Surely you remember all those hot sport-compact cars of ten years ago? Well, we can barely remember them ourselves, but it turns out that tire manufacturers do, because they built ultra high-performance tires for them. Fortunately all that tire technology has not gone to waste.
As we learned at the introduction of the BFGoodrich g-Force Sport Comp-2 the other week, the tire companies initially thought ultra high-performance (UHP) tires would never be more than a marginal market segment, just like hot sport-compact cars. Instead the market for Z-rated tires since 2006 has grown 10 times faster than the overall U.S. tire market. It’s expected to double in size by 2016 when it will become 8 percent of the overall tire market.
We’d guess that this means a Z-rated tire is probably coming to your car sometime soon, and we’ll bet that it will be a lot like BFG’s Comp-2.
As the BFG people told us, the market for UHP tires has come with the transition from lightweight imports to American muscle cars, and now some 80 percent of the cars on the road with Z-rated tires come on cars with 18-, 19- and 20-inch wheels. American cars were only 43 percent of the UHP tire market in 2004, but BFG predicts that by 2015 American cars will be 54 percent of this market.
With the BFGoodrich g-Force Sport Comp-2, BFG has updated the technology of its g-Force Sport tire for larger, heavier American cars. More important, it has drastically increased the number of sizes in which the tire is available.
What you’ll care about is performance, of course. Just as you’d expect, the tire carcass, tread design and rubber compound have been improved. The carcass has been reinforced to withstand the weight of larger cars, the tread design has been made stiffer for better steering response, and the high-silica rubber compound has changed to deliver better wet and dry grip. Compared to the g-Force Sport, BFG reckons the Comp-2 tire delivers a 30 percent improvement in wet grip and about an 8 percent improvement in dry handling.
Equally interesting is the way BFG portrays its technology, reminding us that the way the carcass, tread and compound work together is more important than any one component itself. For example, it’s no use putting grippy rubber on a floppy tread, because the tread blocks will rip away. Lots of grip on a floppy tire carcass is just as disastrous because the tire just rolls under the wheel in the corners.
Of course, we also learned that tires are like car accessories of all kinds in that they have to look good. The engineers admit that an asymmetric tire pattern would further improve the grip of this new UHP tire, but car owners like to look at their tires. That’s why the Comp-2 has a full-width tread that incorporates those zippy g-shape tread blocks. It’s also why the sidewall looks faintly like a racing tire, fairly free of any labels molded into the surface.
We learned a lot at Auto Club Speedway while using a Camaro, Challenger and Mustang to do acceleration and braking tests, autocross, and some laps on the infield road course. We really liked the overall balance of BFGoodrich g-Force Sport Comp-2, just as we did its predecessor. But the real story here is the way in which UHP tires are evolving to suit the high-performance cars on the street, which includes a lot more Mustangs and a lot fewer Civics than ten years ago. We expect other tire makers will also expand their offerings in a similar fashion.
Chris Walton, Chief Road Test Editor
DLu says:
09:42 AM, 02/ 9/12
how do they compare to the Micheline Pilot Super Sports? I haven't broken in my set before winter hit, so it'll be a couple of months for me to put them back on ...
stoppre75 says:
10:10 AM, 02/ 9/12
I had a set of Michelin Pilot Sport A/S Plus on my car...and I hated almost everything about them.
Their $1400 price
Their 21,000 mile life
Their crazy uneven wear characteristics
They did offer a whole lot of grip on a 4400lb car - but i can't spend $1400 every 20 months on tires, thats absurd.
I replaced them with a set of Continental DWS's. They have DW's for summer-only use. A bunch of people who drive my car (STS-V) are switching to them and I couldn't be happier. I gave up some at-time-limit grip but I saved over $400 on the set and after 13,000 miles they are all perfectly even with minimal wear - looking like they will easily go 30-40k miles.
Tires are Shoes for your car. Each is going to fit a specific car differently and each person wants something slightly different out of their tires. The goal is to find a match, not every high performance car needs 200 treadwear Z rated tires
csubowtie says:
11:33 AM, 02/ 9/12
Cool news. It's good to see an American company go after this segment. I know Goodyear has the Supercars, but from what I've read, those tires are universally unloved, and the Michelins are king. I like to buy American when I can, so having a good option is good news. Plus after having a few set's of BFG's on different trucks, I have become a fan of the brand. The BFG AT is in my opinion the best all around truck tire, period. Let's hope this new car tire is one of the best as well.
subytrojan says:
01:28 PM, 02/ 9/12
csubowtie, Michelin is BFG's parent company.
cwalton1 says:
02:05 PM, 02/ 9/12
Let's not forget that BFG and Michelin are part of the same company, so we didn't have any Michelin tires (PS2 or otherwise on hand or on-wheel) to compare to these g-Force Sport Comp2s.
I can tell you that I have thousands of miles of track (and road) experience on PS2s, and these Comp2s are about as close to a PS2 experience as I've ever driven: similar grip, progression, heat tolerance, etc. They might even be using the same compound(?). In general terms, Pirelli PZero Rossos probably offer more grip but "step off" more abruptly. The new Goodyear Eagle F1 Supercar G:2 has potential to rival the PS2's progressive breakaway, but I have limited experience on these.
We did get back-to-back comparisons (within each event) in otherwise identical cars with the following UHP summer tires vs. the BFG Comp2s: Cooper Zeon, Hankook Ventus, Kumho Ecsta, and Yokohama S.Drive... and the Comp2s were clearly better in every event. Of course, BFG DID design/host the event, after all, so this is no surprise.
I hope this answered some of your questions.
Chris Walton
church123 says:
05:49 PM, 02/ 9/12
Not bad. A cheap way to get old PS2 performance basically. But that means that they will be a step or two below the Super Sports (which are freakin awesome - and come with a 30k mile treadwear warranty - on a performance tire!). But, if they cost a lot less, that's totally cool.
noburgers says:
06:18 PM, 02/ 9/12
@stoppre75 that is CRAZY operating cost for tires--over $2 a day for one wear item! I wonder how many people who buy these UHP tires really need them--overkill?
csubowtie says:
11:53 AM, 02/10/12
subytrojan: Funny you point that out. I had this discussion with my little bro about two weeks ago. He just started working at Discount so naturally we were talking about tires and I told him my Made in USA stuff. He responded with Michelin owns BFG and Michelin is foreign. So I walked him out to my truck, pointed to the "Made in USA" on the sidewall. That's good enough for me, and shut him up.
explorerx4 says:
03:49 PM, 02/10/12
I guess I've been living in a bubble all these years,
My 91 Mustang had 'Z' rated Gatorbacks right out of the box.
roadburner says:
05:55 PM, 02/12/12
I have the Cooper Zeon RS-A UHP all-seasons for winter rubber on my Mazdaspeed 3. No complaints so far- at least as good as the PZero Nero all-seasons they replaced.
My favorite summer tires are still the Dunlop Star Specs, although I'm putting RE-11s on my MS3 if I decide to track it this year.
roadburner says:
08:22 PM, 02/12/12
I won a gift certificate good for any four Michelin tires up to 22". I'm hoping to be able to sell it to a 911 GT3 RS owner- the OEM Pilot Sport Cup+ / N-Spec tires cost $2,386 a set at Tire Rack.
bassrockerx says:
09:06 PM, 02/12/12
i sell tires and im not a huge fan of directional tires because i dont think there are any real benifits to them because if there is a non direcitonal tread patern that can perform just as good why would you even consider a tire that cant be rotated side to side? asymetrical actually has a benifit over direcitonal tread but generally i prefer symetrical tires