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Tire review: BFG Comp 2 A/S (long post)

ckm

New member
(New Mk6 GTI owner, just got some new shoes for the old girl....)

Review of BFG Comp 2 A/S on a 2010 VW GTI, stock, unmodified w/18" Detroits.

I recently bought a Mk6 GTI and had to put new tires on it after some pothole damage. The old tires were Bridgestone Potenza RE97AS which I quite liked and still had a lot of tread left. They were relatively quiet, handled well and were a comfortable ride. That said, one tire had a sidewall bulge and another had a chunk missing from the sidewall. I was originally planning on replacing them in a few months as I have some other maintenance work to do (TOB, clutch/flywheel, water pump).

But, Tuesday evening I hit a pretty massive pothole - enough for me to stop & check for damage. I discovered a crack in my sidewall about 1" long. The impact was enough for tire residue to wind up on the rim. The tires were still holding air, so I limped home and searched for tires that night & the next day. Also had to get new wheel locks, but that's another adventure.

On a side note, this car is my commuter car. It replaces a 2001 BMW Z3 Coupe I used to drive as the BMW is rare and going up in price - I don't really want to drive it to work anymore, esp since I now drive every day. I've owned more than a few high-performance cars, and used to run a lot of track days, so I'm pretty picky about tires.

My short list came down to:

  • Cooper Zeon RS3-S
  • BF Goodrich Comp 2 A/S
  • Continental DWS 06
I also considered the following:

  • Cooper
    • RS3-A
  • Continental
    • DW
    • DWS
  • Bridgestone
    • Potenza S-04 Pole Position
    • RE970 Pole Position
    • RE760
  • Michelin
    • AS3
    • PSS
  • Kumho
    • Ecsta 4
  • Nitto
    • Nitto NeoGen
    • NT555
  • Goodyear
    • Eagle F1 Asymetric 2
  • Firehawk
    • Wide Oval
Mostly I was after a sharp, comfortable and quiet tire. I have other cars that are faster & handle better, so outright performance was not necessary. Also, I live in the SF Bay Area, where we don't get snow, and my commute is a 24 mile round trip of mostly very high speed driving (80mph+) and very bad city streets.

After calling around, it was clear I couldn't get anything the same day and prices compared to the Tire Rack (where I usually buy my tires) were mostly far off. That is, except for the BFG Comp2 A/S on my shortlist, which were only $1 more....

So I ordered them and they were installed today.

First impressions

  • Very quiet, way better than the RE97AS
  • Less harsh that the RE97AS, comfortable on railroad tracks & potholes
  • More steering 'noise' (e.g. feeling the road surface through the wheel) than the RE97AS
  • Stickier (stalled the car on one steep hill, would have spun before)
  • Slightly more precise, but not much, some vagueness creeps in at the limit
  • Slight vibration over 80 (prob. balancing)
  • Torque steer slightly worse/changed
Overall, recommended. These seem to match the performance of the GTI well, at least with the stock suspension. They are not dramatically different in character from the RE97AS. Also, with 18"'s & 40-profile tires, you need a stiffer sidewall to prevent damage. I know the DWS06 has improved this vs the older DWS, but I was still not convinced. Tire Rack's charts seem to indicate the Comp2 has better turn-in, which would suggest a stiffer sidewall. As far as the Cooper, it's too much of an unknown quantity and some people complained of noise over 4k miles.

Yes, I know the preferred choice is the Michelin PSS, but it's very hard to justify an additional $400 on top of an already expensive purchase. FWIW, I have a set of BFG Comp2 (not A/S) on my Z3 and like them as well - they replaced a set of horrible Falkens. I also have a set of Cooper Discoverer A/T3s on my SUV, which replaced a set of Firestone Destination A/T, so I'm not esp. brand loyal...

I'm probably going to have these re-balanced at my usual tire place (which has a Road Force balancer) after a few hundred miles. I'll also post an update when I get more miles on these.

