Anyone have trouble with T/A radials?

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DartThis74

DartThis74

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I've been running on the BF Goodrich T/A radials for around three years now(daily driver dart). I am curious to see if anyone else is running with the tires and what is your experience with them.

I absolutely hate these tires ! I am scared to death to drive in the rain with them, it's almost like driving on ice. No traction what so ever, yet they are due for replacement already and worn down all around (32.000 miles).

Does anyone have any suggestion on any other style of tire that doesn't cost an arm and leg, yet have noticed nice performance with them? The new tires will be used on my '74 duster 360 Thanks for any help !!

Aaron
 
I haven't run them in a few years, but the problems I experienced were crappy straight-line traction and a tendency for the shoulders to look like steel wool prematurely. Several years have passed between my acquisition of the Dart and the last car I had with the potential for turning tires to vapor. I'll be watching this.
 
Wow i did alot of reading, that said the bf ta's were good for traction, They sure helped my dart hook better ?
 
My tire experience:
BFGs: great driving tire on dry pavement, rain requires a light foot but still acceptable, they wear too quickly, but tires that wear quickly are supposed to handle well due to the soft compound, (I just bought a set because BFG was the only maker of the tire size front and rear that I needed?!?!). I always had traction issues with BFGs, but not on the Barracuda, from what I am told it is where the axle is placed on the springs.

Dunlop G/T Qualifier: Assume! I loved these tires. I had them on my 350 4 speed 57 Chevy and I would do burnouts everywhere, all the time, and I never saw a tire that refused to wear like these, must be very hard compound. Traction was not my goal at that time, but in retrospect they probably did grab pretty good. FYI: the 350 was a brand new crate motor from GM, 330 horse, muncie, and posi.

Goodyear Eagle GTs: these were on my 2000 Sonoma with the ZQ8 sport suspension from when the truck was new until 2007. I drove it like a racecar, it is my daily driver, highway miles, handles great. The tire wear was even on all 4 and I never had an issue. Even when I replaced them, they were close to bald but not quite to the wearbars and no steel belts were showing or other issues. I replaced them at over 80k, yes 80k! Great tires, but very expensive. These may go by a different name now.

Which leads to my current set of Eagle GT-HRs: same truck, less money than the GTs, but I have had them for 2 years now and they perform great. They are even ok in the snow, no issues in the rain. FYI: Walmart listed these for $98 before installation, Goodyear listed them for $139.99. I went to 2 Goodyear stores and told them that Walmart had the same tires for $98 and the first store told me to buy them from Walmart, the second store matched it. The truth was the Goodyears for $98 were not the GT-HRs and Walmart had to special order them.

I also replaced the BFGs on my T/A with Goodyears. Good traction, handle well, (they seam to be more square on the edges, if that makes a difference?). Great tires.

The opinions expressed here are just that, and what do I really know anyway?
 
The last set that I had would spin and slide all over if you sneezed out the window. They were outperformed by the cheapest tire that K-Mart carried. Won't buy a car BFG, only truck tires.
 
I have to agree about the BFGs Dartthis. I hated them too. Was real happy when i changed em out. Do you guys have Bridgestone tyres over there?
 
I just wore out a set of Goodyear Wingfoots and replaced them with Radial TA's. Compared to the Goodyears; they provide better straight line traction, the handling is comparable and in the wet they are the same as any other all season tire I have used on any other vehicle.
 
I"ve read this thread and I hope if any of you guys are running 14" tires you have better luck at getting tires than I did in the last couple of months. The ONLY suppleirs I could find for 235x60x14 in white letter tires was Cooper or BFG. I checked every brand name I could think of, and no one is making them any more. So get used to the BFG if you want full W/L tires and want to continue running 14". I purchased the Coopers and they seem good but haven't been caught in the rain yet.
 
Firestone Firehawk Indy 500 are white letters and come in 215-70-14, 225-70-14 and 235-60-14s.
 
Maybe where you are but unfortunate for me I just checked again and no listing for 60 series in Canada. I used to run Firestones too, I think they were the Super Sport. They were a very good tire and made my old Swinger handle really well.
 
cecil4speed said:
Maybe where you are but unfortunate for me I just checked again and no listing for 60 series in Canada. I used to run Firestones too, I think they were the Super Sport. They were a very good tire and made my old Swinger handle really well.
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I just bought new tires for my Scamp and found the same thing. The selection for 14" tires with raised whites is limited and even more limited here in Canada. I would up going with BFG T/A 235/60/14.

