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MG MGF Technical - TF suspension

A friend has a 04 TF 135 which he has just fitted 11 spoke 16" alloys with standard tyres.The car looks like it is riding too high and the ride is quite rough.Has any one fitted the comfort handling pack or the gaz coil over kit.Your thoughts please,
j. peirson

Mine came with SP2 as standard and I have always been dissappointed with the ride. It's very jittery even on some motorways. Prior to buying it I only tested a car with 15" wheels which seemed to be much better.

I'm going to get the MGOC dampers when I've got the spare cash. I could be disappointed again if they don't make a big difference!

Andy
Andy

Thought the 16" wheels were for the TF 160 only as it had a different suspension set up/ handling pack?
Techspeed do magical things with F/TF suspension and know all about their foibles, try them out..?
Timmeh

The SP2 springs hae 2 problems. Firstly they are over stiff (especially at the rear), the rates being 400 front, 800 rear.

Secondly they go coil bound at 45mm displacement.

Another problem is that the OE dampers are utter rubbish.

Hence the jittery ride and things like mid corner bump oversteer - the coil binding makes the suspension go solid.

The 05 TFs had softer springs as standard.

Mike Satur has developed some new springs that are slightly stiffer than the 05 springs which I am trialling atm (400 rear, 275 front) with adjustable spring pan Spax adjustable dampers.

TBH with this set up the front roll stiffness is a bit low (05 cars had a stiffer front ARB) and I think something like a 330 rate front spring would be better.

I hear good things about the MGOC set up, although ultimately it's less 'sporting' than the MS one - you pays yer money you takes yer choice I guess.

I've not tried the Gaz set up, though TBH I've always found Gaz dampers to be poor.
D Evans

Some interesting points there. The MGOC package only gets you new dampers. "The setup is less sporting" implies that it is softer but surely that would make it go coild bound earlier. I am confused.

The 16" wheels were fitted to all 160s and 135s with SP2.

My previous car was an F VVC. It was much more supple despite being on 16's.

Andy
Andy

Apologies, MGOC workshop told me they fitted the 05 springs as part of the package.

The MS springs are stiffer than 05 std as well as being shorter (same fitted length as SP2 springs but softer and without the coil binding problems).
D Evans

I have a Leda bespoke setup for my TF. Custom adjustable dampers and 350lbs Eibach springs at the front and 550llb at the back. Lowered to about SP2 height, didn't want to go lower to avoid scrapes.

This is easily the best mod I made to my TF. The ride is lurvely and the handling fantastic.
Tony L

BTW Don't fit the XPower/Eibach lowering springs if your car is fitted with sports pack 2. According to Leda the springs do not work well with this set up.

Ralph
Ralph

Well if you ask me don't fit the XPower springs to any TF, nasty things. I hated them on my car!
Tony L

Thanks so far for all ideas.
His car was standard without the sp2 pack. Having money to spend he has fitted 304mm brakes and calpiers and the 160s 11 spoke alloys to date but needs to lower the car.Have spoken to Maidstone Sports cars today to get a few ideas but they building a tf with Honda vtec power with super charger 300bhp nice !!!!!!!!.
Suspension mods to come.
Jamie
j. peirson

There seems to be some confusion over the Sport Pack numbers - in fact, even my local dealer (when it was still MGR) didn't seem to know what the differences were! SP2 is NOT lowered. The Packs were as follows:

SP1 - Lowered (by about 20mm from memory) - this is the rock hard one that everyone complained about.
SP2 - AP brakes + 16" 11 spoke wheels. Standard on TF160, optional otherwise. The suspension is standard on this, not lowered. The harsher ride comes from 16" wheels.
SP3 - Same as SP2 but with ultra lightweight 16" grey wheels.

You could order in combination, so you could have a lowered car with 15" wheels by ordering SP1 or a lowered car with 16" and AP brakes by ordering SP1 and SP2. The packs were separate, so for example SP2 did not include SP1.

See http://www.mgcars.org.uk/mgtf/mgtf02.html for the info.

Having said all that, I'm interested in a solution too (TF160 therefore SP2)!

Cheers,
Tim
Tim Jenner

I’ve not had my TF135 for too long and initially I was disappointed with the ride. I’ve now got used to it, played around with tyre pressure (this seems to make a big difference). So I’m now happy with the ride and handling, it may seem a bit harsh at first, but the tyres never leave the ground. So the springs and dampers must be working fine, even on bumpy roads. Pitch and Roll is very expectable, now I’ve now changed my driving style from my previous front wheel drive hatch understrear/point and shoot to get the best out of the TF. Still looking for a 15” brake upgrade though! Just for the record, from the above posts, I’ve built up a small table of the spring rates and options, but it has many holes in it, I’d be grateful for any information that will help me fill in the gaps, thanks.

Front Rear ARB Height
TF 04
TF 05
Mike Satura 275 400
SP1 -20mm
SP2 400 800
XPower/Eibach 350 550
Denis (TF135)

I've probably said all this before on another post! I've had Mike Satur fit TF subframes to my '96 F, using the MGOC/VHS Bilstein dampers with original TF springs. I've got 16" MGF Cup wheels with Avon ZZ3 205/40 front 215/40 rear. The dampers were fitted on the mid-height setting, and the ride height at front has come out at TF standard height, rather than 10mm lower (MGOC apparently recognise this, so there may have been a slight error in the design). The rear is at the revised height, so I will probably drop the fronts onto the lowest setting.
I've not yet had a chance to try it out seriously, but it rides very similarly to the 10-year-old Hydragas, without crashing and banging, and certainly no sense of coils going choc. I get no sensation of over or understeer at enthusiastic road speeds. Also the 280mm brakes with Mintex 1144 are very strong! I'm thinking of going for one of Knockhill's instruction days to find out a bit more about what it'll do.
M Cunningham 1

Denis just for clarity my Leda setup does not use Xpower/Eibach springs. My springs are Eibach but a completely different spec to the Xpower ones.

The spring rates would not be comparable to those used on diferent systems as ride height setting has an impact on the apropriate spring rate. For example if I set my ride height lower I would need to use softer springs. Also, the size of the damper used needs to match the spring used as there are springs of varying height available.
Tony L

Anyone tried http://www.vehiclehandlingsolutions.com/
bilsteins on their Tf?
John
John Thomas

Those are exactly the same as the MGOC sell.
Deborah Evans

VHS supply them to the MGOC :-)
Dave Livingstone

This thread was discussed between 12/09/2006 and 28/09/2006

MG MGF Technical index

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