here is a copy of a tire test ( pulled from another site) that compares the Rival to some others (light weight FWD )
Tested the 205/50/15 BFG and the 195/50/15 Toyo yesterday.
- Both at full tread, scrubbed in on skidpad and found tire pressures there (already knew on the Toyos and had a good idea on the BFGs since we ran a 12 run event on those the previous week).
- My intentions this year are to run Toyos at events that are colder and use them as rains. Let's see what we found out...
- Grissom was the site.
- Car is setup for Toyos. YMMV and all that.
Method:
- Ran simulated 2 driver, 3 run autocross in 3 different tire setup configurations with no setup changes other than normalizing the tire pressure: All Toyo, All BFG, BFG front/Toyo rear. It was very cold (40's most of the day) and we had a hard time generating heat for either tire on the rear of the car.
- I did not run the setups in the order you see below. I have ordered them by slowest avg. to fastest avg.
- I have driven hundreds of runs on this course configuration, so course learning isn't a factor here.
Caveat: I know this is a very small run sample, but the test course I am very familiar with and all times for me on each setup was within .4, "driver noise" for me.
1) All Toyo impression - Car was phenomenal in the 6 cone slalom. Turn in and transition very good. By the second run the front was pushing mid corner and off, but turn in was still good. We all know heat management on the drive tires is crucial for these. Didn't spray the fronts down and could really tell. The full tread may have contributed to this as well.
Avg. time: 44.002
Variance: .367
Hero run: 43.815
2) All BFG impression - Agree with Lugod that transitionally this tire is not as confidence inspiring. Especially with the rear of the car. We think lack of heat is what was really killing it for us and lower rear pressures were the key. Lowered the rear pressures on my last run in this run set and put the hero time down. Transition was much better and in hindsight should have lowered the rear pressure for the second run. Live and learn.
Once a little heat was generated in the rear pair, it seemed like the rear grip was getting much better in transition.
Same overall impression as everyone else for this tire: easy and forgiving tire to drive at the limit, noisy. Great overall grip. Doesn't punish you too much when over driven, but you can spin them up on corner exit if you use the loud pedal as an on/off switch and don't fully unwind the wheel first (little bit of co-driver coaching here) .
Avg. time: 43.751
Variance: .352
Hero run (lowered rear pressures due to low heat): 43.552
3) Mixed setup (BFG front / Toyo Rear) - I present to you: Rear Toyo grip without the front Toyo mid corner push.
Very, VERY similar to the Hankook/Toyo F/R tire setup, but without requiring the high amount of heat the Hankook requires to work properly. Front was compliant from turn 2 on. Running the Toyo in the rear also made the car transition very well off the bat. Confidence in slalom was high, so more driver risk was evident. A "conservative" last run was the hero run here. Only .146 better than the best run on the all BFG setup. Average overall was better by .216, but IMO this was because grip was near instant in cold conditions. I would run this setup if the event was going to see cold temps (like low 60's or less with little surface temp).
Avg. time: 43.535
Variance: .355
Hero run: 43.406
Overall impression / cliff's notes - All IMO: Overall grip of the BFG was better. Rear grip of the Toyo was better, quicker. It's down to driver feel and car setup, really. The times for us were mostly a wash and within the general realm of driver noise. The mixed setup was fastest on the time sheet overall, but not by much. It's going to depend on driving style and chassis setup/development to one tire as to which tire each competitor wants to use.
My codriver, who doesn't have a lot of autocross experience and is new to the car, preferred the Rivals only setup (although he too was quickest with the mixed setup). I was mostly undecided at the end, but leaning toward a mixed setup or all BFG. I think the instant grip of the mixed setup in cold conditions played a factor here. But I really liked the rear grip of the Toyo the best, and the front feel of the BFG the best.
Again... driver style, preference, site type, etc. all play a factor here.
