The MGF Register Forums

“The GSD2 Good Year tyre is the approved OE fitment to MGTF. This tyre (and NOT the GSD3) is still the only fully approved tyre for this vehicle.


Where the GSD2 is unavailable, MG Motor recommends either the Falken Ziex ZE912 (now ZE914 from May, 2014) or the Toyo Proxes TI-R as appropriate. MG Motor has conducted limited testing on these alternatives to the Good Year when fitted as a car set.


MG Motor currently has no data on extended tyre wear for these alternatives.

Technical details of tyres tested:-

Front – Falken Ziex ZE912 195/45 R16 80V I0123 Extra Load, country of manufacture - Thailand.
Rear - Falken Ziex ZE912 215/40 R16 88W I0123 Extra Load, country of manufacture - Thailand.

Edit: The above Falkens have now been superseded, and the following tyres are recommended in their place:
Front - Falken Zeix ZE914 195/45 x R16 84V
Rear - Falken Zeix ZE914 215/40 x R16 86W


Front - Toyo Proxes T1-R 195/45 R16 80V PXT1-R-2 ANH3608, country of manufacture - Japan
Rear - Toyo Proxes T1-R 215/40 R16 88W PXT1-R-3 ANH3608, country of manufacture - Japan

MG Motor is committed to support the customer gain the most from their car and would advise strongly that tyres should be fitted as a vehicle set.


Once tyres have been balanced and fitted, the car should be checked on a 4-wheel laser alignment machine against the correct data. This will prolong tyre life and ensure that the car is configured to our recommended settings.

The advice of a reputable tyre specialist and/or MG Motor Approved dealer should be sought in tyre selection and fitting to suit local conditions and vehicle use.


Mixing tyres across the same axle is not recommended. Mixing tyres front to rear (i.e. having different tyres on the front axle to the rear) is also not recommended.


Although the legal minimum tread depth in the UK is 1.6mm across the contact patch, tyre manufacturers will advise that wet grip deteriorates below 3mm.


Tyre pressures will be found in the vehicle handbook. 26psi front and 36 psi rear will suit 135s and LE500. 85th Anniversary cars run 30psi front, 36psi rear.”

Thanks for posting this Colin. Looks to be pretty much in line with what we've been saying for the last 5-10 years - which is nice to have confirmed that we've all been talking sense all this time!

Not come across the Falken Ziex - any one got any experience with them?

As you know, I'm happy with Toyo's, I'm on my third set with no problems at all, they are good on price, lack of road noise, wearability, wet grip, dry grip thay tick all of my boxes.

When the front tyres wore out on my boy's Clio 197 the replacements were Continentals but were so expensive so I sopke to my local tyre place, he's an independant so answers to no major company, I asked him what he would recommend as the best alternative, he recommended Falken as, through his experience they are good at what they do and price, they were fitted and the cat feels fine (with 197 bhp going through the front wheels it can be a handful too). I don't know about their performance on an F or TF though, I'm aware B&G's, Mike Satur and the MGOC recommend Toyo's and sell wheel/tyre combinations with them already fitted.

I use Falkens on the ZT and find them perfectly adequate.
FWIW I am now on my 3rd set of Dunlop SP9000's on the TF. They are very close to GSD2's for cost and wear rate and have a little more grip to boot, so have never felt the need to try Toyo's.

That's a new one Steve, I haven't heard of people using Dunlop SP's , interesting news.

please could this be made a sticky thread ?

colintf wrote:please could this be made a sticky tread ?

Certainly Col, what size and speed rating

Good idea as I'm searching for tyres with not much luck so far, although my local tyre place has two front Toyo T1-Rs in stock, rears might be coming into the UK at the end of the week.
He's also got front Goodyear GSD2 in, but no rears

Ditto Jerry - I was advised that my fronts were in and that the rears would be another 6-8 weeks. But then I did order them in early December, with a delivery of May/June quoted originally. How soon I actually need them will be partly determined by Silverstone next Monday

Mike H wrote:Ditto Jerry - I was advised that my fronts were in and that the rears would be another 6-8 weeks. But then I did order them in early December, with a delivery of May/June quoted originally. How soon I actually need them will be partly determined by Silverstone next Monday

That's why I got a set of Trophy wheels recently Mike, I can re-furb and get new tyres on in no real hurry, and then swop over and re-furb my multispokes at my leisure. Probably aim for six month intervals of swopping and re-furbing etc.

Am I the only one who is surprised that the falkens are directional?

Not really surprising as there a mixed tread tyre, partly a wet tread pattern.
Making it directional means the tread is always offside/nearside

Is there a good list of current tyres... MG approved or enthusiast tried?

ElectroSoldier wrote:Is there a good list of current tyres... MG approved or enthusiast tried?

This may help you a little, Dave
Which Tyres From Rob Bells Website Click Here

My local indepedant tyre place recommends Kumho's. He goes on reliability, cost, customer review and mileage.

sniperpenguin wrote:Am I the only one who is surprised that the falkens are directional?

I was under the impression the Falkens are asymmetrical, not directional

Spark135 wrote:

sniperpenguin wrote:Am I the only one who is surprised that the falkens are directional?

I was under the impression the Falkens are asymmetrical, not directional

Asymetric



Manufacturer link: http://www.falkentire.com/Tires/Passeng ... X-ZE-912-2

Spark135 wrote:

sniperpenguin wrote:Am I the only one who is surprised that the falkens are directional?

I was under the impression the Falkens are asymmetrical, not directional

It was a mis-type on my part - I meant *NOT* directional. I have a number of (probably ill-informed! ) reservations about this announcement. They have seemed to....

1. Recommended an MPV-aimed (by Falken's admission) an assymetrical tyre (Falken 912's) as a potential replacement
2. Recommended a well-proven tyre (Toyo T-1R) that is already in short supply and is about to be discontinued.
3. Ignored all of the other tyre manufacturers with compatible directional tyres during their test (Nexen, Bridgestone, Yokohama, Avon, Continental)
4. Admitted that they had no long term wear rates for their recommended tyres.

Its my personal opinion that the Falken 452's would been a better choice, they just dont do them in the front sizes

4 Toyo's fitted today, car feels better than the mix of makes that were on the car when I bought it.

F's and TF's are fussy about tyres, don't mix is the motto

In mid April I had new tyres fitted to the front of the LE500 by SMC, while it was in for the safety recall. Today's mail brought May 2011 Enjoying MG which has an article about TF tyres and says specifically that Goodyear F1 GSD3 are NOT approved. Guess what the MG agents SMC have just fitted to the front of my TF? - Yup Goodyear F1 GSD3.

Do I take it back and ask for them to be replaced? The Enjoying MG sad that the GSD3 tyres were dangerous on the rear but no mention of their suitability to the front axle. I did a couple of hundred miles over the weekend on the back roads of Norfolk, including the odd bit of speed-cornering when I had the road to myself and did not notice any difference from the GSD2 tyres that were fitted originally.

The rears were replaced earlier with a pair that SMC had ordered in for a customer who then did not purchase, so I guess I was lucky with that replacement.

Would appreciate advice from those who have been driving TFs longer than I.