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BFGoodrich Brings More Handling to Ultra High Performance All-Season Tires
Tires tested:
BFGoodrich g-Force Super Sport A/S (Ultra High Performance
All-Season 225/45R17)
Bridgestone Potenza RE960AS Pole Position (Ultra High Performance All-Season 225/45R17)
Goodyear Eagle F1 All Season (Ultra High Performance All-Season 225/45R17)
Yokohama ADVAN S.4. (Ultra High Performance All-Season 225/45R17)
Vehicles used:
2008 BMW E92 328i Coupe
Many of today's performance vehicles come from the factory with performance summer tires fitted as Original Equipment, which provide exceptional dry & wet traction in southern climates, or during spring, summer & fall in northern regions. But when temperatures & conditions up north head south, the tread compounds & patterns of summer-only tires are just not able to provide sufficient traction when ambient temperatures are near or below freezing or when there is snow on the roads. In Europe & Asia where many of these vehicles are manufactured, the tire decision is easy. Drivers in these regions embrace dedicated winter / snow tires to provide traction in snow & slush or on ice. Here in North America, dedicated winter / snow tires are less popular than in other parts of the world with many U.S. drivers opting for All-Season tires capable of h&ling light snow & slush in addition to the dry & wet conditions of summer. As the number of performance coupes & sedans on the road continues to grow, so does the need for tires capable of meeting the vehicle's true performance capabilities as well as their enthusiast drivers expectations, all while providing at least some level of wintertime traction in light snow.
There is a group of Ultra High Performance All-Season tires designed to deliver just that. These tires make the most sense at the edge of the snow belt where snowfall is not as heavy or as frequent as further up north where a dedicated winter tire is the best way to chew through snow & grip the ice. One of the newest Ultra High Performance All-Season tires is BFGoodrich's g-Force Super Sport A/S. Designed to thrill in the dry while also providing a high level of wet performance plus light snow capability, this tire relies on some elaborate design & manufacturing techniques to deliver on the promise. To find out how the g-Force Super Sport A/S performs during wet & dry summer time conditions, the Tire Rack team conducted a Real World Road Ride & Performance Track Drive comparing it with three of the top performers in the Ultra High Performance All-Season tire category: the Bridgestone Potenza RE960AS Pole Position, Goodyear Eagle F1 All Season & Yokohama ADVAN S.4. Our evaluation used 2008 BMW 328i E92 coupes with new, full tread depth 225/45R17 tires mounted on 17x8.0" wheels.
What We Learned on the Road
Our 5.6-mile loop of expressway, state highway & county roads provides a great variety of road conditions that include city & highway speeds, smooth & coarse concrete, as well as new & patched asphalt. This route allows our team to experience noise comfort, ride quality & everyday h&ling, just as you would during your drive to school or work.
Our team praised the road manners of the Bridgestone Potenza RE960AS Pole Position, particularly for its ride quality among this group. Not far behind was the Yokohama ADVAN S.4., riding just slightly firmer than the Bridgestone. Goodyear's Eagle F1 All Season also rode well but allowed more of the road's impacts to find their way to the driver. The BFGoodrich g-Force Super Sport A/S rounded out the group, riding firmly with a taut, solid feel when encountering rough sections of road.
The Bridgestone & Yokohama tires also scored well for road noise, producing minimal noise over the variety of road surfaces & driving speeds of our test route. The tread noise of the BFGoodrich tire was a slightly higher volume, particularly on smooth asphalt. The aggressive tread pattern of the Goodyear produced the most tread noise, tending to growl somewhat on most road surfaces.
The slightly firm ride of the g-Force Super Sport A/S paid back with responsive h&ling & crisp steering feel, rewarding the driver who wants sporty h&ling. The ADVAN S.4. & Potenza RE960AS Pole Position were also praised for their h&ling but neither had the precise steering feel of the g-Force Super Sport A/S. The Eagle F1 All Season lacked a little of the on-center precision & crisp steering feel of the others in this test, requiring a bit more steering wheel input to negotiate the turns/curves.
