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MG MGF Technical - nct3 fronts & falkens rear

Tyre time again.

My nct3 rears are shot but cannot source replacements as they've been superseded. I've been recommended Falkens. Does anyone have a view on putting these directional tyres on the rear while keeping the nct3's on the front? There's stacks of tread left on the front and it seems a shame to bin them for the sake of consistency.

They are the standard 1998 Mpi 15" rims on a 90,000 mile car so I'm looking to keep costs down - but not at the expense of safety.

Trevor
Trevor Hobden

>>Does anyone have a view on putting these directional tyres on the rear while keeping the nct3's on the front? <<

What does the tyre supplier say ? Are the Falkens his suggestion ? Micheldever Tyres can be relied upon to give good advice - but beware of 'special offers' from some of the so-called cut-price dealers.

I've had a Bridgestone S02 rear / NCT3 front combination and found it OK. I would guess it would be similar with Falkens rear / NCT3 front (but certainly not the other way round). I'd go for it, on the basis that I could always change the fronts if I really had to.
Steve

I have falkens on my trackday wheels and in the dry no problems at all but in the wet not quite as good as F1 but probably a match or even better then than NCT3.

As long as each axle is the same tyre cannot see a problem fitting falken to the rear and keeping the nct3 on the front.

Tom
Tom Randell

Trevor,

You may be able to get 4 toyo proxies for the price of 2 of the falkens.
Leigh

Thanks for the advice, all.

Steve - the tyre guy (one man band) has always been cheap but would like to sell me 4 Falkens butr has no problem supplying two rears - for 106ukp fitted and balanced.

Leigh - Toyo's are notoriously soft are they not? The NCT's have no grip but last forever - this is only my second set after 60K miles. Anyway, I'm not sure I could trust any tyre that's going to cost 25 quid a corner!

Trevor
Trevor Hobden

I found the TOYO to be very good on my F (on standard 15") - and good value at around £52 each.
JohnP

Have just fitted Toyos on a friends standard F to rear and left NCT's on front, big improvment. Car was used on track day and gains were huge. Good value for money.
When my car is back on the road I will fit same size front and rear and will report further.
Andrew Regens

>>When my car is back on the road I will fit same size front and rear and will report further.<<

Already been done Andrew and I've been singing their praises ever since.

>>Toyo's are notoriously soft are they not?<<

I put 205s all round so that I could swap front and back. I actually did this but found that the handling was affected. I think that the rears get worn "squarer" and the fronts "rounder" if that makes sense. When I changed them over I found that the steering felt strange and the car tramlined a lot more, so I swapped them back again. Got about 16k from my original Goodyears on the rear and I'm about 15k with the Toyos with about 1k left in them - so they aren't any worse for wear but are a lot better for grip. Looks like I'll be fitting two sets to the rear for every one on the front. In my opinion Toyos are the best value for money tyre that you can buy for the MGF.
David Clelland

Well the Falkens are on and it's not all good. I've put on 100 motorway miles yesterday and found it weaves gently at the back at steady speeds over 60 - no hard acceleration or braking. It's not uncontrollable but distinctly unsettling after 60K miles of rock solid handling. Called the tyre guy and said he'd had one other F with these who had this problem (thanks for telling me before putting them on mine). He said pump them up to 32psi and give it another couple of hundred miles.

When I checked this morning found the nearside at 31 and the offside at 25. I'm hoping the discrepancy made enough of a difference to cause the weave. Pumped them both up to 32 and did 55 miles to work. I think it is still there to a degree but I am hyper sensitive to it now - and it was raining. I'll see what it's like when the roads dry out ...

David - I'm obviously not trying hard enough. I easily get 20k+ out of the nct3's on the rear. The fronts are even better. Changed them at 25K miles ago and there's still loads of wear left.
Trevor Hobden

>>They are the standard 1998 Mpi 15" rims on a 90,000 mile car<<
Have you replaced the suspension / subframe bushes ?
How about ball joints etc ?
Perhaps the different tyre pressures highlighted a problem which has been creeping up on you.
Steve

It sounds like similar problems to when I had new goodyear F1 GSD3 put on the back the car felt unstable but once bedded in (500+ miles) they got better and better.

32 psi sounds a bit high for normal road use, on 15" wheels I use to use about 28psi rear 26 psi front.

Tom
Tom Randell

This thread was discussed between 21/06/2004 and 23/06/2004

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