BFG R-1's or Kook C51's

[JoshS]

Anyone have any comparative advice about the BFG? I just bought a set to try in 2 weeks after 3+ years on the Hoosier. What's the best break-in approach, do they need a heat cycle, what temps/pressures do they like relative to Hoosier, etc?

[erlrich]

Anyone have any comparative advice about the BFG? I just bought a set to try in 2 weeks after 3+ years on the Hoosier. What's the best break-in approach, do they need a heat cycle, what temps/pressures do they like relative to Hoosier, etc?

BFG recommends one heat cycle, then let them sit for 24 hrs. Pressures appear to be in the Hoosier range - they have a pretty good guide for the R1 here.

[Eagle7]

Anyone have any comparative advice about the BFG? I just bought a set to try in 2 weeks after 3+ years on the Hoosier. What's the best break-in approach, do they need a heat cycle, what temps/pressures do they like relative to Hoosier, etc?

Please start a thread on this when you get back from the track. I'm pretty tempted to try them, but neither my budget nor schedule allow much experimentation.

[lateapex911]

From what I hear, they are slower. Even if they last longer, they are still slower. So, I guess it's a price decision..are tehy THAT much cheaper?

IF they are, say, 1 second a lap slower, and they last 12 or 14 cycles, and if the Hoosier is faster by a second a lap, but loses a second after 5 or 7 cycles, but stabilizes for 5 or 6 more cycles, then it seems like the Hoosiers are better, as you are faster for some and the same for the rest of the cycles.

But, thats a presumption. It would be great to get the back to back answers...but, this is black magic, answers are tough to come by!

[dj10]

"From what I hear, they are slower."
Not true Jake, and don't judge them by my times @ ARRC, I had problems with my car, not the tires.

[type r rocket]

I doubt you will find someone who has purchased more BFG tires then me(lately).We use them on a front drive 2400 pound enduro car.
We have been using them for the last 3 years.3 years ago in testing the Hoosier was about 1/2 a second faster when both tires were new.After the first sesssion the Hoosier was 3/4 a second faster for about 7-8 laps and then when it dropped off both tires were pretty equal in times.I would say when both tires have a few cycles on them they are very close in lap times with the Hoosier being a tad quicker in the first few laps.The BFG smoked the Hoosier in tire life,we have never corded,flatspotted or chunked a BFG tire.We have put used ones on the rear of the car and left them for 8 hours straight.The fronts have been double stinted(4 hours straight) many times and depending on the track or driver may have then been used for rears.
Don't get me wrong I like and run Hoosiers on other cars but the BFG is at least $40 less per tire I think,they work well with no" oh my god fall off" and if you can heat cycle them once and let sit for 24 hours they will last forever.We scrub in all our sets of enduro tires,I am sorry but unless you are a top notch driver in your class and need to have fresh rubber every race the BFG is a awesome tire and it sounds its exactly what your looking for.

So we tried the newest Goodyear tire at the ARRC last year,brand new tire no one had it yet.Tire was awesome,fast,crisp,clean and boy you could drive the car right to the edge which the one down side to the BFG is when exiting the corner you want to ease your way over to track out and maybe even leave a extra 6 inchs just in case it wanted to keep going.As awesome as the Goodyear was I did a easy session to scrub it in,let it sit for 24 hours,Mark Carpenter qualified on it and then used them for the ITR Sprint race.They were put on for the first stint of the 3 hour enduro and when he came in after hour and twenty minutes they were gone.So after about 2 1/2 hours they were useless.

And as far as Hankocks,I wouldn't race them on a big wheel.

Give ol Nate at the Tire Rack a call,I just ordered a bunch of stuff from him,he is awesome,his ext. number is 688

[Eagle7]

Anyone have any comparative advice about the BFG? I just bought a set to try in 2 weeks after 3+ years on the Hoosier. What's the best break-in approach, do they need a heat cycle, what temps/pressures do they like relative to Hoosier, etc?

How did it go?

[JoshS]

How did it go?

Not very well. Apparently I was the only one on the planet who didn't know that the '03-'05 GM trucks had instrument cluster gauge issues, so when my oil pressure dropped to zero, I gave up on the journey and had the truck towed back home and had a friend come get me and the trailer from the side of the road. Turns out it was just a gauge issue, not an engine issue.

I'll be making another attempt (this time Laguna Seca) at the end of the month.

[Eagle7]

I'll be making another attempt (this time Laguna Seca) at the end of the month.

Hope this attempt went better

[JoshS]

Hope this attempt went better

Thanks, but ... not really. It was actually a major carnage weekend at Laguna, so many friends left with big $$ to spend. The luckiest guy in that bunch simply never got his car to start, and after spending 8 hours trying, just gave up on the weekend.

In my case it was just a return of the cooling problem I've had ever since I wrecked the car last June. Obviously something overheated at some point because I continue to lose well over a gallon of water each session, and though you'd think with that much loss it would be obvious where it's going, it's not. Nothing visible anywhere. I thought several times I've had it figured out only to be thwarted. It doesn't reproduce itself anywhere except actually on the track, which has made it tough to diagnose. In any case, the head is coming off this week.

So I did get, oh, 10 laps on the tires? Not much. The car was really sketchy when the tires were cold, much looser than it has EVER been with Hoosiers. I'm now thinking though that I was effectively spinning in my own ... water, if that's even credible.

So I've got no new insight.

[Eagle7]

Thanks, but ... not really.