Different tyres

[hammond]

Don't want to reopen debate about what make of tyres to use just a question to why the fronts have to be 195 and the rear 215 on the MGF?
I'm only reading from the maintenance manual so don't kill me if I'm wrong!
Also if I have 215 all round is that a problem and what difference will I feel when driving the car?

[Mike H]

It won't strictly be unsafe to use them, but it could have an effect on how the car handles under cornering. The reason MG fitted narrower tyres to the front was to alter the driving characteristics of the TF. With the TF being mid engined and RWD, with the same size tyres all round the car has a tendency to oversteer if cornering fast. FWD cars have a tendency to understeer, which is regarded as being easier to control, so to make the TF understeer like a FWD car and thus be easy/safer to drive for people not used to a RWD car, MG fitted narrower front tyres.

This is also true of most mid engined RWD cars - take a look at the Lotus Elise for example.

One implication of fitting wider tyres at the front will be that the car has a greater tendency to tramline.

[John SS]

When I replaced the tyres with Falkens I went from 215 to 195 on the front and the steering definitely felt sharper and the 'turn in' more precise .

[Reckless Rat]

Should the fronts on the MGF not be 185 and not 195?

[hammond]

Should the fronts on the MGF not be 185 and not 195?

The official workshop manual says 195. When I changed mine there was 215 all rounds so I just replaced like for like. Now it appears I'll have to change two front ones just 4 months and 500 miles later
Anyone wanna buy two brand new 215?

Thanks for the advice guys

[talkingcars]

Just save them for when your rears wear out.

[Mike H]

It should be 185/55 R15 with 205/50 R15 on the 15 inch wheels, and 195/45 R16 with 215/40 R16 on the 16 inch.
(From both the Workshop Manual and sales literature from 2001.)

[Steve White]

Seems there is some confusion being caused by these workshop manuals, which I think state what can be fitted not what was originally fitted to a particular car.
The true answer as to what you should have fitted is in your cars handbook.
Fortunately I have access the Mk2 F handbook, note 215/40R16 front and rear, no mention of 195/45R16 at all

So to answer the original question, you don't have to have 195 on the front

[hammond]

Thanks Steve, throwing a spanner in the works.
I can also see recommended pressures too from your picture. I'll check them too.
Maybe I'll keep 215 all round now.
(don't want this thread to descend into disagreements!)

[RobboMC]

I been playing with mid-engined cars for most of my life. In my early days I had a Lotus Europa. Built to a low cost, it had something like 185/70 R14 front and rear ( don't quote me it's long ago ) even though the F1 team fully understood the need for more rubber at the back this did not get transferred to the road car. Consequently on the track the Europa has exceptionally tail happy. I quickly learned to never try and catch the tail,
at track days the lap was stuffed by then anyway and I was advised to let the thing slide and just keep it off the fence.

With the Esprit, Lotus took on the challenge of different width rubber front and rear and have continued with the Elise variants. With the F, MG have followed suit. My car arrived with 195/50 all round as down here it's more difficult to get the correct sizes. The choices for 195's are much greater. I had 20,000 enjoyable km wearing them out. The car was not unsafe and definitely quite drivable though it was typically tail happy at the screaming limit. Going to the shops or work it was fine.

Now in my mind there's 3 limits, there's the 'limit', the 'screaming limit' and the 'faaaaaarrrkk I just lost control' limit. As a prudent driver I never go past the 'screaming limit' on the road.

On the 'limit' you really can't tell the difference between having the same tyre size all round and a front/rear difference. This is when you're zinging around the bend without much tyre squeal ( well maybe a bit of squealing )
But once you get to the 'screaming limit' ( this is where you passenger is screaming, hence the name ) you should notice the excess of front end grip.
When I wore out the 195's and got a set of Falkens in 185-205 I immediately noticed within the first 10 km the reduction in the tendency to rotate
when cornering on the limit.

Which brings me to the 'I just lost control' limit.
This is ONLY for track days so if you don't go onto a track stop reading now.
Racing drivers find that excessive oversteer makes the car slow and hard to control, understeer is preferred.
Now I have never even driven a TF with 215/40 tyres on the road, let alone on the track; but I would expect it to oversteer noticably
with the same rubber front and rear. I can tell you than I wud rotate my Europa almost once a meeting. Yep I was young and impetuous but the rubber layout didn't help.

I have had my F to the 'limit' and 'screaming limit' and I have found the 185-205 set up does indeed make it less tail happy. I am yet to get it onto the track but I'm working on it. Personally, I wud never fit anything but the 185-205 set up to 15" rims on an F.

I will leave opinions on the 215/40 16" set up to those that have driven on those tyres.

[Mike H]

...(don't want this thread to descend into disagreements!)

It won't - I bow to Steve's superior knowledge/information

[Bigfootmgf]

Well I have driven on 215's all round in my f for over 10years and done lots of track days and as long as you know the limits it's fine! As for the 15" 185/205 I did my first track day with these and it was the most scary time under steering around.
I put this down to the tyres tho! I also now have my front wheels toed in to improve feel.

[ErikB]

The 195-215 setup on 16" wheels mentioned earlier in this thread, was the setup of the MGF Trophy IIRC.

[floozy]

MKII F - 215s all round for over 90,000 miles and find them absolutely fine on both motorway and twisties. To be honest since the 80th has had the Bilsteins fitted (195s up front) I find very little difference between the two (extra oomph from the 80th aside )