MRF ZTR tyres

Author
Discussion

northerner

Original Poster:

114 posts

217 months

Wednesday 4th March 2020
quotequote all
Has anyone used or come across these as a trackday tyre? If so, how do they compare with the usual suspects (R888R, Cup 2, AO52, etc)?

xjay1337

15,966 posts

125 months

Wednesday 4th March 2020
quotequote all
Lots of stories of failed tyres.


JamesBryan88

164 posts

162 months

Thursday 5th March 2020
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Bit faster than an AR1 from what i've heard.

I'm looking to try some for my Clio.

roddo

573 posts

202 months

Thursday 5th March 2020
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We have used them 3seasons they are a fantastic tyre much better than the direzza

Nickjd

208 posts

213 months

Wednesday 11th March 2020
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xjay1337 said:
Lots of stories of failed tyres.
Would be very interested in this evidence

Robert-cqonm

1 posts

56 months

Wednesday 11th March 2020
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I’m not sure where the faliure of MRF have come from? We’ve used them on various cars in Sprint and Endurance Racing with 0 issues.

We are always on the hunt for a extra bit of time and have been through every semi slick tyre you can think of. The MRF outperformed everything aside from Direzza which we couldn’t see any noticeable difference between. That said they’re a extremely good tyre that outperform the majority in all areas.

John Munro

1 posts

56 months

Wednesday 11th March 2020
quotequote all
I've had many discussions with people regarding these tires and have literally never heard any reports of failures.

We use them on our Mazda MX5 endurance race car. We switched to them from AR1's (also good tyres) and had the following results. Of course these are non-scientific as it depends on track temps, conditions, other factors etc. but this is genuinely my feedback on them:

They gave us, on average, a performance gain of one to two seconds a lap against the AR1. We now hold class lap records at Oulton International and Silverstone GP, tracks where the grip and consistency of a tyre have a huge impact.
They are a more consistent tyre, the feel never changes dramatically in any way, they always have the grip where and when you expect it.
They literally last twice as long before needing replacement (in a racing environment). We would be able to get 5-6 hours of driving at race pace on them before needing a new set. The AR1's lasted roughly 3 hours before we felt like a new set were required.

The reason they are not mentioned nearly as often as the bigger brands are simply because they don't yet have the recognition in Europe and not enough people have tried them. I have asked others about their experiences on them in different types of cars, heavier Porsche's and BMW's for example as well as front wheel drive stuff like clios. I have heard one comment of someone who preferred another tyre they had tried, but everyone else was singing their praises as much as I was. I genuinely believe they are the best value for money track-day tyre around. Worth a little bit more per corner than the AR1's because they will last pretty much twice as long, and many other cars in our championship are now switching to them for this season.

I'm sure most people that have used them will speak positively about them based on what I've seen so far, definitely worth a try if you can get the right size of tyre! MOT Motorsport is the place to check.

94brg

8 posts

177 months

Wednesday 11th March 2020
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Another clubenduro car running MRF ZTR here. Not seen or heard of any failures or issues with these tyres. Echo John's comments on the tyres consistency.

RotaryRacer

1 posts

56 months

Wednesday 11th March 2020
quotequote all
xjay1337 said:
Lots of stories of failed tyres.
Bold statement. Evidence?

We've raced on them for two years, taken sets way-past what would normally be considered acceptable use and zero failures. Not even the slightest hint of an issue.

Great feedback in dry and damp, grip levels commensurate with any of the leading brands, reasonable cost, no change in characteristic after multiple heat cycles... Struggling to find anyone that disagrees.

We run them in endurance races - 100min, 2hr, 3hr and 12hr. Sorry, that should be we WIN on them in endurance races.

Keyboard warrior springs to mind, are you a regular on the FB Track Time group too by chance?

DocSteve

718 posts

229 months

Wednesday 11th March 2020
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I used them on my old Mk3 track car and they were great tyres - quite incredible grip in the dry, it's only when it gets really wet that they struggle (as do any of these types of tyres). No issues with them whatsoever, the comment about failures doesn't seem to stack up given the races these tyres have successfully been used in.

They may be a bit of an unknown entity at the moment but I'll certainly vouch for them.

Steve

motorhole

678 posts

227 months

Wednesday 11th March 2020
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Never used them - but the race engineer who set up my car highly recommended them, plus they are used on the BMW Cup cars. I would have them in a heartbeat, they just don't do a 205/50/16....yet!

ttrjs

17 posts

85 months

Wednesday 11th March 2020
quotequote all
Had them on the MX5. Brilliant trackday tyres, best grip in the dry out of 4 different types I’ve tried so far. Very stiff sidewall, lovely consistent feel on turn in and across a fairly broad temperature range. Last well too. Never heard of anyone having issues with them either, with regards to failures.

xjay1337

15,966 posts

125 months

Wednesday 11th March 2020
quotequote all
RotaryRacer said:
xjay1337 said:
Lots of stories of failed tyres.
Bold statement. Evidence?
I found stories on some owners groups a few years ago on Facebook. I'm certainly not lying about it.

Glad though if they have improved their quality.

J.M.T

159 posts

162 months

Wednesday 11th March 2020
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Brilliant tyre. Used them on numerous cars and they work tremendously well.


Strongly recommend them

J.M.T

159 posts

162 months

Wednesday 11th March 2020
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roddo said:
We have used them 3seasons they are a fantastic tyre much better than the direzza
Have you compared both. My race series has changed from ZTR’s to dz03’s for this year. Not sure which tyre will do the quicker lap

Nickjd

208 posts

213 months

Wednesday 11th March 2020
quotequote all
xjay1337 said:
RotaryRacer said:
xjay1337 said:
Lots of stories of failed tyres.
Bold statement. Evidence?
I found stories on some owners groups a few years ago on Facebook. I'm certainly not lying about it.

Glad though if they have improved their quality.
I have a feeling you are getting tyres brands confused.

Humour

297 posts

158 months

Thursday 19th March 2020
quotequote all
Nickjd said:
xjay1337 said:
RotaryRacer said:
xjay1337 said:
Lots of stories of failed tyres.
Bold statement. Evidence?
I found stories on some owners groups a few years ago on Facebook. I'm certainly not lying about it.

Glad though if they have improved their quality.
I have a feeling you are getting tyres brands confused.
and/or confusing "stories" with facts. wink

xjay1337

15,966 posts

125 months

Thursday 19th March 2020
quotequote all
Not really. I just shared what I have read a few years ago.

Didn't say it was factual.......... gosh, some people.

Driver101

14,376 posts

128 months

Thursday 19th March 2020
quotequote all
xjay1337 said:
Not really. I just shared what I have read a few years ago.

Didn't say it was factual.......... gosh, some people.
How else would people pick up that statement?

Not everyone else would have read your posts across the forum to realise what you are like.

Before making such a big statement about a company make sure it's factual. Out of order posting such statements on the basis of some potential Facebook rumour you might have read a few years ago.




Nickjd

208 posts

213 months

Sunday 22nd March 2020
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xjay1337 said:
Not really. I just shared what I have read a few years ago.

Didn't say it was factual.......... gosh, some people.
Well here is a thing, as I actually did the original testing for MRF on slicks in 2014 at Rockingham when they were first looking to come into the European market, and that the ZTR tyre that people are talking about here only got released in in 2017 for the Civic Cup and in 2018 for the Fiesta Championship it is pretty hard to see how "Owners Groups" have reported many failures some years ago.
As I said, brand confusion.