Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Classic Morgans (pre-CX) New Tyres Day

David I have a 2013 Narrow Body +4 it came with Avon CR6ZZ 185/70/15 and I have always bought the same but as you know they are very expensive at £356. It's my understanding that the composition is the same as the old F3 wets and I believe they are the tyre of choice for Morgan racers. I have always foud them to have superb grip especially in the wet. If you decide to go with the Blockleys I would welcome your opinion of them when you return as I am not far off a tyre change.

That’s great to hear Burgundymog. I agree that the Avon’s are great but haven’t managed to find any. Until now! I see that Demon Tweaks list them.

I think I am going to give the Blockleys a go so will report back in May when I return. Presuming that I do, of course! Not taking anything for granted because although I am a relatively fit 59yr old it will be well below freezing and only 12% oxygen. And I am praying that when we get down, the car will still be there!

I won’t buy the tyres until the end of February so if anyone has any Blockley experience to share I will be very interested and grateful.

David

As Dave has said, Tubeless wires came out a long time ago and I would bet that yours are tubeless unless older tyres/wheels have been fitted.

Most plus 4's are fitted with 195 60 R15 tyres as standard, When I upgraded my tyres last year I fitted 195 65 R15 tyres. Two reasons, firstly to give me slightly greater ground clearance, yes only 10mm but on a Morgan that's a good bit extra! Especially where you are going!
Secondly It puts you into a common size tyre ie. VW polo size and gives you greater choices. For your expedition I would recommend the Michelin all season 2 tyre. It will give you the best grip in all conditions and I can see you seeing them all! It has very compliant wall structure which forms the first part of the Morgan's suspension and coupled with the slightly higher wall height it really improves the ride quality, Oh yes it truly does! The series 2 which is relatively new out has a more open tread pattern and tends not to pick stones up and then fire them out damaging the alloy wings too.

Next tyre changing. The tyre should be removed from the rear or inside rim face as the tyre is less likely to damage the sealant. Most tyre fitters will do this outer face up so be ready with the advice and insist they mount your wheel outer face down!

Balancing Wire wheels....... I can more or less guarantee they will just slap your wheel with the new tyre straight onto the balancing machine. Not only can this damage your wheel but is unlikely to produce a good balance. You need to use balancing cones for wire wheels and yep, you've guessed right, they won't have any. Can I suggest you buy a set and keep them in the car. Bet you damage a tyre or two on your adventure and will need them balancing when replacing. Should get a set for under £100 and they fit tyre balancing machines! Think the size is for 42mm cones but hopefully someone will confirm!
Tyre cost for these top of the range tyres is £112-120 per tyre. You are not racing and Avon's have a very soft structure and I think you'll shred them when the going gets tough! On the narrow body car I wonder if anyone can confirm if moving up to a 195 tyre would cause tyre/body contact. The only thing more I would suggest if not already on your car would be the fitment of brake reaction bars or cross head top stabilisation bars, again in the £100 range but will make the steering behave so much better with better precession and less fatigue. I can recommend Mulfab items.

Best of luck with your plans and don't be frightened to use the TM site for help.

Oh, Perhaps a Wolf performance crossmember bash plate too, if again one is not fitted! under car protection of lowest part of your car and helps shield the gearbox too. You'd be surprised how well it can ease you over a nasty obstacle!

Hi Sewin, you’ve put a lot of time into writing that - thank you.

I would like to stick with the 185/70R15 tyres and I don’t think Michelin make anything to fit except for the XWX which I have on my DB6 and find them a bit snappy in cold wet conditions. Pirelli P6000’s are possible but also ridiculously expensive and possibly a bit soft as you suggest the Avon might be.

I have a few prewar cars with wire wheels (another Aston and a Lagonda) and my local Ferrari classic restoration a servicing garage have cones and balancing skills which I have used before so that won’t be a problem.

I think the Brockley is still looking favourable subject to any negative reviews.

Thanks again.

Sewin 190 tyres will rub on the chassis well before full lock on a NB +4

DB 07 - David - friends drove to Morocco a couple of years ago. Entered via Tangiers port, sent you a PM

Thanks Burgundymog,

I had wondered if that might have been the case as the crosshead is the same width as the 4/4. Personally I would probably consider fitting the 195 tyre and installing rub rollers, after all how often do you use full lock. More technically you could install steering rack stops in the slot at each end of the rack to restrict the full amount of lock achievable but that might be just too much trouble. I am sure though that owning one you will have excellent knowledge of tyre options which will work. For me, I was drawn to the plus 4 2009 model-on as it has the roadster body, so I don't have that issue. I might be being dense here, but was the narrow bodied car made purely for aesthetic reasons ie. to look like an original 4/4, I know they were made only to original customer order request. Is there any other benefit I'm not aware of?
I suppose you could increase tyre width on the back for better grip/traction and leave the fronts standard. I have of course seen the narrow bodied cars and assumed MMC only made them after standardising the chassis across the range at the demise of the plus 8. Is it the same body wise as the 4/4?I would love to know why and how they came about. There are quite a lot of high performance cars about with a much narrower track at the front than at the rear and with wider profile rear tyres, I wonder if MMC saw this as a racing option chassis yet on a standard car?

The lozenge shape emerged with the BTR axle, and there's a difference of up to five inches, front to back. It can catch people out with narrow drives. It nearly caught me out in 2008 because I only measured the front track.

In 2004 the 4/4 had a narrower crosshead. Plus4 and Roadster the same width until 2010, when the Roadster went wider when the Roadster Sport was introduced.

The tyre issue is complex because 4/4 wheels have a greater inset than either Plus 4 or Roadster. It's in my book and also on the MWS website. Only a few mm, but do not assume all 185/70s fit because they don't. The pinch point is the upper spring mounting on the end of the crosshead. In 2016 I asked the factory if they would fit Blockleys from new. They agreed but found that they didn't clear the spring mount, whereas the Avons do.

195s will not work on 4/4 wheels. MWS said that they can squeeze a couple of mm by tweaking the spoke settings, and the offset/inset figs reflect that, having a plus/minus a few mm in the dimensions.

SO.....always check the front clearance on 4/4 wire wheels, even on 185/70s.

Thanks Dave.... Should have checked the bible! Stupid question here , would plus 4 standard wire's with the smaller inset work on a narrow body for better tyre options? Any idea why and how the narrow body plus 4 happened?