I know that in 5 to 8 years when it's time to replace the BFG's, I'll probably have to get 15" wheels since there will likely be no selection of 14" tires by then.
 
cecil4speed said:
Maybe where you are but unfortunate for me I just checked again and no listing for 60 series in Canada. I used to run Firestones too, I think they were the Super Sport. They were a very good tire and made my old Swinger handle really well.
Click to expand...

They are available through the TireRack but shipping may be to much to Canada to be worth the trouble.
 
Thanks for the opinions everyone. I'm just sick of these tires and I need something for my duster very very soon and figured I would need something a lot better than these crappy things ! having the white lettering tires would be nice like the T/A's have to kinda have that certain appeal.

As for Bridgestone, I'm not sure really. We have firestone, discount tire and various other tire places around town, I could check them out.

Oh we also have a ghetto wheel & tire shop called Rimtyme that the cashier was trying to get into an argument with me in front of all the customers about my American Racing center wheel cap (that was stolen) and how the one that they had was aluminum,yet it was CLEARLY obvious it was chromed steel. He kept saying it was chromed aluminum hahaha
 
The last car I had with BFGs on it was about 12 years ago so I dont remember how they were traction wise.

I had Good Year GT2s on the Barracuda and they were a great street tire.

I havent driven the Dart yet so cant comment on the FireStones..
 
No experience with the BFG's but I currently run cooper corba white letters on my 14 inch rallyes. 195/14 in the front and 215/14 in the rear. Seem to ride good in the rain. A buddy of mine was riding with me in my Duster and said my coopers hook up better than his BFG's on his Coronet 440. In the next couple months I need to replace them. Probably go with coopers again. Their cheap too.
 
I have the BFG T/A`s on my Barracuda and I`m not real happy with them. Not good once you put your foot in it, fair traction on dry pavement and scary in the rain with any kind of hp. I wouldn`t recommend them but I really don`t know what I would recommend as an alternative.
 
H22A4 said:
I just bought new tires for my Scamp and found the same thing. The selection for 14" tires with raised whites is limited and even more limited here in Canada. I would up going with BFG T/A 235/60/14.

I know that in 5 to 8 years when it's time to replace the BFG's, I'll probably have to get 15" wheels since there will likely be no selection of 14" tires by then.
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I think your right. We will probably have to go to 15", but IMO in a few years we will be off the road anyway. I believe the gov and environmentalists will have these cars illeagle for the road. I think its only a matter of time. I hope I'm wrong.
 
H22A4 said:
I know that in 5 to 8 years when it's time to replace the BFG's...
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Either you missed the main point of Aaron's original post, or you don't put many miles on your car. :yawinkle:

His BFGs have only given him 32,000 miles (3 years) of service. On average, that's about 10K to 11K per year - a fairly reasonable amount of annual driving. If you drive the same average mileage for 5 to 8 years, you would be expecting to get 50K to 80K miles out of those BFGs you just bought. Won't happen.

That's his point - they didn't last long. Looking for some longer-lasting tires for the Duster we are building. But, in addition to the mileage, need tires that grip better on wet roads. A lot to ask for.
 
I see T/As on a lot of muscle cars, does anyone know why they are so popular if they are no good?

I've been on the verge of replacing my whitewalls with them but I'm glad I waited. How do Firestone Firehawks compare?
 
I've been running BFG T/A's for 25 years without a problem. Original poster said he got 32K miles out of them. He must drive like a girl, and therefore any tire will do. For Pete's sake, man, put yer foot in it! You should not be able to get 20K out of a set of anything. Drive the damn thing.
 
5.7Dart said:
I've been running BFG T/A's for 25 years without a problem. Original poster said he got 32K miles out of them. He must drive like a girl, and therefore any tire will do. For Pete's sake, man, put yer foot in it! You should not be able to get 20K out of a set of anything. Drive the damn thing.
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Lol!:-D
 
5.7Dart said:
For Pete's sake, man, put yer foot in it! You should not be able to get 20K out of a set of anything. Drive the damn thing.
Click to expand...

Alright now, we don't need encouragement like that from the peanut section.
I'm his dad, the car is in my name for now, I'm paying for insurance, and he is a broke college student. He also knows I won't pay for traffic tickets or tires prematurely worn out by abuse. Aaron knows which side of his bread is buttered.
 
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