I just went ahead and ran these tires on the 330i ZHP yesterday at the Triad Club's Sanford event. They setup a wonderful course with nice flow and very few cone hits except in the diabolical slalom near the end of the course. It was a fun event with lots of THSCC members in attendance and driving very well.
I am VERY impressed with the R1s on this car. VERY. They absolutely transformed the handling balance -- shockingly transformed. It wants to rotate now on turn in, and in the high speed sections of the course, it was more neutral than at anytime I've ever driven the car. I can't speak for anyone else's setup and how the R1 will interact with it, but on the 330i they are awesome. I feel like a BFG marketing spokesperson now or something.
Detail:
We returned the zhp to stock class by removing the rear sway bar and reinstalling the stock bar.
I was shooting for hot pressures of 40psi front and 35psi rear. I read the detailed user's manual BFG put out on the tires, and I just settled on those target pressures as reasonable. I bled them down after the first three runs to maintain that target. I also sprayed them after each run after checking the hot pressures.
With that pressure stagger, the car was more balanced than anytime since we've been autocrossing it. It was really like night and day compared to the recent tires we've been running on the car. The most recent tires were Hoosier A6s, and with those tires on this stock class car, it felt horrible. The A6 required much higher slip angles (more steering wheel input) to generate a given level of grip, and the car had a massively stuck tail with the Hoosiers. I tried all sorts of pressure balances, and after talking to a Hoosier engineer, I ran 12psi lower in the rear to get the tail to rotate on turn-in. That worked ok, but the car was still simply not responding well (and of course the Hoosiers corded before I could get to the 20th run anyway, so it was hard to work on setup). The BFG R1 changed all of that.
They felt wonderful on turn-in with excellent feedback. Trail braking heavily on turn-in could be easily modulated near the limit. They make almost zero noise, just a squeak every now and then, but unlike the A6, you "know" what is going on down at that contact patch, and they inspire confidence in you taking them to their limits...enough so that you just want more, more, more from them. That communication they provide makes it easy to modulate them around their peak, and without any real noise, you just feel them very well through the steering wheel and butt. This was the first time that I have really enjoyed driving the 330i in an autocross.
Aside story: In a previous life with THSCC, I had a 1972 BMW Bavaria that was setup for autox and track driving circa 1978-1983 timeframe. In 1982 after the first BFG Comp T/A hit the market, the car had 14" wheels, and I was using Goodyear Eagle GT 205/70-14 tires. Since the BFGs took the market by storm at the time, I was interested in them, but they didn't make them in my size.
Shortly, they came out with the "Euro T/A" in many sizes, and I bought some 235/60-14s. Those tires RUINED the handling balance of the Bavaria. They took it from a neutral, balanced setup to a horrible understeering pig. I HATED those tires and ditched them as soon as possible.
That was my last experience with tires so dramatically altering a car's balance. It is most ironic that 25 years later BFG tires would perform an alternate transformation for me. Payback takes a 1/4 century I guess.
Conclusion:
I had tire rub on one side in the rear on the inside tire well area along with light rub on the fender lips that was no issue on an autox, so my earlier fears were slightly without merit. They are wider than "265", even when compressed onto 8 and 8.5 wheels, but the rub is minor and doesn't appear to be too big of an issue (yet, at least).
The BFG R1 is a serious tire. It is definitely a better tire than the Nitto NT-01 R-comp, and my guess is that on many cars it might perhaps be the best choice for autocross. It is supposedly "between" the Hoosier A6 and R6 in terms of performance, but on the 330i it is vastly better than the A6 in my "backyard-hack-sort-of-way" evaluation. It is going to be a much longer wearing tire than the A6, so from that standpoint it might be the way to go for club autox when you don't want to fork over a grand every time you turn around.
Perhaps the best indicator is that Jackie drove the best event she has ever driven on these tires. She won the ladies class and was less than 2 seconds back from my time -- by far the closest she's ever been to my driving. She PAX'd 17th overall. She loved the way the car was driving and really enjoyed driving on these tires. She is still on that vertical learning curve, but this was the biggest leap she has made so far on that path.
Chuck
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Instead, she got the car slowed up just enough and slithered through the slalom staying right on top of the cones. I was impressed-- great job!
Day one of the Commonwealth Games was rather anticlimatic as I was carrying a cone until my third run but even with the cone I was leading the class. Justin and Karen did show up and Justin put down a great first run but then their tires corded and neither could get back to that time. I was left about .600 back from Justin because everytime I pushed harder I caught a cone. I want to run against you guys again even if I am on old tires. My fronts have over 25 runs on them now and look great and my rears have over 50 runs and are starting to get beat looking. As for who I am running for I have yet to decide.
