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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - Soft or Medium compound

Sorry all those who are bored with tyre issues.
Can anyone let me know the pro's and cons of using the soft or medium compound Yokohama 048 tyres on a midget.
Use will be road and trackday maybe the odd hillclimb or sprint.
Many thanks Stuart.
S BREEZE

plenty of reviews on this tyre on t'internet

generally we expect a lot from our tyres for just one type of use and you're expecting two types of use from one tyre so there will be greater compromises in some areas

obviously road tyres are very compromised for competitive track use but also track type tyres are compromised for road use

as a very wide generalised statement good grippy track style tyres tend to be not so good on wetter roads

I’d contact Yokohama UK as I understand there are storage conditions to be apply to and I don’t know but it might be they do different compounds for different markets

only as an example, we had two Atoms at the November NEC Sporting Bears Dream Rides a couple of years ago one could only go out when all the water was off the roads the other was putting in good runs all day long, apart from different owners/drivers it was the tyres
Nigel Atkins

I had a set of A048s on my Midget and loved them. Good traction wet or dry and reasonable highway mileage. If I had taken care of the poor toe alignment up front they would have lasted much longer. They do wear fast with highway use though. Very predictable with breakaway in the dry a bit abrupt in the wet. They heat up well on the track even after long street and hiway use, so not as sensitive to heat cycles as most race tire compounds. You're not going to have the grip of a race tyre with these, but pretty close and you don't have to have a spare set of wheels and tyres for those track days. I'd probably still have some on my car but they stopped making the 205s available here in the US last year.

Don't know what compound they were, but suspect a medium soft tyre as they had pretty good wear characteristics.
B Young

interesting review Bill, I wonder how much difference there is in the type of road surface where you are and over here and if the compound is the same (could be the same for both but I'd have possibly not for road surface)

did you have any problems on roads with standing water?

for highway type use over here it's (hopefully) steady constant speeds with next to no braking and very little use of the steering wheel so the tyre and car are wasted unless it's the best way to get rid of high mileage to where you're going

fast wearing is to be expected but is also relative to what someone is used to or expects, if you expect around 3,000 miles before replacing and get you get 6,000 you're very happy but not the other way round
Nigel Atkins

I've had similar A032r tyres on my Riley Elf. Personally I'd go with the medium compound. My 998 Elf destroyed a pair of the A032r's soft compound in less than 4000 road miles :-/
J White

Thanks for the comments,I have read various reports but they were for evo's & impretza types, These are obviously heavier and more powerfull than the midget and I wasn,t sure if they would be that relevant?
I was also expecting high tyre wear,not really sure how high but what the hell.(would be pleased to get 3k, my bike used to get through a set in 2.5k and they were really expensive compared to the yoko's)
What i hadn't thought about was storage conditions,I will look into that.
One of the things i am concerned about is will the midget be able to generate enough heat into the medium compound tyre or will it do this with ease. Would the soft compound be able to cope with 100 miles on the road on a nice hot day? I simply have no experience with this type of tyre.
S BREEZE

Stuart,
hold out for more reviews

you’re quite right that the relevance is limited of reviews from cars that are heavier, more powerful and with different drive

again I’d suggest have the cars facts to hand and contacting Yokohama UK for their (with good reason) very guarded response

obviously if you have loads of grip and pushing the car on a track you’ll want your suspension and brakes to be up to it and aware of the additional stress and wear
Nigel Atkins

now's tea's over, I did mean to put:

a car like a Midget with low weight and power I think would probably do more than 6,000 miles before the tyres were worn out, I just used the figures as an example

plus depending on what type of track or sport you can have too much grip for best progress - not sure how much that would apply to a standard Spridget
Nigel Atkins

Well I definately wouldn't go for the soft. After a couple of laps on a track day the rubber would be rolling off them. I use the soft on my Sprite for Hillclimbs and Sprints. They are excellent but if you use them on the road or for multiple laps they wear like mad and even feel as though they're overheating on two lap events in hot weather. I'd go for medium as a compromise. Would be interested to know how they are as I'm thinking of trying some for trackdays as well.
John Payne

I have used both compounds on my race car. No noticeable problem with the soft compound which I found better in the wet but no difference really in the dry. I would go for the mediums though if using on the road. A set of those would last a season (10 15 or 20 min races plus qualifying) with plenty of tread left. Really good tyres.
John Collinson

This thread was discussed on 14/02/2012

MG Midget and Sprite Technical index

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