BFG G Force Rival or Sport Comp 2 for 2000 OEM rims

[Old Guy]

The existing rubber on my 2000 with OEM rims is approaching the end of its useful life and I need to plan for replacement. I don't want to switch rims which limits my choices of available matching front and back tires. I am currently thinking about the BFG G Force Rival versus the Sport Comp 2. I like the fact that the Rival is available in the OEM sizes. The incremental cost of the Rival and shorter tread life compared to the Sport Comp 2 is less of an issue for me. What is a bigger concern is the fact that for 90% of the driving that I do, the tire temperatures are not going to get very high. This is exacerbated by the fact that I frequently drive the car when ambient temperatures are in the order of 10 C.

Does anybody have experience with regular driving of the Rivals in cooler temperatures and if so, do they turn into an handling handful at reduced temperatures? I am also a bit concerned about the Rival's minimal siping. I don't intentionally drive in the rain; but, have been caught in the rain and my existing tires (admittedly down to 3/32 tread depth in front) slither around in the wet like crazy. I would prefer not to repeat that experience with new tires.

 

[Hapa88]

Both tires are NOT well suited for 10C driving conditions. The Rival will probably perform even worse in those conditions. Tire Rack considers the Rival an "Extreme Performance Tire" and states this: "Not to be driven in near-freezing temperatures, in snow or on ice, or at high speeds in deep standing water, these specially tuned tires combine big-block tread designs with aggressive tread compounds and reinforced internal constructions to emphasize dry road response, traction, handling and high speed capabilities for serious driving enthusiasts."

It almost sounds to me like an Ultra-High Performance All Season tire may be something to consider.

Also the Sport Comp 2 are not available in the 215/45/16 front tire size (I do see a 205/45/16). TireRack doesn't show availability for either though in the front sizes.

 

[BlackTop99]

Both tires are NOT well suited for 10C driving conditions. The Rival will probably perform even worse in those conditions. Tire Rack considers the Rival an "Extreme Performance Tire" and states this: "Not to be driven in near-freezing temperatures, in snow or on ice, or at high speeds in deep standing water, these specially tuned tires combine big-block tread designs with aggressive tread compounds and reinforced internal constructions to emphasize dry road response, traction, handling and high speed capabilities for serious driving enthusiasts."It almost sounds to me like an Ultra-High Performance All Season tire may be something to consider.Also the Sport Comp 2 are not available in the 215/45/16 front tire size (I do see a 205/45/16). TireRack doesn't show availability for either though in the front sizes.

I've actually been wondering, and I haven't found a good answer yet on Prime through the search:With an NA2 on stock wheels, is the preferred (correct??) front tire size a 205/45 or a 225/45 in the event you can't find an appropriate tire in the stock 215/45 size?Considering all NA2's are power steering, do more of you guys lean towards a 225 for best performance? Is the 205 a better aesthetic? I'd love to see the two mounted side by side if anyone has photos.thx

 

[Old Guy]

Both tires are NOT well suited for 10C driving conditions. The Rival will probably perform even worse in those conditions. Tire Rack considers the Rival an "Extreme Performance Tire" and states this: "Not to be driven in near-freezing temperatures, in snow or on ice, or at high speeds in deep standing water, these specially tuned tires combine big-block tread designs with aggressive tread compounds and reinforced internal constructions to emphasize dry road response, traction, handling and high speed capabilities for serious driving enthusiasts."

It almost sounds to me like an Ultra-High Performance All Season tire may be something to consider.

Also the Sport Comp 2 are not available in the 215/45/16 front tire size (I do see a 205/45/16). TireRack doesn't show availability for either though in the front sizes.

I was aware of Tire Rack's pretty broad blanket of recommendations that they throw over all Extreme Performance tires. That is in part what precipitated my questions about the Rival and its temperature sensitivvity. The car will never be driven in near -freezing temperatures, snow or ice. It was primarily whether the Rival needed to get hot to work well (closer to R compound tires) or whether experience suggested that it would work fine in regular driving.

For the Sport Comp 2 I was going on the basis that I would be using a 205/45-16 front. BFG is (and Tire Rack was) listing the OEM sizes as being available in the Rival. For some reason Tire Rack is no longer listing the matched sets of the Rival as being available (they used to).

