Bradley Iger/Digital Trends
I muttered more than a few colorful words after looking at the front tire on the passenger side of our 2007 Ford Explorer. It’s supposedly the family work truck – responsible for hauling gear, hauling the dogs, and generally most of the daily driving my wife and I do. It basically needs to work 100% of the time, and that reliability has recently been compromised by tire issues.
Purchased as a replacement for our previous Explorer (rest in peace, 2003 XLT), this new model came with a nearly new set of Yokohama YK580s when we bought the truck a year and a half ago. 18,000 miles and at least one tire rotation later and three tires were nearly done, while the passenger one was well past its expiration date, a stud-filled tire drawing extra attention to a shoulder block that was almost ready to show off its steel belts.
Clearly, the nail was a problem that needed to be addressed immediately, but the uneven tread wear was also a concern, as was the overall surprisingly short tread life. The result of all this was that we would need a new set of tires after only a year of more or less normal street driving in Los Angeles. Wanting to improve the situation in all respects if possible, I reached out to the folks at BFGoodrich to see what they could recommend.
Choosing the right tool for the job
While BFG offers a wide range of OEM-equipped tires for Ford Explorers, including performance-focused options like the All-Terrain T/A KO2, our Explorer is limited-edition. As such, it’s fitted with a unique 18-inch OEM wheel that calls for the relatively unusual tire size of 235/65R18. That factor alone narrowed the search considerably, eventually leading us to the Advantage T/A Sport LT.
Tires like the Advantage T/A Sport LT have a seemingly simple purpose – the ability to drive on the road in all seasons. But as BFGoodrich’s Andrew Comrie-Picard explains, the demands placed on this tire are actually wider than, say, a high-performance summer tyre, where the main focus is much narrower.
“The big challenge in tire design is the compromises that have to be made,” he says. “It’s easy to make a tire if you focus on one aspect – the real challenge for engineers comes when you’re trying to do several things at once. When you want a tire, for example, to be manageable, quiet and good for everyday use, but also perform across a wide range of temperatures and weather conditions, suddenly you’re trying to break every inherent compromise involved in designing road tires.”
In the case of the BFGoodrich Advantage T/A Sport LT, this led the engineers to infuse a number of different features into the tire with the aim of providing a wide range of possibilities. “BFGoodrich is, at its core, a high-performance tire brand,” says Comrie-Picard. “Even in an all-season application like the Advantage T/A Sport, it’s still part of the DNA. Most people probably won’t use these tires on the track, but that extra performance benefit is something that can come in handy when the ball hits the road and you have to brake as close as possible or I have to pass someone on my phone.”
“Some companies will say they have a way to evacuate the water from the side of the tire – that’s the bed.”
But design considerations go far beyond just maximizing dry grip. “There are also a lot of practical features built in,” he notes. “You’ll notice that the tire has large tread blocks on the side that curl over the top a bit. This is due to tire deflection, which is when you go around a corner and the tire rolls slightly under the rim, as tires do. In addition to being a visual signature of BFGoodrich, these tread blocks promote greater stability since there is no sudden change in performance characteristics from the contact patch as you move from section to section, and also provide a little extra protection and durability when dealing with rocks and other objects that would could potentially damage the sidewall.”
Comrie-Picard also points out that the design’s focus on low rolling resistance and minimal road noise also leads to improved fuel consumption. “You’ll notice that the central tread design weaves back and forth. Not only does this give the tire complementary harmonics to the other tread blocks, which in turn reduces noise as the tire rolls on the road, it also improves the tire’s road absorption. If what you’re trying to do is conserve as much energy as possible to improve efficiency, noise and heat are the enemies of fuel economy—both are energy releases. So if you can minimize those problems, it will lead to better mileage as well.”
And it should come as no surprise that BFGoodrich has also taken some measures to ensure that the tire can hold up in less-than-perfect weather. “In an all-season tire that will perform in a wide range of conditions, effective water routing is essential,” adds Comrie-Picard. “Some companies will say they have a way to evacuate water from the side of the tire – that’s the bed. Due to the hydraulic pressure, you can evacuate less than five percent of the water that the tire hits from the front.
Bradley Iger/Digital Trends
Instead, you have to find places for that water to go, and that’s where voids in the tread form. “They give the water somewhere to go that isn’t the surface of the tread to prevent aquaplaning,” he continues. “There is also a visual signature in the tread that we call ‘Raptor Claws.’ They are designed from the side for all terrains – they taper in depth as you go down the claw, so as it gets wider, it gets deeper. It also provides a place for water to go away while keeping the tread blocks stable.”
So while the Advantage T/A Sport LT is asked to perform in a wide range of use cases, BFGoodrich has clearly put effort into creating a diverse skill set to make sure it’s up to the task. To see if this would translate to better performance on the road, I had the set mounted and balanced, and after doing a front end alignment for good measure, I went for a ride with the shock.
On the road
The first immediate advantage of the BFGoodrich over the outgoing set (besides their far better condition) is the fact that they are the exact size of the OEM tires. Compared to the Yokohamas that the previous owner put on, which were 245/60R18, the Advantage T/A Sports are slightly narrower and taller.
It doesn’t hurt that the reinforced sidewalls of the Advantage T/A Sport LT model give the Explorer an extra dose of visual appeal.
Simply switching to the correct size tires can potentially lead to improved ride quality, due to the extra sidewall that functions as part of the suspension, as well as slightly improved handling. The latter is a function of the sidewall deformation noted earlier by Comrie-Picard, which is an inherent side effect during cornering, and can be exaggerated when tires too wide for the wheel they are mounted on are subjected to high lateral loads.
Los Angeles may lack inclement weather during late spring, but it didn’t take long to notice the benefits of the Advantage T/A Sport LT. Handling, especially during initial turn-in, feels a bit sharper and more immediate on the BFGs, while overall ride quality has also benefited from the swap – despite the fact that these characteristics tend to be at odds with each other from a design standpoint. And while it wasn’t a transformative change, both road noise and fuel economy also saw tangible improvements.
It also doesn’t hurt that the Advantage T/A Sport LT’s reinforced sidewalls give the Explorer an extra dose of visual appeal. “Even with a tire built for everyday use in a variety of situations, BFG’s design philosophy remains at the core,” adds Comrie-Picard. “This is reflected in things like wraparound tread blocks, versatility and a focus on performance.”
While the wet handling, long-term durability and longevity of the Advantage T/A Sport LT tread remains to be seen, initial findings are encouraging. Now, if BFG could invent technology that deflects stray nails on the road, I think we’d have all our bases covered.
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Source: newstars.edu.vn