BFG Drag Radial - Street Tire Shootout

We dragstrip-tested BFGoodrich's... 

   

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We dragstrip-tested BFGoodrich's new Drag Radial tires to determine their true effectiveness. The result: awesome launches and great real-world driveability.

All too often, car crafters fall into a perplexing situation. In the quest to build the ultimate street machine, ample time and money is spent building a mega-powerful V-8 engine. Then the vehicle is upgraded with a hi-po transmission and a set of street/strip rearend gears. However, the first time the throttle is mashed, the rear tires scream in pain as they violently turn to plumes of smoke. Sure, a burnout looks cool, but it results in a slowly accelerating vehicle.

At the dragstrip, many car crafters bolt on a set of sticky rear slicks to generate traction. However, doing this is an ordeal because you have to haul the slicks, a jack, and tools to the track. Then, after switching tires, you're covered in tire scuzz. When you're finished racing, you then have to switch the tires back again. Sure, there are some Department of Transportation (DOT)-legal cheater slicks available, but in reality they are full wrinkle-wall slicks with minute tread. This type of tire does generate good traction, but it delivers terrible handling and wet-weather characteristics during daily street driving. What is really needed is a bona fide radial tire that incorporates the super-sticky rubber used on drag slicks.

To deliver real-world performance... 

   

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To deliver real-world performance figures, we track-tested the Chevelle's existing P225/60R15 radial tires against BFGoodrich Radial TA P275/50R15 and BFG Drag Radial P275/50R15 tires. Of particular interest are the performance differences between the same-sized Radial T/A and Drag Radial tires.

BFGoodrich (BFG) now offers its new Drag Radial tires that hook up great at the dragstrip and operate quite well during street driving. The tires are fully DOT-legal and are available in a variety of sizes to fit different wheel diameters, including 15-, 16-, and even 17-inch rims. Simply mount a set of BFG Drag Radial tires on the rear of your street machine, and you're ready for action.

As enticing as the BFG Drag Radial tires sounded, however, we were a bit skeptical. A street radial tire that hooks nearly as well as a full slick...can this be true? Well, we put the BFG Drag Radials to the test using CC's illustrious Project Cheap Street Chevelle. The '70 Chevelle is a fairly typical street machine incorporating a potent 355ci small-block engine, a street/strip auto trans paired with a 3,000-rpm torque converter, and 3.73:1 rear gears. Rolling stock consisted of a set of swap-meet-purchased 15x7-inch steel GM rally wheels shod with P225/60R15 radial tires in decent shape. During normal cruising, the tires were adequate, but under hard acceleration from a launch, they spun effortlessly.

The new BFG Drag Radial tires... 

   

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The new BFG Drag Radial tires hooked up extremely well during testing when fitted to Car Craft's Project Cheap Street Chevelle. The Chevelle was tested in full street trim (incorporating a front antiroll bar and street shocks) with its gas tank half full.

To put the new BFGoodrich Drag Radial tires to a real-world traction test, we dragstrip-tested the Chevelle at the Pomona Fairplex--home of the NHRA Chief Auto Parts Winternationals and Winston Finals. The Chevelle was first tested with the rally wheel/tire combo to determine the car's launching prowess. Then we bolted on a pair of new BFGoodrich Radial T/A P275/50R15 tires mounted on Center Line Convo Pro 15x8.5-inch wheels and retested the Chevelle. Finally, the Chevelle was fitted with a new pair of BFG Drag Radial P275/50R15 tires mounted on another set of Center Line Convo Pro wheels and dragstrip tested yet again. Los Angeles-based Flip's Tire Center mounted and balanced all the tires and wheels.

For all dragstrip testing, the tire pressures were set at the factory-recommended psi settings, the engine was warmed up to the same coolant temperature, and the e.t.'s were corrected down to sea level to equalize for differing air temperature, altitude, and humidity. See the performance chart for specific dragstrip e.t. differences.

All in all, the new BFGoodrich Drag Radial tires generated a notable increase in traction, resulting in lower e.t.'s. Moreover, on the street, the BFG Drag Radial tires provided good handling characteristics as well as low tire noise while cruising on the highway.

To equalize testing, all tires were inflated to be within their factory-recommended pressure settings. The existing P225/60R15 tires and the BFG Radial T/A P275/50R15 tires were set to 30 psi, while the BFG Drag Radials were set at 20 psi (factory-recommended Drag Radial psi settings should be between 18 to 22 psi). Because safety was paramount during all testing, the test driver wore a Simpson helmet and utilized a four-point safety belt setup fastened to the Chevelle's six-point rollbar.

CC staffer Kiewicz was in...        read full caption CC staffer Kiewicz was in charge of driving and swapping the tires between tests while CC Editor Schifsky shot photos. For improved looks, the new BFG tires were mounted on new Center Line Convo Pro wheels.	Note the tread pattern differences...        read full caption Note the tread pattern differences between the BFG Radial T/A tire (left) and the new BFG Drag Radial. The Drag Radial has a wide, treadless bar in its center and a sticky rubber compound that work together to deliver improved traction. At a side glance, however, the two tires look very similar, thus making the Drag Radials perfect for a street sleeper musclecar.	As a baseline test, the Chevelle...        read full caption As a baseline test, the Chevelle was dragstrip-tested with its existing P225/60R15 tires mounted on 15x7-inch GM rally wheels. The results were near-hilarious, since the tires effortlessly spun as the engine's beefy torque was applied.
All dragstrip testing was...        read full caption All dragstrip testing was done using a fifth wheel connected to an in-car computer. The fifth wheel not only delivers a quarter-mile e.t. but also generates specific e.t.'s for 0-10 mph, 0-20 mph, 0-30 mph, and so on.	Quick Tip Whenever installing...        read full caption Quick Tip Whenever installing new wheels/tires, always torque the lug nuts to the proper factory-recommended setting (70 lb-ft in our case). If you upgrade to aftermarket aluminum wheels, note that in many cases the lug-nut torque setting may be different from factory specs. Thus, carefully read the new wheels' instruction sheet.	Each tire combo was track-tested...        read full caption Each tire combo was track-tested eight different times to generate the best possible performance. The fifth-wheel setup noted minor e.t. differences (which directly correlate to better or worse traction) that would otherwise be unknown based on a traditional quarter-mile e.t.-only timeslip.