I was thinking of getting those to my IROC for the rear on a size of 255/50/16. America's discount tire have pretty good deal on those now, so I was wondering if anyone had any experience with those tires...?

 

I have 2 sets of 275-40-17 sized ones in the shop now - not mounted or anything, but they looks pretty good. Keep in mind that they are honestly the only 245-50-16 performance tires that is affordable these days (out of a very few total). The old version has good reviews...

 

I like my regular G-Force sports. They're decent budget summer performance tires, but no complaints here.

 

You have the G-Force sport comp 2, or G-Force sport is an older model..?
Also, I was wondering, being a summer tire, is it safe to drive them during the winter on wet conditions...?

By the way....the price for the 255/50/16 is $145 each....is that a good deal??...I remember they were around $160....the 245's are cheaper thou, but I would really would like to try the 255's

 

Regular G-Force Sports, not the new revision (Comp 2). I cant imagine the new ones would be worse. They are summer tires, fine for rain, but not for snow or very low temperatures. I think I remember reading that they're allegedly not good for weather below freezing, but we dont see that much where I am, and when its that cold out I don't drive the car anyway. They wont blow up or anything but I think the rubber cant get warm enough to grip as well as during the summer.

If you have a commuter car in a cold climate, you want all season tires, but I think even all season performance tires have a hard time hanging with summer performance tires. Generally to get the best grip for your buck, it's better to get a summer tire. To get the best all year performance tire will cost more and often wont grip as well. Depends on a lot of factors, but most brands will break down the grip levels between all the tires on their website. Most of the grippy performance tires are gonig to be advertised as "summer" tires.

 

I live in Portland Oregon, it doesn't get too bad here as far as low temp, but there will be few days of very light snow during the winter time, nothing serious. since you have tried the older version, you think the comp 2 255's well worth the $145 each, or you think for that amount or less I can get something better...?

 

I can't believe you live that far north and don't have to worry about cold weather. I live in North Carolina which has to be about 200 miles south of you (relative to the equator) and I have to worry about driving with summer tires in 40 degree weather. I would say ask new car dealers that sell sports cars like corvettes, and tire shops what can happen if you drive on summer tires in 40 degree or below weather.

If they say anything slightly negative about driving on them, get a second set of rims for your summer tires. The last thing you will want to do is to get in an accident or ruin your tires from not listening to manufacturers or other professionals.

I was even told to not STORE summer tires in under 40 degree weather but I need to research that.

You can get a set from the junkyard which will keep costs down if you were automatically thinking about getting some cool (expensive) aftermarket rims.

High performance all season tires are no match grip wise to a summer tire. All seasons may be fairly good for driving fast on the street, but if you're racing, you have to have a summer tire.

 

You got some interesting points, I guess I should ask the place that sells the tires about driving those tires during the winter around here, but like I said, its mostly rain around here plus the fact that I'm driving the car only around town. However, I am concerned about what you said regarding the tires being destroyed driving them in below 40 degrees weather. I guess thats why its such a good deal on these tires now. I was thinking about getting a second car for the winter anyway, so will see.

 

I have them on my camaro. I gotta say they were one of the single best purchases ive made recently. Great wet weather grip. Awesome dry weather grip and they are quieter than the old all seasons they replaced. Two thumbs WAY up. But.....as has already been said they are dedicated summer performance tires meaning you really should not drive on them in the winter or cold months.

 

Thanks man! I've been looking for someone who actually have the tires to give me the insight on them....I might just get them now because its a good deal, and use some used tires I got during the few months of winter here.

 

You wont be sorry. Seriously it would take maybe 1/4 throttle to break the rear tires loose with the old tires and keep them spinning. Now it takes 1/2 or more to break them loose so i really have to be trying. I did a good amount of research before i bought them and they have a really solid reputation for a good performing tire at a reasonable price. Im actually going to get another set for my daily driver SVT focus haha.

 

I had these tires on my IROC until a couple of months ago (50% tread). While making a left turn in a slow drizzle I tried to go around a slower car, I gave it just a little gas and did a 360° in one direction and 180° in the opposite direction before coming to a stop. Luckily I didn't hit anyone, you can drive on these tires in the rain but use extreme caution.

 

Now you got me scared a little bit, but I am currently running Reiken Raptors with almost no tread left, and has been running these tires for the past 3 years with no major driving issues during the winter, so how bad driving with BFG can be..??

 

It doesn't rain all that often here in southern California so when it does the oil on the road rises on the water making it more dangerous, but I don't think the BFGs are any worse than others, but I doubt you'll get 3 years wear on them since the rubber is softer which is why they have better traction on dry roads, but you get a warranty on based on mileage but only a pro-rated based on the tread wear remaining.

 

Well, the Riken's I'm driving right now, lasted me about 30,000 miles and thats after endless burnouts at the track, and they do have the same treadwear number as the BFG's 340 I think, so I do expect to get the same amount of miles as I got from the Reikens that are much lower quality than the BFG's.

