by "gmctavish needs more space" (gmctavish)
Published 04/28/2017 at 02:34
by "gmctavish needs more space" (gmctavish)
Published 04/28/2017 at 02:34
Tags: Tires
STARS: 0
I’ve been talking to my mechanic about tires, and I think I’ve got it down to the two most likely choices. The BFG G-Force Sport Comp 2, or the Cooper Zeon RS3-G1. He quite likes Coopers and Goodyears, and seems quite taken with Sailun tires as well. They may be very cheap, but the reviews are too mixed for me to get them. The BFGs, however, are almost universially well reviewed. The Coopers are very new, and I can’t find much in the way of reviews. They also have a $100 rebate right now for sets of 4, versus the BFGs $50 rebate. I’m very willing to spend $50 more to get better tires, but if the Coopers are close enough to the BFGs, that’s not a bad deal at all. Do any of you have experience with these new Zeon RS3s?
The other ones that came up were Yokohama Avid Assurance, and Avid Envigor, but the only Yokohamas I’ve driven on were quite uncomfortable, so I was less than enthused by those. He also likes the Goodyear Assurance a lot, but I haven’t heard/read good things about Goodyear tread life.
"Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)" (rduncan5678)
04/28/2017 at 08:04, STARS: 0
I second the BFGs, I was very happy with them before my fenders ate those tires. Ran them in a few Autocross events and did some spirited driving on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Even worked quite well in the rain. Overall they were much better than my current Direzza DZ102 tires but cost like double if buying new.
"themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles" (themanwithsauce)
04/28/2017 at 08:41, STARS: 1
BFGs are nice, and I ran them on my FiST for a while. They track decently in addition to autocrossing well and handling standing water with ease. But I switched to the new Firestone Indy 500s and they’re awesome. I think I like them more than my BFGs.
"Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein)
04/28/2017 at 08:41, STARS: 0
All the tires you’ve mentioned are in totally different categories.
g-Force Comp-2 is an high performance summer tire.
Cooper RS3-G1 is a high performance all-season tire.
Yokohama Avids are regular non-performance all-season tires.
What car is this going on, what tire size, and what are your priorities as far as dry/wet/winter grip, noise, ride comfort, and tread life?
"Sweet Trav" (thespunbearing)
04/28/2017 at 08:48, STARS: 1
G-force Comp 2, so long as you dont need all seasons.
"TylerJ" (TylerJ)
04/28/2017 at 09:39, STARS: 0
There is a Sport Comp 2 all season tire (I have a set, just haven’t mounted them). They may be talking about those.
"gmctavish needs more space" (gmctavish)
04/28/2017 at 10:50, STARS: 0
I know, I don’t need all-seasons because I have winters, I’ve just been considering them since there are very few summer tires available in the right size, at least for less than $200/tire. I should’ve elaborated more with my post. I’m wondering if the Cooper is potentially a good enough performer in dry/wet grip to be similar to the BFG, despite being an all-season. I doubt it, but I don’t have any reviews to find out from.
Good dry and wet grip are very important because it rains here all the time, and then comfort and tread life, and noise is probably least important since there’s already a fair amount of wind noise from the pillarless doors. Then again, not adding more noise would be nice.
Oh and it’s a 2006 Subaru Legacy wagon, 205/50/R17
"Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein)
04/28/2017 at 11:14, STARS: 0
Yep, we have Comp-2 A/S on my wife’s car .
"Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein)
04/28/2017 at 11:40, STARS: 1
My wife’s 2016 Impreza has the same tire size. There are plenty of options in that size. Not sure where you’re looking. I usually do my research on Tire Rack but then buy from my local Discount Tire.
For my wife’s car, we replaced the stock Yokohama Avid S34D with the all-season version of the BFG Comp-2. She puts such low miles on her car that tread life wasn’t a concern but the Comp-2 A/S has a 400 treadwear rating which is...ok. Treadwear ratings aren’t an exact science anyway.
They’re definitely grippy enough for the stock Impreza suspension. Noise and bumpiness are slightly increased. After some haggling at Discount Tire I got them for $474 including installation and road hazard warranty. Originally I was going to buy General RT43 which is more of a regular all-season but Discount Tire had them backordered so I went with the Comp-2 A/S since it was the other tire on my radar that had good winter grip test results (I’m in WI and my wife wanted one tire year-round, not snow tires).
Summer tires, generally, are going to have even lower treadwear ratings. The one exception is the Dunlop DZ102 which has a 460 rating. But again, these numbers aren’t exactly comparable across different brands. They’re more estimates.
If you want a summer tire, I’d choose between the BFG Comp-2 and Firestone Indy 500 (the new one, not the old “wide oval” ones). Dunlop DZ102 isn’t quite as grippy but lasts longer.
Performance all-season, can’t beat the BFG Comp-2 A/S.
Touring all-season (but with good wet grip) will give you much better comfort and tread life. For relatively cheap and good ones, check out the Continental PureContact or General RT43. Both of these have 700 treadwear ratings. RT43 was my choice in this category based on winter tests which isn’t relevant to you.
"Meatcoma" (mastapoof)
04/28/2017 at 11:40, STARS: 0
the bfg in that size are like 106.45 at tirerack with free road hazard.
You should be able to find someone to mount/balance them for $20/tire easily.
"TylerJ" (TylerJ)
04/28/2017 at 11:44, STARS: 0
How are you both liking them? I bought my set because the runflats looked like they were ready to be swapped out but that last bit of tread is lasting forever.
And also I’m not sure which local shop to take them to that won’t scratch my wheels up.
"gmctavish needs more space" (gmctavish)
04/28/2017 at 11:54, STARS: 0
Discount Tire isn’t a thing up here, we’ve got Kal Tire, Canadian Tire, OK Tire, that’s about it for chains I think. I’ve just been seeing what my mechanic can get on his usual tire orders without pulling from the states, if he gets ones in the province he’s a lot cheaper than any of the chains.
I’ll have to check with him, he may have been suggesting the Comp 2 A/S, now I’m not sure. I also don’t put too many miles on my car, my commute is only 10-15mins either way, so that still sounds pretty good. I’ll look into the Continentals as well, it could definitely be worth getting all-seasons just for the tread life.
"Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein)
04/28/2017 at 11:55, STARS: 0
They are moderately stiffer riding than the stock Yoko S34D crap that came on the car, and there was an increase in noise, partly because while the Impreza rides nicely with plenty of suspension travel, it doesn’t have the best noise insulation. Much better grip in all conditions especially in winter. It’s tough to get an accurate gauge of true at-the-limit handling because, well, we’re talking about a non-WRX Impreza here, the stock suspension is pretty soft. But with the awd and generally competent chassis, plus these tires, it’s actually pretty grippy if you chuck it around. I only do that if my wife’s not in the car so it’s only happened a few times when I’ve been shuttling her car somewhere for some reason. Usually the only times I’m driving her car by myself are to bring a bunch of cardboard to the dump or something, and that’s not exactly an ideal situation to test a car’s cornering abilities.
"gmctavish needs more space" (gmctavish)
04/28/2017 at 11:56, STARS: 0
Shipping to Canada kills that idea unfortunately, it comes out to more than it would be to buy them through my mechanic
"Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein)
04/28/2017 at 11:58, STARS: 1
Well, keep in mind that generally the tread life of performance all-seasons is only marginally better than summers. For example the Comp-2 A/S has a 400 treadwear rating vs. 340 on the summer Comp-2. It’s the regular touring tires that have the high tread life. That’s probably what you meant but just clarifying.