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205/50 BFG Rivals

Old Mar 8, 2013 | 10:19 PM
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Default 205/50 BFG Rivals

Got mine, got them mounted on my 8" Gen 1 6UL's. Each mounted combo came in at 34.2 lbs.

Comparison pic: 205/50 BFG Rival on 8" vs 225/45/ RS3 on 9".



Got them onto the car, notice the awesome leaking out



First drives tomorrow.
Attached Thumbnails 205/50 BFG Rivals-205_rival_225_rs3-large-.jpg   205/50 BFG Rivals-clean_with_rivals-small-.jpg  
Old Mar 8, 2013 | 10:40 PM
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Edit: I see the 205 is in stock.

How do you like?
Old Mar 8, 2013 | 10:47 PM
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Off topic but I never noticed your lip spoiler until now. What is it?

EDIT: Nevermind, I read your build thread.

Last edited by Chilicharger665; Mar 9, 2013 at 12:13 AM. Reason: understanding
Old Mar 8, 2013 | 11:54 PM
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Nice! How are they? I need to get mine mounted.
Old Mar 9, 2013 | 04:45 PM
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I've put about 40 miles on them so far. I like them a lot. I haven't done any performance testing, for obvious reasons, but they ride very well at 26psi. The 205's on an 8" wheel don't tramline at all.
Old Mar 9, 2013 | 04:53 PM
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What's road noise like, Mobius?
Old Mar 10, 2013 | 02:36 PM
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Pretty quiet imo. I like them more in every way than my Yokohama Avid H4S's on my stockers (205/45R16).
Old Mar 17, 2013 | 11:13 PM
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can you get a 3/4 angle to see how wide or stretched they are on the wheels.
Old Mar 18, 2013 | 12:11 PM
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Did you have any issues getting them balanced? The shop uses a spin balancer and suggested taking it somewhere with a road force setup to see if it's the tires or his (old) machine. Each wheel (15x8 gen2) has 2.5-3oz of weight, the RS3s these replaced were all around .5oz.

This sucks, I have a track day this weekend.
Old Mar 18, 2013 | 02:56 PM
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I just use my local Les Schwab, and talk to the guy beforehand to make sure he puts the outer weights inside the curve of the bell so the weights clear the calipers. They have a road force.

You have all week. Surely you can track down a Road Force in that time!
Old Mar 18, 2013 | 02:57 PM
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Originally Posted by turbotyla
can you get a 3/4 angle to see how wide or stretched they are on the wheels.
Attached Thumbnails 205/50 BFG Rivals-20130317_pca_ax3_zps6239e02f.jpg  
Old Mar 18, 2013 | 07:12 PM
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To elaborate on the picture, I don't think they look stretched. They have a big rim protector, which is what makes them look stretched in the first photo.

I ran them at stock 26 psi cold pressure. Given that it was about 50 out, and the runs were 40-odd seconds, they never really got hot. The wear marks on the the blocks that wrap around the outside shoulder only go a bit past the corner. It looks to me that the sidewalls held their shape very well and didn't roll over hardly at all. Average sustained G's were probably about .65. That sounds unimpressive, but you have to understand that particular parking lot is incredibly bumpy and is low traction. There's lots of dust & broken pavement marbles, and moss (moss!) in a number of areas.

Attached Thumbnails 205/50 BFG Rivals-rivalshoulderwear-large-.jpg  
Old Mar 18, 2013 | 07:23 PM
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Leave it to me to blow something way out proportion. The shop re-balanced all 4 and found 2 that were slightly off. I'm not sure what his definition of slightly is, but it made a world of difference. Previously at 75mph the world was a vibrating mess, now it's smooth as hustler's sexy ***. It was seriously undrivable with the horizon bouncing up and down.

I did learn today these tires can't be mounted on an 8" wheel. Our favorite wheel-stealing, great tire selection/price company told me so.

All I can say now is

Attached Thumbnails 205/50 BFG Rivals-img_20130318_180736.jpg  
Old Mar 18, 2013 | 11:25 PM
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So them there is 205's ? On 8's? That "can't be mounted that way?"
Old Mar 19, 2013 | 10:20 AM
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Why can't they be mounted on a x8?
Old Mar 19, 2013 | 10:37 AM
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Originally Posted by Track
Why can't they be mounted on a x8?
Lawyers?

Nay-sayers?
Old Mar 19, 2013 | 12:39 PM
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Originally Posted by Efini~FC3S
Lawyers?
Ding ding ding. In TR's defense BFG says the same thing on their website.
Old Mar 19, 2013 | 02:01 PM
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I may have mentioned it in another thread also...TR told me over the phone that they wouldn't mount 225/45 on a 9" wheel. My hand almost teleported through the phone to smack the guy.
Old Mar 19, 2013 | 02:17 PM
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Originally Posted by midpack
Ding ding ding. In TR's defense BFG says the same thing on their website.
I figured that, I just wanted to make sure there wasn't a real reason for this.
Old Mar 21, 2013 | 01:07 PM
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How good are the rivals in the wet/as a DD tire?

I'm seriously considering either 15x7 or 15x8 C1M/6UL with the 205 Rivals as a DD tire.

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