BFG g-Force Comp-2 A/S - Hot New Tire for American Muscle and Luxury Imports

By Thom Cannell
Senior Editor
Michigan Bureau
The Auto Channel

Every tire has a story, a purpose, a market, a use. BFG’s g-Force Comp-2 A/S is an all season ultra high performance tire for American Muscle and EuroAsian luxury performance cars. The new g-Force Comp-2 A/S is the successor to BFG’s g-Force Super Sport and compliments the summer-only g-Force Sport Comp-2. We find those similar names a bit confusing, so think “sport equals summer only, A/S means, well, all season”. Let’s get another thing out of the way up front. Tire manufacturers no longer tout all season tires as meant for deep snow and ice, if they ever did. BFG says the g-Force Comp-2 A/S is good for light fall and early spring snows, not the blizzards that are just melting in Boston Harbor. If you live in snow country you must have winter tires.

We came to sunny Phoenix ready to test the g-Force Comp-2 A/S and were met with chill and rain, which is good for testing an all season tire, it challenges the promises. Our first questions about the tires were simple, what makes up a tire, starting from the bead-seat surface to the tread, and how is this tire different from others. Really, why would YOU want to shell out $300 and up for a set, other than the 45,000-mile warranty.

Assuming you know just a bit about tires, here’s a primer on basics from Dirk McDonald, Product Category Manager - BFG Ultra High Performance and tire development engineer Roark Baird. The most obvious part of the tire is its tread. Tread design delivers biting edges for grip in all seasons, particularly in snow. The voids evacuate water to prevent hydroplaning. How the tread blocks are formed, their direction, size and orientation (sculpture), deliver stability. What the tread rubber is made of is what determines traction and grip in summer and winter. For cold weather the compound has to remain flexible to grip the ice and snow, in summer it has to resist heat buildup. This is a delicate balance and compounds have vastly improved in the last 5-7 years. Now you can have a tire that remains flexible in the winter while resisting heat buildup on scorching summer days while challenging your favorite winding road.

The next piece of tire is at the opposite side, the connection between wheel and tire, the bead seat. For this tire it’s called the g-wedge which locks to the rim. In a J shape, radial plys wrap around the g-wedge (g-control sidewall inserts in our illustration) and over to the opposite side to again wrap the wedge. Put together, these form the DSS, dynamic suspension system that we’d call the main structure. They are what gives any tire its basic shape and actually delivers the sidewall stiffness (or lack of stiffness) that determines how crisply a tire turns in and how precisely your car handles. The DSS (by any name) also determines how harshly road forces will come back to your chassis. Super strong sidewalls might turn like a go-kart’s wheels, but you’d be beaten to jelly on any thing but glass-smooth pavement.

Next are the steel belts. These steel cords are embedded in rubber sheets, deliberately separated and specifically angled. That’s tire engineering and it creates stability beneath the tread. Following the belts is ETEC, what BFG calls the containment system, which is a reinforcement layer to optimally stabilize the tire contact patch. This creates and maintains the high speed performance characteristics.

Now we’re back to the tread, where the size and spacing of individual blocks makes a difference, to your ears. Blocks must be sized and spaced to minimize noise production, which is impossible to achieve. Complex computer algorithms size and place the blocks to make an acceptable white noise. Other 3D design apps help determine performance characteristics. This BFG calls “g-Force Tread”.

For the g-Force Comp-2 A/S, shoulders are squared off to put more rubber–the contact patch–on the ground. Wraparound outer tread makes for more rubber when cornering at the limit and it looks way cool. Individual tread blocks are large and rigid for less “squirm”, and the rubber compound itself uses lots of silica to improve cold weather traction.

In Phoenix we tested BFG’s claims that the new tire has great “A-B-Cs”. “Accelerates faster, brakes shorter, and exhibits control in all seasons,” according to marketing manager Marcus Wilson. How did they prove their claims? At Wild Horse Pass Raceway (formerly Firebird) with water, competitors tires, and cars.

There were specific tests, wet handling using Mustangs, wet and dry braking in Audi A5s, and dry autocross in Scion FR-S’. Each test was begun in a g-Force Comp-2 A/S-equipped car, followed by competitor tires. Our group began in the fog and mist, driving Mustangs against General G-Max AS-03, and Yokohama AVID Envigor. Our notes read “ Much better grip than the others. Compared to the General tire, much better grip and accuracy, noticeably better than the Yokohama. Yokohama has marginally less input accuracy, but near-equal wet braking, full ABS, stopping. The General was far less crisp, had less accuracy in steering input at any speed (0-45 mph), and far less stopping power or feel under ABS wet braking”.

Our next bit of fun involved Scion FR-S’ and an autocross. By then the sun had arrived and warmed the track. For this comparison the tires were the same, though obviously in different sizes. Our short course emulate left-right evasion, a fixed radius corner, and an S with a sharper final curve. We approached this professionally, darn it, so not maximum speed but maximum repeatability.

Again the BFG tire delivered on its promises. Notes say the General tire was far less accurate in steering response, had more oversteer, and less grip. It felt like the tires were under-inflated. The Yoko tire was better, though still with understeer and less grip or accuracy. Our notes say that, overall, the Comp-2 felt more grippy, and accurate than either competitor, and offered more direct connection between steering wheel–tire contact patch–road surface.

Finally we sped down a straight track in Audi A5s to a velocity of 50 mph and nailed the brakes. A full two-footed panic stop! There, too, against the Hankook Ventus S1 Noble2, the BFG tire prevailed, stopping shorter in almost every case (there were occasional brake application failures), wet or dry. Averaging about 60 events, the results showed several feet shorter stopping distance wet, or dry. The company attributes this to the squared tread design that stores and expels water, and the amount of silica in the tread. We thought the Hankook felt smoother and softer, the BFG more granular, more mechanical, delivering more connection with the road. It also had more control.

Beginning in April you’ll see the initial rollout of the g-Force Comp-2 A/S, the first 39 of an eventual 51 sizes that will cover over 97% of its market.

The first sizes in April will be 33 and overall we will release 59 total sizes.

BFG is willing to put its products head-to-head with direct in-class competitors, which we love. It gives us an opportunity to deliver honest evaluations from a subjective point of view. After all, that’s where you’ll be sitting.