2010_vw_gti_1314.jpg
 
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v-dug

Go Kart Champion
I'm thinking about the same tires. I'm currently running last year's Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3, which are stickier than the updated version that was released this year. They wear super fast but I loved the old version because they are as sticky as summer tires. BUT since they aren't making them in that configuration anymore I'm considering going with the Comp 2 A/S.

What do you think about their grip compared to basic summer tires, or do you have any comparison on the GTI? I know they won't compare to the Extreme Perf Summer tires I use for autocross, but I want as much grip as I can and still run them below 30 degrees :)

I also think it's funny - I ran Firestone Destination A/Ts on my FJ (loved them) but now I'm running Cooper Discoverer A/T 3. Just like you, haha!
 

Crild

Drag Race Newbie
i have these tires since just before winter and i absolutely love them. super quiet and feel pretty sticky, plus they do great in the snow.
 

ckm

New member
They have really good grip - as good as the non-A/S ones I have on my BMW. So far, I have not been able to induce any tire squeal - I'm sure it's possible but youi'd have to drive like an insane maniac.... Great tires really.
 

Jcarollo765

Ready to race!
I have the same tires and love them. Best A/S tire yet.
 

ckm

New member
500+ mile update

So I've been driving these pretty much every day and have racked up a bunch of miles. These include highway, city, small country roads, speeds in the triple digits and everything in between. I haven't had a chance to drive them in anything but dry weather other than very light rain one morning (wipers on intermittent) - didn't notice any difference. I have also driven them in very high heat (110F) - no difference either.

Overall, I really, really like these. They are comfortable, quiet, handle well, seem to have pretty good steering feedback and predictable breakaway (they tend to smear rather than abruptly give way). In high-speed sweepers they will drift in a very predictable fashion with plenty of warning, which is, IMHO, a very good thing.

The only negative is that the tread is very slightly audible at low speeds in traffic with the window down. It sounds a bit like velcro peeling off the tarmac. It's not a problem or annoying, I just noticed in my commute when I have the windows down. It goes away after about 15 mph and is probably an indication of just how sticky these are. And that my camber is set correctly? :iono:

Overall, very happy, highly recommended. These match the car perfectly. I don't have any specific benchmarks since my sports car has basically the same rubber in a non-A/S version (which is slightly sharper in both handling and jar factor). I'm sure a summer only tire would sharpen the handling, but as I said in my top post, I wasn't after that. IMHO, few people need max performance summer tires on a car like this (unless you autox or track, that is) - if you really want to drive that fast a few track lessons will be more effective than any tire....

As far as I can tell from my foggy memory, these are some of the better performance tires I've owned, better than Falkens & Nexens I had in the past (which isn't saying much), on par or better than Yokos, Toyos, Kumhos and Pirellis I've had on various performance cars (Focus SVT, Alfa 164 & GTV6, Audi CQ & UrQ, VW GTI mk1, Saab 900 Turbo, Jag XJR, RX7 Turbo II and others).

I think my shortlist was pretty accurate, I don't think you can go wrong with any of them or the Michelin PSSs. The only real question is how long they will hold up with decent characteristics. That said, I usually don't wait for tires to wear out completely, I typically replace them as soon as they get greasy or hard.
 
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ckm

New member
I also think it's funny - I ran Firestone Destination A/Ts on my FJ (loved them) but now I'm running Cooper Discoverer A/T 3. Just like you, haha!

That's pretty funny - I got them as an experiment as they were on deep sale. They are pretty good, but I think the Firestones were better - still have a brand new one as my spare.... The Cooper's are not quite as sharp and a little more noisy. Hopefully that will translate to being better off-road, haven't tried that yet, maybe this summer.

My SO really loves the FJ, but NO WINDOWS - what were they thinking, the original was so airy. I think if we ever replace the current SUV, it will probably be a Wrangler Unlimited....
 
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