UHP All Season sounds like a bit of an oxymoron; but, to be fair, I do not recall seeing UHP All Season being listed in matched sets even with the 205/45 front when I last did a search on Tire Rack.

 

[piran1]

The only other tire I'm aware of with the stock sizes are the Kumho Ecsta XS (KU36). I see that it gets compared to the BF G Rivals.

 

[Old Guy]

I've actually been wondering, and I haven't found a good answer yet on Prime through the search:With an NA2 on stock wheels, is the preferred (correct??) front tire size a 205/45 or a 225/45 in the event you can't find an appropriate tire in the stock 215/45 size?Considering all NA2's are power steering, do more of you guys lean towards a 225 for best performance? Is the 205 a better aesthetic? I'd love to see the two mounted side by side if anyone has photos.thx

My take is that the consensus (which may not be the same thing as correct) preference is 205/45.

- - - Updated - - -

The only other tire I'm aware of with the stock sizes are the Kumho Ecsta XS (KU36). I see that it gets compared to the BF G Rivals.

I seem to recall that it also falls into the extreme performance category which would presumably mean that it has the same temperature sensitivity issues. I also believe that its wet weather performance is inferior to the Rival. Not to imply that the Kuhmo is a bad tire; but, I didn't find anything that would suggest that it is a superior tire to the Rival (other than perhaps pricing). If somebody told me that it had better cold temperature performance, that might sway my opinion; however, given its reported inferior wet performance, I would be surprised.

There is always the Bridgestone RE010 which certainly sets a standard for price and wear!

 

[Hapa88]

I've run on the track with a few sets of Extreme Performance (Dunlop Star Spec, Federal 595RSR, Nitto NT01) and can tell you there's a huge difference in grip when the tires are cold with ambient temps in the 10C range than verses 2 laps in when the tire temp rises considerably (over 4 psi gain in tire pressure).
The Federal 595RSR had much more cold grip than the other two, but overheated much quicker on the track. As a note, the Federal 595RSR is available in 205/45/16 and 255/40/17.
http://www.federaltire.com/en/products_detail.php?class=UHP&products_detail_sn=5

What type of driving do you plan to do? Is it out of the question to have 2 sets of wheels/tires for the different "seasons" you experience?

 

[Old Guy]

Sometimes I think the two seasons here consist of last winter and this winter!

The car is a spring to fall car and does not see any track time. At most spirited road driving and probably more than 50% regular urban driving. Right now the car has the old Dunlop Direzza DZ 101s, a very durable tire which seems to be just fine as long as you go in straight lines. I have had the back end step out on me a couple of times which is an experience I would like to avoid.

The two sets of tires approach does not really work. The problem is that one day we can have a day time high of 8 C and 24 hours later we can experience a daytime high of 28 C. The hazards of living 2000 + km away from any large body of water which provides temperature moderation. Given our 'average' temperature, I would be inclined to sacrifice the ultimate cornering grip of an extreme performance tire to insure that I get a tire with some low temperature grip.

 

[vivanshah]

I have the sport comp 2s on my OEM rims for dry weather winter driving and they have been just fine. Using 205/45 in the front. They're more than you need for sane street driving. I went with the ecsta XS for summers since I didn't care about rain performance and they were all tirerack had in stock at the time, but the rivals are supposed to be a bit better overall, and much better in the wet.

 

[nsxtasy]

With an NA2 on stock wheels, is the preferred (correct??) front tire size a 205/45 or a 225/45 in the event you can't find an appropriate tire in the stock 215/45 size?

Go with 205/45-16. There's a good chance that 225/45-16 will rub in the wheel wells.

For those with a '91-93 NSX, another reason to stick with 205/45-16 is that it's a closer match for the TCS.

 

[Old Guy]

The wind seems to be blowing in the direction of the Sport Comp 2s or perhaps the RE 010s if I am feeling flush. We will see in April when the car comes out of hibernation. Perhaps some vendor will have a new set of tires in the correct sizes by then.

 

[nsxtasy]

The wind seems to be blowing in the direction of the Sport Comp 2s or perhaps the RE 010s if I am feeling flush. We will see in April when the car comes out of hibernation. Perhaps some vendor will have a new set of tires in the correct sizes by then.

There are plenty of tires currently available in the sizes you need. Remember, with the stock 16"/17" wheels, you can use 205/45-16 or 215/45-16 in front, and 245/40-17 or 255/40-17 in the rear. Any combination of these sizes will work.

