing the hexagonal corners off.

As an extra precaution, I also mark the nuts against the wheels with a spot of Tippex, just as an indicator to confirm no subsequent movement.

I have followed this practice for over 3 years now and not had any further problems with removal.

Worth also mentioning that the centrelock nuts that came with along with the Plus 8 in the late nineties are the same as the ones on the Aero Series 1. Same thread and nut size, which are a bit bigger than the standard wire wheel nut on a trad. You need a bigger wheel brace. These centrelock Aero nuts were replaced by 5 stud nuts after a couple of years in production. Most of them had been modified before this with the introduction of a grub screw safety system to prevent wheel departure. A small grub screw went through the nut and into a slot on the hub. I experienced wheel departure myself in my Aero, not a nice feeling, and I never liked the look of a 3 wheel Aero. The Plus 8 trad centrelocks on the other hand, fortunately, haven't shown any inclination to unscrew.