 

At 50 percent tread the tire's water holding capacity is a very small fraction of what it was new. You could have hit an oily patch too. And wide tires are always going to be more prone to hydroplaning. That said, Ive never had any issues with mine in the wet and Im not worried about it either. If its raining and Im in the Camaro I drive like the road is made of teflon and my life and my car depends on me making it home. With a torquey 350 and a manual trans, any sudden torque spike can potentially break them loose, regardless of the tire brand. Dont be passing people in the rain and you'll be fine.

 

Sounds good, one thing they did to the Reikens when I intalled them was road sipping or something like that...What effect would that have on tires in relation to driving in wet weather..??

 

If you say so but mine were worn out after 15,000 miles and I've never been to the track. I always would begin to fishtail when stomping the gas leaving a stop light and had to let off the gas slightly until they began to grab. When the tires were brand new I could hook up the tires easily but they don't last 30,000 miles and that's why there is no mileage warranty.

Don't get me wrong I really liked the tires at least for first 1/2 of tread life.

 

15,000 miles its pretty bad for street tires life span, I would expect that life span from drag radials not street tires.

 

Got the Comp 2's on 2 of the cars. They're holding up ok as a daily driver tire on the IROC. The GTA destroyed the fronts in a single weekend of competition and the rears spin way too easily behind the 383.

Unfortunately my tire engineer friends tell me the next generation won't be available until April so I'll probably get 2 more to keep the GTA going on the street. Basically they're a good street tire but I don't recommend you race heavily on them.

 

Thats basically what I'm looking for, a good street tire that won't disappoint on occasional trips to the track, and I'm only running a stock 305 with the T-5 and upgraded rear suspension plus I need those tires for the rear not the front

 

We lit the rears with no problem on the speed stop challenge and destroyed the edges on the fronts during the autox and road course portions of the 3 event race weekend. They're still usable as street tires but I won't take them to another competition. I'm going to have to give up on the factory 16 inch GTA wheels and go to a 17 or 18 inch wheel for competition to get better tire options at 200 treadwear.

 

Guys tire wear on an autocross is going to vary wildly depending on the surface. Most parking lots are extremely abrasive on tires at these kinds of cornering loads. If you want a tire that will last on parking lots, you need to get a hard all season tire, but the grip levels will be far less.

Fishtailing while turning... sounds like someone doesnt understand the grip circle. You cant expect a tire to hold nearly a g of lateral grip plus TPI torque going forward. If your posi sucks add that to the mix.

They're not the best tires in the world, they're not the best track tires, and they're not the best all season high mileage tires either. They are budget high performance summer tires. That is what they are. Grip for $$$ they are excellent. They are perfect for guys like us who dont want to spend $250 on a tire, and are willing sacrifice longevity and versatility for performance, but they're still street tires so expecting some kind of race compound grip level out of them is a bit unreasonable.

Unfortunately all the tires that do or at least should perform better cost a lot more or arent available at all in 245/50/16, which is what beater is getting at. Kinda sucks, but that's the breaks. I think these would last a little longer in a wider size for a 17x9.5 wheel just because you're spreading the load across more rubber, and while our cars are light by modern standards, they are still heavy and as well as they handle they put a LOT of force into the tires. They will chew up tires like nobody's business.

And I've had mine on my car for 3 years and they havent worn much at all in 10k miles.

 

Like I said, I wasn't planning on doing intense racing with those tires, I was just looking for tires that would serve decently daily driving and once in awhile a trip to the drag strip.

 

Ive done a couple of small burnouts on mine at the strip... I had all 4 off last week and I couldn't even tell which tires were the rears before (I have all front wheels on my car) so... they may wear fast, but I think it depends mostly on your driving style and how often you drive it hard.

Also, I found this interesting, it's promoting a sponsor, there's a pretty lady, and they talk about summer vs all season tires for a second so you may enjoy it:

 

When I bought mine 2 yrs ago, they were the only 245x50zr16 tire I could get anywhere for under $200-250. They were very street-able in dry weather. I now have 18" rims because the chrome on my original 16" IROC were starting to flake off around the bead and had slow leaks, and the tires were worn out. So i got 18" IROC replicas with Nexen N3000 tires mounted and balance ship to a friends shop for $1400. I only have 300 miles on them so far. So don't have any personal opinion on
the performance yet but I really love the tread pattern.

 

That is the major issue with the 245-50-16 tire size - lack of options for competition, not to mention street duty.

While my company makes 17" x 9.5" wheels for the third gens, the only real option is going up to a 275-40-17 tire on anyone's appropriate wheel. The competition and high performance summer tires in that size have 6x the number of options than the 245-50-16, plus the 30mm of extra section width and the grip it adds.

 

That was a nice informative clip. After watching it, I think the buttom line is that those tires would be fine to drive in the rain, but not in even the slightest snow or ice conditions plus they would wear out fairly quick.

 

They are OK to drive in the rain until there not.

 

But the brz comes with summer tires from the factory