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MG MGF Technical - Concave tyre profile

I seem to have a concave (dished centre section) tyre profile on all my NCT3 tyres

- is this normal?
- has a previous owner over-inflated and thereby scrubbed the centre off?
- do all NCT3's have this profile?
- does this account for an oversensitivity to road surfaces?

Tyre pressures are correct to book and they have done 12k. Been like it since purchased at 6k - 3 months ago.

Any advice greatly appreciated.
M J Roscoe-Hudson

Use a tyre tread deph guage and measure all the grooves across tyre.

If the centre grooves show less depth/mm's then as you say the tyre must have been run overinflated for some time.

No NCT's are not built like that.
Joe

It sounds as thought the tyre might have been over inflated. NCT's should be normal square profile.

As regard to the handling of the tyres the general concensus is to replace them with Eagle F1's of Bridgestone SO3's et al. If you do replace tyres NEVER put high performance tyres on the front axle compared to the rear ie. don't leave the NCTs on the rear and replace the fronts for anything different. It'll end in disaster....

If you are in Wiltshire the best and cheapest place to go is Micheldever tyres, a huge place and great deals £250 ish for F1's all round inc fitting and balance.

Micheldever tyres 01962 774437

Tim
tim woolcott

>It'll end in disaster....
more precicsly they will end up being the front tyres ;-)
Will Munns

All 4 have less depth in the centre, approx half the total width I'd say.

Do you think this would seriously affect the sensitivity to road surfaces, I drive a lot of back lanes everyday and the car is really quite skittish, more than a 944 with 215 width tyres I used to own, usually the wider the tyre the more sensitive I thought.

If so perhaps I should replace them now with the Bridgestones, or go back to the dealer and complain? (bought in October)

Thanks for the info. Where abouts is Micheldever Tim?
M J Roscoe-Hudson

Hi. I have exactly the same profile and I can garantee you that they have never been over-inflated.
The centre section seems not to make contact with the road but nevertheless is the part where the thread is less deep.

Never knew why...

Cheers, Valter.

Valter

Same for me when I had NCT5s. The centre of the rear tyres wore first and the pressures were always correct.

Bruce
Bruce Caldwell

Micheldever is near where A303 meets the M3.
The Tyre place is next to the railway station which is well signposted from the A303.

I can highly recommend Bridgestone RE720s - better life than S02s/SO3s with excellent grip and not at all skittish.

Micheldever are also very good at wheel alignment - although you may need to book for four wheel alignment.

Steve
Steve

Forgot to add, that I only notice this on the rears.
They are know very worn and hard. Not good news on the wet... 38k km...
Valter

Valter, I wonder if this means that the camber/track/etc for the rear wheels causes them to wear this way?

If so it might explain the fact that all 4 of my tyres are this way having had the rears moved to the front at about 6k (miles) maybee. And I agree with you about wet weather grip (bet it's not snowing in Lisbon though) sooner I change to Bridgestones or F1's the better.

But all seems a bit odd to me. Need other opinions methinks.
M J Roscoe-Hudson

You swapped front and rears?
Arent they different sizes?
Russell

Good point Russell. No I didn't, but just as stupidly I thought the previous owner might have done. But then that would be stupid.
M J Roscoe-Hudson

M J,

>>I wonder if this means that the camber/track/etc for the rear wheels causes them to wear this way?<<

No, it's only the center section, not the outside or inside of the tyre. The camber is not adjustable on the F and I'm sure it's not a tracking problem. Normally it's problem of incorrect tyre pressure. But as it seems that everyone here solve the problem when swapping the NCT's to a proper tyre, I guess it's a caracteristic of this specific tyre? I don't know...

I will swap them sooner or later, the only reason I didn't this already is because nowadays I only use the F during sunny days.

Cheers, Valter.
Valter

Sunny days - I remember those!
M J Roscoe-Hudson

This thread was discussed on 09/01/2003

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