My three day tire review

**Sarge** · 03-14-2008, 02:39 PM

My humble review

Nitto's ( and M/T's I have had both) Drag Radials are great if you heat them up. When you just are driving around on the street....IMHO they are worse than stock tires on the street.
So I went on jihad

to find a great street tire with some grip. Now being an old fart I learned many years ago wider does not equal more grip. It would seem it would...but the fact of the matter is sidewall strength, compound mix, tread design etc. play a much more significant role in "grip" than just added width. Fortunetly I have access to lots and lots of tires

Brand new tires. So off I went. We tried Goodyear Eagles/Pirelli and the BFG KDW series. All their Ultra Performance Summer Tires or equivelant......For the BFG's I tried the 255's and 275's.
Goodyear. I do love the way the squeal

OK tire....I think more for road racing....Damn expensive

....
Pirelli....Sucked donkey ass. Spun em from a 70mph punch. Fuck that. I give the Pireilli's a kiss my ass on a scale of 1-10.

BFG KDW series. Hell yes.

Grip out the ass! 275's on a 8" rim first. Excellent launch. No spinning from rolling launches...well maybe a little...but nothing that kicked the rearend around like the drag radials always did.....Just did not like the idea of a 275 tire on a 8" wheel

.....255's....no difference in grip...launch or ride.....so I went with the BFG KDW2 255X40X17 mounted on the stock 8" rim. Just an excellent street tire and tons of grip.....Now each manufacturer meaures differently as we all know.....I took a 275 Nitto and we measured the foot print....then I took the 255 BFG and the difference was a 1/4" wider with the Nitto 275 over the BFG 255.....a guy can put this BFG KDW 255 on a stock rim and not have any rubbing on a stock fender/suspension setup. The 275 will require fender rolling at a minimum and probably drag bags IMHO....but the 255 will not require you do anything.
I put down some serious RWHP and the BFG KDW2 took all I could throw at it. Damn outstanding tire for any GTO. I run Toyo's 235X45X17 up front by the way.....
Here it is....
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....4x032&code=yes

Few pics on the black bitch.

**LS2Tuner** · 03-14-2008, 03:40 PM

Originally Posted by Sarge

My humble review

Excellent launch. No spinning from rolling launches...well maybe a little...
Few pics on the black bitch.

You need to turn the traction control off to make it spin...............

Sorry I had to Sarge I knew no one else had the balls to tell you that.
We do forget things in our older years!

**Sarge** · 03-14-2008, 04:40 PM

WTF are you talking about? I dont have torque management nor traction control

What are you talking about?
The drag radials and the Pirelli's spun like hell...the Goodyears did pretty good.....but the BFG KDW2's just hooked man....you bet your ass I can smoke em up if I wanted to...but I'm talking about a punch from a roll or a feathered launch.....they hook.

**Chemist** · 03-15-2008, 05:05 AM

Sarge,

Thanks for the excellent info. I was hoping someone would do a tire test like this. I have been seriously considering these BFGs, partly because I love the tread design. Now that you have shown that they have excellent bite, they will be my next tire. However, I have to burn off the Toyo's first.

I will be going with the 275's because I have 9" wheels on the rear with a generous 55mm offset.

**Rob** · 03-15-2008, 10:52 AM

Good to know as I have a set of KDW's in the garage ready to go on. 19" wheels don't make for good traction in a straight line. The Toyo's currently on them are half way decent, a good compromise I guess. Really looking forward to getting the BFG's on though.

**LS2Tuner** · 03-15-2008, 11:12 AM

Originally Posted by Sarge

WTF are you talking about? I dont have torque management nor traction control

What are you talking about?

Yes I knew that from prior posts. I was just busting your balls!

**blackSS01** · 03-15-2008, 11:53 AM

Thanks for the knowledge Sarge but I have to disagree with you on the BFG's. I have them (size in sig) and am disgusted with them compared to Goodyear GS D3's. I know you didn't test GSD3's and I have not tried any other tire that you checked out but I sure do not like my KDW's that is for sure. You should try another test with other tires so next time I go buy, I can use your information to help me select a good tire

**Loan seller** · 03-15-2008, 12:44 PM

How much power you makein man

**Chemist** · 03-15-2008, 01:01 PM

BlackSS01,
Please tell us why you didn't like the BFG's and why you like the GS D3's. I keep tires for a long time and I want to be sure that I'm happy with them.
Thanks.

**Sarge** · 03-15-2008, 03:02 PM

Originally Posted by blackSS01

Thanks for the knowledge Sarge but I have to disagree with you on the BFG's. I have them (size in sig) and am disgusted with them compared to Goodyear GS D3's. I know you didn't test GSD3's and I have not tried any other tire that you checked out but I sure do not like my KDW's that is for sure. You should try another test with other tires so next time I go buy, I can use your information to help me select a good tire

F-Body is a totally different rear end geometry man. Tires will react differently depending on the setup. A tire that works well on a FBody may suck on a Goat and vice versa. Our rear ends/geometry/axles/weight distribution etc. are all totally different.

**440 rwhp trans am** · 03-16-2008, 07:03 AM

Originally Posted by blackSS01

Thanks for the knowledge Sarge but I have to disagree with you on the BFG's. I have them (size in sig) and am disgusted with them compared to Goodyear GS D3's. I know you didn't test GSD3's and I have not tried any other tire that you checked out but I sure do not like my KDW's that is for sure. You should try another test with other tires so next time I go buy, I can use your information to help me select a good tire

hit it dead on sarge! plus your tires would spin. you have a wide tire and a very little sidewall that is very stiff = no traction. if you went with a 285/50/r17 it would be defferent.

**slims00ls1z28** · 03-16-2008, 10:23 AM

what are the stock 17" size 17x8 or 7?

**LS2Tuner** · 03-16-2008, 10:28 AM

Originally Posted by slims00ls1z28

what are the stock 17" size 17x8 or 7?

8"s

**Spieldawg** · 03-17-2008, 09:35 AM

did you go with 255's all the way around or just on the back....

**Sarge** · 03-17-2008, 12:36 PM

Just on the back. 235's in front.

**Spieldawg** · 03-17-2008, 12:55 PM

why 235's? just curious

**Sarge** · 03-17-2008, 02:57 PM

Before the true fix of the Pedders bushings Pontiac's "fix" for strut rub was to replace the 245"s with 235"s and adjust the alignment specs for a couple degrees....they paid 100% and I chose the tire.....no reason to change as the Toyo's 235 grip great.....

**Spieldawg** · 03-17-2008, 02:59 PM

I figured it was to compesate for the strut rub LOL.. when I was looking for them of the 8 GTO's I looked at this was in late 05, 4 of them had strut rub, and 6 of them had the seats splitting apart in the back window.

Fortunately I haven't had any issues yet.. I just turned 38K

**Sarge** · 03-17-2008, 03:04 PM

I split my pants once.

I know this entire strut rub issue is silly and stupid. The fix isn't tires or alignments. It is the fucking bushings. But Pontiac/GM cannot admit it as they would be in deep shit and have to replace every Strut bushing and Radius Rod bushing out there.

**surfinjoe** · 04-01-2008, 05:07 AM

Sarge - have you ever had a set of Kuhmos? Tire rack did some tests and the Kuhmo ECSTA performed as well as the BFG KD's for less. I had a set on my 00 SS and they kicked the crap out of the stock Eagle F1’s.

Also, why did you choose the BFG KDW II? They are Ultra High Performance Summer and the KD’s are Extreme Performance Summer (two levels higher). This would indicate that the KD’s are a higher performance tire, at least in theory.