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Walked in to my neighborhood Tire shop, ordered a pair of 205 BFGs for $130 ea, installed. Hooray local biz! (assuming they can get them...)
Now soon to retire (ow. pun) my 2 rear Summis for emergency use.
Lack of choices here a bit scary here
Stu, I have a new set of BFGs RWL on my SA and just got back from DGRR after punishing them on the dragon and vicinity. Heres my take on the BFGs, look great, cruise on the highway great, good in the wet, not too noisy. The bad, terrible performance tire, weak sidewalls combined with a lot of tread squirm when pushed to 9/10s results in instance break away when pushed hard in the corners with almost no notice and lots of tire squeal. A very scary tire for our cars when pushed hard. So I would use them for around town or cruising cross country with no problems. Just don't expect them to perform like 200 summer performance tire. For comparison I have Dunlop Star2s on 15 Rewinds which have none of the bad listed above, but are not suited for wet driving now that they are older and harder from heating cycling. They have been to the dragon at least 2 or 3 times but I need to replace them now.
I hope you mounted them with the letters outside? Period correct would be the letters to the outside. When I bought my SA in 83 it came with bridgestones with RWL on it. So right for the time!
LOL - this - GREAT info - AFTER I order the BFGs?!
Thanks for the insight t_g_ - am only fitting a PAIR. Was thinking on the rear, with the (stickier??) Verdesteins left on the front.
Also thus, the Letters will be inside to match the blank Verds. Hopefully they will do the Job til the next time someone decides to release some competent 13s...
Thank you everyone for the input!
I find the BFGs to be very predictable.
What pressures are you running? I keep mine at 28/25psi front/rear.
I keep the rears at 31 and the fronts at 33 but even then they are mushy compared to the 205/50x15 Dunlops which admittedly are a much higher performance tire. The break away is not predictable or smooth with the BFGs.
I keep the rears at 31 and the fronts at 33 but even then they are mushy compared to the 205/50x15 Dunlops which admittedly are a much higher performance tire. The break away is not predictable or smooth with the BFGs.
They have to be "mushy" for the suspension and steering to work right. Car was designed around floppy 165R13 or 185/70R13 tires, the steering gets really unpleasant with modern stiff tires, and increased grip levels highlight the chassis' inadequacies.
This is actually a lot of the reason WHY the Radial T/As have such balloon-thin sidewalls, they were meant for older chassis.
1st gen RX-7s do not have predictable or smooth breakaway to begin with Even back in the day, there was a TV advertisement for the SA where they drove the car on a switchback road.... they totaled a couple before they got Rod Millen in to to the driving work.
They have to be "mushy" for the suspension and steering to work right. Car was designed around floppy 165R13 or 185/70R13 tires, the steering gets really unpleasant with modern stiff tires, and increased grip levels highlight the chassis' inadequacies.
This is actually a lot of the reason WHY the Radial T/As have such balloon-thin sidewalls, they were meant for older chassis.
1st gen RX-7s do not have predictable or smooth breakaway to begin with Even back in the day, there was a TV advertisement for the SA where they drove the car on a switchback road.... they totaled a couple before they got Rod Millen in to to the driving work.
Sure but I have stiffer springs, lowered slightly with stiffer bushings on most things and when I put on the 15x7 Rewinds with a 205/50x15 Dunlop start2s it handles so much better and predictably. Rear break away is gradual and easily controlled and it has a lot more grip in the corners.I think chassis setup really makes the difference with tires.
Personally my SA is a cruiser tho will happily (and maybe, brainlessly, it appears) toss it around backroad curves and such. Suspension is stock. Fresh Bilsteins, and am about to replace rear trailing arms with new (stock) ones to get some life back into the rubber bits. Has an FB LSD but not sure that really adds much?
I keep the rears at 31 and the fronts at 33 but even then they are mushy compared to the 205/50x15 Dunlops which admittedly are a much higher performance tire. The break away is not predictable or smooth with the BFGs.
I just tried 31 and 33 for my 205/60 13 SS595s and it was much better than when I had them at 28.
*shrug* I'm on 225lb in the front, 150 rear, with Bilstein HDs. Stock front bar, keep going back and forth on mounting a rear bar that I acquired. Would need to fabricate one of the bushing brackets, the bar only came with one and finding used is impossible.
I was planning on drilling out the rear upper link bushings to increase compliance to reduce snap oversteer, and it came up in conversation with the previous owner that he'd already done that
Any one have experience with Tornel tires? The parent company is in India and the tire is produced in Mexico. I have never heard of them but they do come in 205 60 13's. Tornel Tires Tornel Wiki
Other than have been around for DECADES (the Indian parent company). My only concern is pondering their sport car tire bona fides in a country where it mostly/seemingly full of bikes and 3-wheel utility vehicles. Am maybe being too picky. We have few choices....
Even back in the day, there was a TV advertisement for the SA where they drove the car on a switchback road.... they totaled a couple before they got Rod Millen in to to the driving work.