What We Learned on the Test Track
Our 1/3-mile per lap test track course includes 90-degree street corners, lane changes & simulated expressway ramps. Run in both dry & wet conditions, the test track allows our team to experience the traction, responsiveness, h&ling & drivability normally only encountered during abrupt emergency avoidance maneuvers or competition events.
The crisp h&ling of the BFGoodrich g-Force Super Sport A/S experienced on our Real World Road Ride showed on the dry test track, too. The BFGoodrich tire felt stable, responsive, agile & fast, posting the quickest slalom sector time, highest average g-forces around the skidpad & fastest overall lap time of this test. The Yokohama ADVAN S.4. was also praised for its steering response but lacked the sheer grip of the BFGoodrich to keep up. The Bridgestone Potenza RE960AS Pole Position was right behind with a balanced feel that would give way to gentle understeer if pushed too hard. The Goodyear Eagle F1 All Season rounded out the group, lacking the absolute responsiveness to match the pace or subjective feel of the other three tires.
In the wet, the Potenza RE960AS Pole Position proved the quickest, feeling stable & predictable, cornering well & providing good traction during braking & hard acceleration. Not far behind was the g-Force Sport A/S, which posted the highest average g's but did not feel quite as stable as the Bridgestone during rapid transition maneuvers like the lane change slalom. The ADVAN S.4. held on for third-fastest overall lap time, displaying quite good braking traction along with predictable h&ling. Rounding out the group was the Eagle F1 All Season, feeling uncharacteristically slippery & edgy, requiring real concentration to control at the grip limit.
Product Details
BFGoodrich g-Force Super Sport A/S (Ultra High Performance All-Season): The g-Force Super Sport A/S is BFGoodrich's Ultra High Performance All-Season tire developed for the drivers of sports cars, sporty coupes & performance sedans. The g-Force Super Sport A/S was developed to be three tires in one to prevent allowing a little bad weather to spoil the fun. The tire is designed to thrill even the most passionate driving enthusiast while providing year-round traction, including in light snow. The g-Force Super Sport A/S features BFGoodrich's Multi Grip Tread Technology that uses three unique tread compounds positioned side-by-side across the tire designed to provide traction in dry, wet & wintry conditions.
Bridgestone Potenza RE960AS Pole Position (Ultra High Performance All-Season): The Potenza RE960AS Pole Position with UNI-T AQ II Technology is the Ultra High Performance All-Season member of Bridgestone's Potenza family of performance tires for the drivers of sports cars, sports coupes & performance sedans. The Potenza RE960AS Pole Position is designed to provide year-round driving flexibility by offering predictable h&ling, traction & control on dry & wet roads, as well as in light snow. The Potenza RE960AS Pole Position features Bridgestone's UNI-T AQII Technology, which uses advanced compound & construction features to enhance & preserve wet traction through the tire's life.
Goodyear Eagle F1 All Season
(Ultra High Performance All-Season): The Eagle F1 All Season featuring Carbon
Fiber Technology is Goodyear's Ultra High Performance All-Season tire designed
to give sports car, sporty coupe & performance sedan drivers piece of mind in
virtually any weather condition. It was developed to combine crisp
responsiveness & confident h&ling with year-round traction, including in light
snow.
Eagle F1 All Season radials have a directional tread design featuring
performance zones that include a continuous center rib with large inboard &
outboard shoulder blocks for dry road traction & steering precision along with
dual intermediate All-Season zones featuring carved Aquachutes to direct rain,
slush & snow away from between the tread & the road to resist hydroplaning &
enhance traction.
Yokohama ADVAN S.4. (Ultra High Performance All-Season): The ADVAN S.4. is the Ultra High Performance All-Season tire member of Yokohama's ADVAN family of flagship performance tires developed to combine ultra high performance with All-Season utility for the drivers of premium performance coupes & sedans. The Yokohama ADVAN S.4. is designed to combine comfortable ride & noise qualities along with year-round traction that meets the challenges of driving in every season, even winter's lightly snow-covered roads. The ADVAN S.4. molds a silica-enhanced, All-Season tread compound into a directional tread design that features large reinforced shoulder blocks, staggered independent intermediate tread blocks & continuous circumferential center ribs to sharpen steering response & lateral stability while reducing tire noise on dry roads.
