BFG G-force Comp 2 195/55R15's are on.

[IndyIan]

Put these on after dinner yesterday and went for a drive to take the molding surface off. First of all they are round and balanced which is important as I ordered them in by mail. Also they are pretty quiet, no louder than my winter IG52C's which are quieter than my old 3 season tires.
They do transmit more "road feel" than my winter tires, but not to an annoying level. They certainly make the car react faster to steering inputs though. As for ultimate grip, they were better than the winters but it was 5C out so I think I'll need a warmer day and some more miles before I'll get the best out of them. I did two 50mph ABS stops in a row and the second was quite a bit shorter so I think the tires aren't quite in their good working range in these temps just driving normally.
This morning it was -5C but they held on for reasonable grip in 1st gear even.
I was a bit worried these wouldn't work well for a DDing in an econo box, but atleast initially, they are fine.

 

[HemiHawk]

I have these on my mustang (255/45/18). They are a great summer tire, however they are not too great once the weather is below 50F degrees. They do seem to warm up a bit, but if you stop for say coffee or gas, then take off again, the tires will be cold enough to lose traction. The Mustang has quite a bit more power, BUT if you were to take a corner hard enough in the cold I could see them losing grip.

When they are warm however, they've been great. A decent amount of road noise, but a stereo fixes that!

So far wear has been mild, I think I have about 10,000 miles on mine. They may make it to 20,000.

What engine is in your focus? I had an 04 ZTS with the 2.3 Duratec, it was a fun motor.

 

[IndyIan]

Just the 2.0 duratec, so its no powerhouse but being a wagon its got some more weight at the back which seems to let it spin up the tires abit more than I expected. I'm going to do some autocross this summer and putting power down through the inside front is going to be a challenge I think.
I'm interested to see how they handle the rain, they are supposed to good and my old tires were terrible, so it should be a big change.

 

[HemiHawk]

Originally Posted By: IndyIan
Just the 2.0 duratec, so its no powerhouse but being a wagon its got some more weight at the back which seems to let it spin up the tires abit more than I expected. I'm going to do some autocross this summer and putting power down through the inside front is going to be a challenge I think.
I'm interested to see how they handle the rain, they are supposed to good and my old tires were terrible, so it should be a big change.


They will do great at autocross! In the summer they should be sticky enough that you may not have one-wheel-peel issues. again different car, but with the same tire they do pretty well in the wet. I had a couple clinchers on the highway in areas of standing water, but not many tires would have done better.

 

[IndyIan]

Originally Posted By: HemiHawk
Originally Posted By: IndyIan
Just the 2.0 duratec, so its no powerhouse but being a wagon its got some more weight at the back which seems to let it spin up the tires abit more than I expected. I'm going to do some autocross this summer and putting power down through the inside front is going to be a challenge I think.
I'm interested to see how they handle the rain, they are supposed to good and my old tires were terrible, so it should be a big change.


They will do great at autocross! In the summer they should be sticky enough that you may not have one-wheel-peel issues. again different car, but with the same tire they do pretty well in the wet. I had a couple clinchers on the highway in areas of standing water, but not many tires would have done better.

Hopefully they do well at autocross, my buddy has a Mini Cooper and runs in STF, so I can be about 1% slower and be even with him. I don't know what tires he has for it this year so we'll see how it shakes out.

 

[dailydriver]

They definitely grip better when warm than their 340 tread wear (in my 255/50-16 size) would indicate.

 

[IndyIan]

Well, I've got a few hundred km on these now and had a chance to drive in the wet with them.
They do work as advertised in the rain, very grippy and it takes alot of pedal to break one loose even 1st gear.
Also they seem to cope very well with the weight of my car, just using all the tread to the edge on the fun on ramps. I haven't really slid it around yet as the change in grip is taking a while to get used to.
This sunday I'm going to autocross them, so I'll see how well the tires and the suspension cope at 10/10 tenths. I almost hope that it rains as these might as good as the better autocross tires that need some heat to really grip.

 

[IndyIan]

Well the first autocross went pretty well. They are decent tires for ripping around a parking lot, not quite up to the grip levels of the 200 treadwear autocross specials even on a cooler day, but good enough to win my class and to get me 6th overall which was unexpected.
Needed 38 psi in the fronts to keep them from rolling over which is pretty low considering the positive camber from body roll.
Anyways, I am reasonably pleased with how the tires worked, the car could use a few tweaks to get it to rotate a bit more but that's another story.

 

[HemiHawk]

Originally Posted By: IndyIan
Well the first autocross went pretty well. They are decent tires for ripping around a parking lot, not quite up to the grip levels of the 200 treadwear autocross specials even on a cooler day, but good enough to win my class and to get me 6th overall which was unexpected.
Needed 38 psi in the fronts to keep them from rolling over which is pretty low considering the positive camber from body roll.
Anyways, I am reasonably pleased with how the tires worked, the car could use a few tweaks to get it to rotate a bit more but that's another story.


awesome! sounds like they worked pretty well.

I know on my 04 focus the popular upgrade was the SVT suspension kit. But for a little more rotation just adding a stiffer rear sway bar should do just fine.

 

[IndyIan]

Originally Posted By: HemiHawk
Originally Posted By: IndyIan
Well the first autocross went pretty well. They are decent tires for ripping around a parking lot, not quite up to the grip levels of the 200 treadwear autocross specials even on a cooler day, but good enough to win my class and to get me 6th overall which was unexpected.
Needed 38 psi in the fronts to keep them from rolling over which is pretty low considering the positive camber from body roll.
Anyways, I am reasonably pleased with how the tires worked, the car could use a few tweaks to get it to rotate a bit more but that's another story.


awesome! sounds like they worked pretty well.

I know on my 04 focus the popular upgrade was the SVT suspension kit. But for a little more rotation just adding a stiffer rear sway bar should do just fine.

The wagons have a different rear suspension than the rest of the Focus cars so not alot of parts swap over and unfortunately the sway bar is one of them. Next time I'll try bumping the rear air pressures way up and I'll see if I can tighten the rear sway bar endlink bushings some more. Trying to do too much to the car is just money wasted anyways, and at speed it seems relatively neutral. The course yesterday had a lot of long constant turns which kind of hurt an under tired fwd car anyways.

 

[IndyIan]

Drove this morning in the rain and just above 0C. No drama at all, still had decent grip and handled water in some truck grooves without issue. I'm liking these more and more.