I need to pick some tires for a high horsepower application.. either 245/50/16 or 255/50/16. 400+RWHP.

i don't care at all about wet weather traction, or snow traction, or how long the tire lasts. the car will only get driven in dry weather, maybe 1500 miles a year at the most. I am looking for a tire with the best possible traction without a burnout, without being heated up (the car will rarely visit a dragstrip).

the car will occassionally be used for "high speed" (80-85mph) sustained cruises on the highway, so I don't think the BFG drag radials are correct, due to their poor temperature rating and soft sidewalls. Nittos would be ok, but i've occassionally heard that they are no better than a street radial unless you heat them up.

so far I'm considering BFG KDW's, michelin pilot sports, or maybe the german tires (fulda extremos, 180 treadwear). dunlop 8000's have low treadwear numbers too but they don't seem to get good reviews for traction.

any suggestions?

If only they made the BFG KD in 245/50/16 (or 255 50 16) I'd be there in a heartbeat.

 

I know plenty of people who run the BFGs on daily drivers, and have no problems. Go with the BFGs. They will withstand highway use without a problem. The Nittos do have a stiffer sidewall and will not hook as well. My Nittos seem to hook OK even when not warmed up, but obviously work better with more temperature.

Mickey Thompson recently came out with a drag "radial" tire. They hook better than both the BFG and Nitto, but are not a true radial tire. They are basically the ET Street line with a different groove cut in them and some "radial" plies added in. They'll wrinkle and hook like a slick, but will sacrifice a good bit of cornering to do so.

 

ive ran nitto 555r and bfg dr. my best 60 foot was on bfg's. 1.69, and it took a hell of a burnout to do that. i bought them used and there was barely any tread.i put over 4000 miles on them! they suck in the rain but.....a street radial is ridiculous, it spins on the slightest application of throttle, wet or dry. ive even drove on et streets for a daily tire. they are horrible unless you like haveing an abundance of overstear. my nittos were brand new and they only lasted 4500 miles, im a fan of the bfg dr!

 

How about some: 255/50-16

Hoosier A3S04

Hoosier R3S04

Yokohama A032R

They will wear like crazy but should be fun.

 

I've seen those on tirerack. The hoosiers would be fine, except that MANY of the reviews talk about tire failures, wear to the cord, stuff like that. not good.

The yoko's would be good too, except that they are described as louder than the loudest 4x4 mudder tires on the highway. that's no good, either!

I am thinking that I will just get 2x 245x50x16 KDW's, try them on the rear, and if they are not adequate, they will go to the front and get some BFG drag radials for the rear, despite my temperature concerns at sustained highway speeds (85mph for 1 hr).

 

these are quite interesting...



"The Toyo® Proxes RA-1, a DOT-approved competition tire designed specifically for improved touring racing and autocross, features all the high-tech components to provide you with an uncommon competitive advantage. It's a proven winner."

They are the tire used for the camaro-mustang challenge cars here on the west coast and they make the tire in 255-50-16...

treadwear 100, traction A, temp A
$160 each online from frisbyracetire.com .. funny name but i checked the references, they supply race tires and been around a while..

hmm, interesting tire!

 

all hail the bfg drag radial:hail: i put about 10k on mine, 8 tips to the track. and i drove them hard on the street. theyre almost to the tread bars now. i didnt notice a difference traction wise between what bfg recommends, just enough to clean them off, and a big smokey burnout

 

A drag radial and an Autox "R" rated tire are two different animals. The autox tires have very few belts on them so they heat up to operating temps quickly on short 60sec runs. Drag radials are designed for very modrate street driving to allow you to drive the car to the track and run it. You can not do this on AutoX compounds. They will wear completely to the belts in about 8hours or less of driving. I know someone that wore a set of BFG R1's out in about 1hour of freeway driving on a very hot day trying to drive the car to the track- he ended up towing the car home.

 

a little bit more about the toyo ra-1 based on what i've read.

i've been reading about it on the camaro-mustang challenge (CMC) forum (it's a national series with regional divisions pitting 83-97 camaro against simliar year mustangs) and the ra-1 is the spec tire that they are allowed to use.

(side note, the CMC is an awesome series to get into racing with and it is suprisingly affordable. third gens are limited to the 305/5.0 motor, and every year the cars must get dyno'd - they can NOT exceed 230 RWHP. the rules are very much in favor of making things affordable. Other examples - you can not run aftermarket ignition, you must run stock exhaust manifolds, suspension geometry modifications are NOT allowed, no poly, etc. most of the allowed modifications are safety related.)

they run on the roadcourses (sears point, thunder hill, etc.).

the ra-1 lasts a full season (3x30 minute sessions per weekend, 8 weekends a season) or approximately 12 hours of 100% track time. thunderhill has a 25hr enduro, and the CMC team with a thirdgen that I read about, had to use two sets of these tires to make the 25 hours.

