Looking at getting some new tires. The reviews on these look to have really good dry traction and steering response. Anyone use these out there that would like to share their thoughts? Thx.

BFGoodrich g-Force T/A KDW-2

 

I have them. Love the ride, much smoother than my old Hankook Ventus. Grip is awesome. Steering is very crisp also. Some people don't like the noise, but I haven't had a problem with that, with all the other mods I have it drives it out There are a bunch of other people in our club that use them also. Only gripe is that they are kinda heavy at 24lbs. I recommend them .

 

Yeah, I'm in that camp - can't wait to wear 'em out enough to replace them with tires that don't howl

 

Ive been through three sets and obviously like them. They give good wear for a performance tire and if you rotate them a bit more than normal , say every 3,000 miles , the noise is minimal. It doesn't rain much in So Cal but I have had some wet weather experience with them and they are truly amazing in that element .

Randy
M7 Tuning

 

I like mine. Went with 215-40-17 and bought them from Costco. Even though they're a lower profile than the original Pirelli runflats the BFG's are much a smoother ride. I'm in So Cal so I can't tell you about how they work in snow but they're fine in the rain.

 

Very durable tire and rides well. Good performance tire that, with the big block design, works well in the wet and slick. Good turn in without heavy sidewall flex. Better wear than runflats with excellent grip. Best tires I've owned so far on the MINI. I am, however, partial to B.F. Goodrich T/A tires on my offroad and onroad vehicles.

 

Replaced my runflats with a set of 215-45/17. huge improvment in ride. they are great in the wet and dry. exellent in the corners. they do get loud as they wear, even with regular rotation. not the best for wear, i got around 15k out of a set. i would have replaced with same but budget nessesitated a switch to the general exclaim uhp. this tire is great for daily drivers. low noise, better ride and better wear. wet and dry handling are very good, they get a little noisy in the twisties but are very predictable. sidewall is much softer than bfg. check out tire rack comparison.

 

I replaced my runflats with these at 18,500 miles when teh runflats were pretty much toast. I really like them and they seem to grip great, while giving a less jarring ride than the runflats. I have noticed the noise off and on, but it is not too bad if you keep them rotated as someone else said. So far, I have put about 20k miles on them and they look to have plenty of life left.

 

I will also vouch for the wet performance (the less expensive GForce Sports are almost just as good for dry traction) - in heavy rain, you can safely fly by other cars without hydroplaning.

The road noise used to be something I could tolerate, but after 25K miles, I've grown weary of it. Will probably switch to something like the Firestone Firehawk Wide Ovals after wearing the current set of KDW2s bald.

 

I bought my '05 MCS used w/ the BFGoodrich g-Force T/A KDW-2s on it. Driving the Dragon MOTD-6 w/ other cars in our group had every other Mfgr's tires imaginable.

During spirited cornering, cars ahead & behind squealed tires in every curve. My G-Force tires squealed on the 1st 2 curves, then just hugged the road. On that Saturday it rained & they worked surprizingly well, & again, no one else's had any advantage or mine.

I will buy a 2nd set for sure. Why trade out of something that works? The noise is an issue but someone had to point out to me since they were on the car when I got it & the noise was relative to my only Mini experience.

After 4 days on Dragon (& other NC roads), the other brands of tires were showing bald spots & mine still had excellent tread left. They should be toast after next MOTD, however.

Mike

 

Sorry to differ with everyone, but I don't recommend the BFG KDW-2's. They are good, but there is a much better choice. I love the super aggressive looking tread pattern, but the dry traction is just ok, and they have lots of road noise, especially when new and full tread.

If you are looking for the best high performance summer tire that has excellent wet and dry traction while also being very smooth and quiet, get the Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3's. Those tires also wore better than the KDW-2's did on my car. The Goodyear Eagle GS-D3's are a newer tire and I believe it was Goodyear's response to the BFG KDW-2.

BTW, my house is 20 minutes away from the Dragon Tail (until I went to college in Ohio). From 2003-2005, I drove the dragon and better surrounding roads probably 250+ round trips. And probably about 100 more since then. I have 60k miles on my car now and go through tires quicker than shoes (and I'm a distance runner).

1. Goodyear RS-A Runflats- 10k miles until front threads showed
2. BFGoodrich g-Force T/A- 10k miles until all 4 tires almost bald
3. Falken Azenis RT-615- 7k miles with a lot of summer dragon runs and 1 season auto-x
4. BFGoodrich KDW2's-8k miles with many dragon runs and summer driving. I didn't like them, so replaced early.
5. Goodyear Eagle F1 GSD3's- 15k miles with lots of dragon runs, autox, and highway driving
6. Falken Azenis RT-615- current summer and autox tire. Best dry traction w/o r comps

To Cliff note my thoughts:
Best overall summer tire: Goodyear Eagle F1 GSD3
highs: relatively long tread life, quiet, great in hard rain, and grips strong and breaks away smoothly in dry
lows: a bit pricey

Best Ultra High Performance Tire without going to R-compounds: Falken Azenis RT-615
highs: they stick like glue, not bad in rain when new, about $100 a piece for 17"
lows: tread pattern isn't anything special looking, they wear fast when driven hard

Best Looking Tread Pattern: BFG KDW-2
highs: wow they look good, pretty sticky, decent life
lows: they howl on the highway, have to rotate a lot, they get "greasy" easily when hot

 

I tend to agree with this, but this tire is not available in the right size. I would have to get the speedo re calibrated and I'm not sure I want to go through the extra expense.

Your experience is appreciated, and I will keep those in mind when it comes time to take the plunge.

 

Another vote for Goodyear Eagle F1 GSD3's.

Great tire.

 

I've had 3 sets of tyres now on the GP, the best ones were the Micthelin Pilot sport 2's, the KDW 2's which are on the car now are better than the run flats, but I would not buy them again. I'm not happy with the wet grip, they are noisey, but I would not worry about that if the performance were better.

 

Reasonably priced, great in the rain, and they wear well. They are, however, about the noisiest street tires you can buy. At 22,000 miles mine have plenty of life left in them but I may take them off because of the noise. You could have worn out wheel bearings, bad CV joints, and a big hole in your muffler and never hear it over the noise the BFGs make.

 

I've only done 4,500 on the kdw 2's, but I'm going to take them off and get a set of the goodyears, the reviews I just saw on line are excellent.

 

I've got some time on the KDW's, not on a MINI, but they are great tires performance-wise. I now have BFG G-Force Sports on my MINI, and while these tires also perform well -- great grip and responsiveness, they are getting a little noisy as they wear as many have stated about the KDW's.

 

They are ok. I did 3 autox schools on a set. They chunked a bit, but worked fine. They are noisy. Better options available if you can except less tread life.

 

Another thing to keep in mind about the BFG's is the construction (as far as I know this is still the same). During the layup of the tire, the tread ends up on top of the shoulder, as opposed to most other tires where the shoulder wraps onto the tread (might be hard to picture but hope it gets across). Anyway, because of this, during hard use you can experience more chunking of the tread at the outside shoulders.