Mustang Tire Comparison: Continental, Goodyear, and BFGoodrich

Tires are the conduit through which your Mustang’s power reaches the pavement. If poorly designed, tires can impact ride quality, fuel economy, and the performance characteristics of your car. Even worse, they can get you into some serious trouble when you're out there behind the wheel. That said, I recently spent a day at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif. testing out several performance tires for the Ford Mustang. This included Continental’s new ExtremeContact DW and DWS tires as well as Goodyear Eagle F1 all-season tires. I also compared these tires to my daily driver Mustang’s BFGoodrich g-Force T/A KDWS tires. In all, the tests included:

• Dry Handling
  
• Wet Test
  
• Oval
  
• Road Course - Time Attack Style
  
• Road Test
  

What follows are my findings after testing each tire in the specified conditions.

Dry Handling

This test was conducted on a coned-off road course set up in a parking lot at the Auto Club Speedway. Using several 2008 Ford Mustang GTs, I drove aggressively around the course for a total of three laps on each set of tires. The asphalt pavement was dry with no moisture present. The most impressive tire used on this course was the Continental ExtremeContact DWs. Let me explain. Although the Goodyear Eagle F1 tires provided more initial grip than the DWs, Continental’s tires provided more control during a spinout, allowing me to successfully regain control of the car. When the Goodyear Eagle’s F1 tires lost their grip, it was all over. I had an extremely difficult time regaining control. That said I really had to push the car hard to make the Goodyear tires lose their grip. Still, I found Continental’s tires to be a better overall deal in this category. The folks at Continental told me, "The tires feature chamfered edges and a solid outer shoulder to enhance dry performance." As for my BFGoodrich tires, they provided solid grip with impressive recovery characteristics. I’d rank the BFGoodrich tires slightly below the Goodyear Eagle in dry performance.

Winner: Continental ExtremeContact DWS

2nd Place: Goodyear Eagle F1

3rd Place: BFGoodrich g-Force

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