If you want the absolute best traction and grip, get one of these "extreme performance" tires:

Bridgestone Potenza RE-11 205/45-16, 255/40-17
Hankook Ventus R-S3 (Version 2) 205/45-16, 245/40-17, 255/40-17
Toyo Proxes R1R 205/45-16, 245/40-17, 255/40-17
Kumho Ecsta XS 215/45-16, 245/40-17, 255/40-17
Falken Azenis RT-615K 215/45-16, 255/40-17

Downsides of those tires is that they are relatively expensive and they wear out relatively fast.

If you want tires that last somewhat longer and cost a bit less, and you're willing to accept a lower level of performance, there are no "maximum performance" tires available in the proper sizes, but two of the best tires in the next performance category down, "ultra high performance" tires, are available:

BFGoodrich g-Force Sport COMP-2 205/45-16, 245/40-17, 255/40-17
Bridgestone Potenza RE760 Sport 205/45-16, 245/40-17, 255/40-17

For the most precise handling feel of any tire, the original factory tire is also still available in the stock sizes:

Bridgestone Potenza RE010 215/45-16, 245/40-17

 

[Old Guy]

I had seen your recommendations in other threads, taken note and was aware of the availability of more matched tires if I used 205 fronts. As I noted, tread wear and price associated with the extreme performance tires are less of an issue for me. My primary area of concern was that, given ambient temperatures in my locale, I was probably never going to get the tire up to reasonable temperature for 99% of the driving that I do. I believe that Tire Rack 'suggests' that extreme performance tires should be avoided at temperature below 10C. That would eliminate a lot of my driving time!

Based upon the comments of Hapa88 and vivanshah I am inclined to gravitate towards the ultra high performance category because of the majority of my driving conditions. I had narrowed the selection down to the Comp 2 and RE 010 in the UHP category based upon some recommendations that you had posted previously. The RE760 might also be something that I might investigate.

 

[nsxtasy]

Sounds good. Those are the best tires in that category IMHO.

 

[Old Guy]

Just an update for those considering tire replacements for the 16"/17" OEM rims. I finally got around to replacing my tiress and I went with the Bridgestone RE 760 in the 205 & 245 size. I stuck with UHP tires rather than extreme performance tires because of the sensitivity of extreme performance tires to operation in temperatures below 10 C.

Compared to the Dunlop D100 tires which were on the car, the RE 760s are a marvel. The tendency of the front to plough in long sweeping corners has been eliminated along with the tail happy tendency of the Dunlop tires. What is really amazing is the reduction in road noise. The Dunlop tires had a real howl at highway speeds. So much so that I originally thought I had a failing wheel bearing. I had considered the BFG Sport Comp, which Tire Rack gave an incrementally higher rating to in their comparison road test; however, the lower noise level and reduced harshness of the RE 760 changed my mind. As a note, even though the BFG got a slightly higher overall rating, Tire Rack reported that the RE 760 was faster in their slalom test. That said, the RE 760 is not a track tire. Go with an extreme performance tire if you want track smarts.

 

[nsxtasy]

Just an update for those considering tire replacements for the 16"/17" OEM rims. I finally got around to replacing my tiress and I went with the Bridgestone RE 760 in the 205 & 245 size. I stuck with UHP tires rather than extreme performance tires because of the sensitivity of extreme performance tires to operation in temperatures below 10 C.

Actually, all categories of summer tires, including the ultra high performance Bridgestone RE760 Sport, should not be used in frigid winter temperatures. This is not unique to the extreme performance tire segment, and you'll find the same warning against doing so in the Tire Rack description of the Bridgestone RE760 Sport as you do with the extreme performance tires. For driving in colder temperatures, you really need to have all-season or winter tires. (Perhaps you were confusing the "ultra high performance summer tire" category of the RE760 Sport with the "ultra high performance all-season tire" category mentioned by Hapa88 above?)

If you don't need to drive in cold temperatures, or if you have separate all-season or winter tires for winter use, then any of the summer tire categories will do. The trade-off between the extreme performance summer tires and the ultra-high performance summer tires is that the former give better grip, while the latter give longer treadlife (and may be less expensive, depending on the particular tire). Since you're happy with the performance of the Bridgestone RE760 Sport, it's a great choice for your needs, in moderate to warm temperature weather.