It is a DOT legal "r" compound. originally toyo rated it 40 for treadwear, but after people started finding out how long they last and began using them on the street, they bumped the treadwear to 100 with no other changes to the tire - just updated the number to reflect the tire's real abilities.

people are getting upwards of 8000+ miles on the tire when using it as a combined autocross/track/street tire.

from what i've read, the tire isn't affected by heat cycling like most R compounds. that is to say, it doesn't go away due to repeated hot-cold cycles. most R compounds age and get harder with each heat cycle. these don't. they also don't go bad with age due to sitting around.

it is unsafe in the rain at anything but original full tread depth. they are made with 8/32" depth.

it also isn't as sticky as a hoosier or goodyear. it's a compromise tire that compromises more to the logetivity side of things. so it's certainly not an ultimate autocross tire, but rather a spec tire that will last the CMC folks a season while still providing traction well above a street tire.

so - that's why i'm interested in it. the tire is not a typical autocross tire, it's more of an endurance/road race tire. It almost sounds to me that, instead of being a hard race compound, it's an ultra soft street compound built like a street tire

I sent an email off to a distributor for the ra-1's explaining exactly what I want to do with them. i will be sure to post the reply.

 

i say bfg dr's. are you going road racing? if not , then dont buy a road racing tire. if you wanna hook, buy a tire made for it. funny thing, big burnouts on my bfg's never really wear the tire too much. the kdw is a good tire. again the dr is deffinatly going to hook better.

 

so...to be absolutely clear...

(A) the bfg is NOT a concern on sustained (1hr) highway cruises (80+mph)? the sidewalls won't get hot etc.?

(B) the bfg WILL have good traction COLD (no burnout what-so-ever!)?? i've read a few people say that the drag radial compound is designed to work hot, and only has more traction than a good street compound when hot.

simply put the car is a street car. i don't care how the tires hook after a burnout. i will not, ever, be doing burnouts on the street to heat the tires. i want cold traction - however much I can get. I do realize this is less than hot traction, but thats a compromise i'm already accepted.

most of my use will be more "road racing" like - high speed cruises, long drives, accelerating out of corners, etc. the car most closely will fit into the "pro touring" category - not autocross, not drag car. a high horsepower street and highway driven vehicle that will be expected to do everything "reasonably" well. i do realize i'd make a serious pro-tourer laugh with only 16x8 wheels, but hey..that's what my use will most be like.

 

in that case, the ra-1 would be the way to go. i thought you were talking more along the lines of street racing traction

 

(A) - No. They are OK for highway use, even sustained operation. I've caravaned with other cars that use the BFGs and they had no issues over a 240 mile trip at sustained highway speed.

(B) - They will hook better than any other street tire at any given temperature. They will hook much better once warm, but that goes for any and every tire. No tire's ideal traction is found with a cold tire, none. Tires hook better when warm, and that goes for all compounds. If you're looking for a tire that will hook optimally cold, you might try the far future, because they don't exist now.

 

I also agree that the BFG drag radial is the way to go. I have an 87 Formula that puts out 300 rwhp and traction is a problem. My Firestone Firehawks provided little rear wheel traction for that much horsepower. I have been using the BFG drag radials for about 3 months and love them. Case in point -- I have a G-timer and the best 0-60 run I could make before the BFGs was 5.4 seconds. With the drag radials my best 0-60 time is 4.55 seconds. I now have almost no tire spin. It is like I have 4 wheel drive. Stoplight races are a joke because I am so quick out of the hole. I run 32 psi in them and have driven them on several highway trips with no problems. I highly recommend them.

 

The BFG's have an R speed rating of 106 mph, while the nittos have a V speed rating of 149 mph. The BFG's have a treadwear rating of 0, while the Nittos have a treadwear reating of 100. I think it depends on weather you drive more street or track.

 

thing is though he is claiming to be wanting a tire more for "road racing" style driving
a drag radial isn't the best option for that with the softer sidewalls, and if driven with any amount of hardness wouldn't shock me if it because greasy feeling when being used for sustained turning.

 

What about the Nitto 555R2

 

a nitto dr has a softer side wall than the bfg.

 

Not true, but anyways, the 555R2's are not a drag radial, they are for road racing.

 

Check out my sig...these are the one of the best goodyears on the market and are by far the best tire I have ever driven with. Worth their weight in gold!

 

the f1 gs-d3 aren't bad, true; i have them on my 91.... maybe 20hp more than stock, and i can easily roast them at will.

methinks they not work so well in a car with almost double the power.