Sampling the New BFGoodrich g-Force Phenom UHP Summer Tire on Track
BFGoodrich, probably best known for its all-terrain tires, is now selling a new ultra-high-performance summer tire, the g-Force Phenom.
The Phenom is designed to provide enough grip for sporty driving while also remaining stable in the rain.
We sampled the Phenom on Mustang GT race cars at Sonoma Raceway in California.
When you think of BFGoodrich tires, you probably picture knobby, all-terrain rubber like the popular KO2 or the new KO3. But the company also has a series of on-road tires, from the Advantage Control for more mainstream cars to the g-Force Rival S for track driving. It's been a couple of years, however, since BFGoodrich competed between those two extremes in the ultra-high-performance summer tire segment. This year, the company returned to the segment with the new g-Force Phenom T/A, and we traveled to Sonoma Raceway in California to get a feel for the new rubber with the help of Skip Barber Racing School.
While BFGoodrich does offer the g-Force COMP-2 A/S Plus, the new Phenom is meant to be a grippier, more serious set of rubber compared to that all-season tire, with BFGoodrich targeting the modified-car market. The Phenom is not a dedicated track tire, but the company still made sure the tire is suitable for high-performance driving, and we mainly tested it on Skip Barber's prepared 2005 Ford Mustang GTs around the hilly Sonoma Raceway.
BFGoodrich says the tire's cornering prowess comes thanks to stiff sidewalls and shallow shoulder blocks, which it says also help provide more feedback in the steering. Although it's not an all-season tire, BFGoodrich still focused on ensuring the Phenom performs well in adverse weather. To accomplish this, BFGoodrich divided the tire into two zones. The outer edge is designed for maximum grip since that is where the contact patch of the tire shifts during high-g cornering. The inner edge, meanwhile, features larger grooves and sipes meant to better dissipate water on rainy roads.
The tire compound also now features silica in its blend of nearly 200 components, and the addition of silica is said to improve both dry and wet grip. BFGoodrich asserts that it mixes the silica in its compound more evenly than its competitors, and also claims the g-Force Phenom is capable of stopping a minimum of eight feet shorter from 50 mph in wet conditions versus its rivals, including the Yokohama ADVAN Apex V601, Firestone Firehawk Indy 500, and Hankook Ventus V12 evo2.
We drove the Phenom tires in a few skidpad exercises and extensively on track. The Mustang GTs we drove around Sonoma have some light modifications to their 4.6-liter V-8 engines, bumping output to 325 horsepower and 350 pound-feet of torque, with the whole package weighing roughly 3400 pounds. The suspension is reworked for track use, and they're fitted with a Tremec six-speed manual transmission. The brakes are from Stoptech, and the interior is stripped out and featured racing bucket seats and a roll cage. On the other hand, the skidpad exercises took place in new stock four-cylinder Mustangs, where we were able to compare the Phenoms to a set of Firestone Firehawk Indy 500 tires, another budget summer-tire option.
The g-Force Phenoms proved to be confidence-inspiring companions, which we were especially glad to discover when rain hit during our first laps around the track. The tires felt predictable, with understeer coming in gradually when pushed, and the tires gave a fair warning of the approaching loss of grip through the steering wheel. On the skidpad, we found it more difficult to break traction and induce oversteer with the Phenoms underneath us rather than the Firestones. When the Phenoms did let loose, the snap of oversteer wasn't quite as dramatic.
Out on track in the rain, the Phenoms exuded a sense of control, and the rear end remained planted. The only time we lost a significant amount of grip came due to over-zealous throttle application on a slick, painted portion of tarmac, and even then it was easy to catch the slide before we got too sideways and ended up in the wall. Braking performance felt fairly strong, and when the track dried out, we felt comfortable leaning on the tires hard, with their squeals and the feedback through the steering wheel providing an accurate sense of just how much grip we had to play with.
The Phenom is already on sale since February, currently offered in 20 sizes, and BFGoodrich plans to roll out 30 more sizes soon. The Phenom does not come with a mileage or wear warranty but does have BFGoodrich's six-year standard warranty that covers "defects in workmanship and materials." BFGoodrich aims to undercut most of its competitors on price while providing a sporty tire for both performance driving, and in our on-track experience, we can see the appeal.
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