Both the BF Goodrich Advantage Control and the Bridgestone Turanza QuietTrack stand as leading choices in the Grand Touring All-Season category, promising a blend of comfort, longevity, and all-season reliability. Though let’s dig in, and find a better fit for you.
So, overall, the BF Goodrich Advantage Control features a strong longitudinal grip, excellent wet handling with larger lateral g-forces, and improved snow acceleration. On the other hand, the Bridgestone Turanza QuietTrack dominates in dry handling with superior lateral traction and steering response, ice traction, and ride comfort by effectively smoothing out road inconsistencies. It also leads in tread life, and offers a quieter ride, relatively.
Table of Contents
Tire’s Construction
Starting with the Bridgestone Turanza QuietTrack, this tire comes with a symmetrical tread pattern.
The design comprises five ribs (two outer shoulders and three central) that create four circumferential grooves.
Note how all these grooves have a secondary pattern (if you will). It helps a lot when it comes to snow performance and noise reduction.
The 3 ribs in the middle are pretty similar.
On each, blocks are seen with interlocking sipes and slanted lateral grooves.
Though both of these tread elements change their angles from rib to rib.
Also the central most rib has ridges connecting all blocks longitudinally, adding to the tire’s on-center stability.
Moving towards shoulders, these also have ridges in between, though unlike the siping in the middle, here sipes are comprised of linear slits only.
Internally, the tire is constructed with a single layer of polyester and nylon cap ply, sandwiched between two steel belts.
Moving towards the BF Goodrich tire, you get a similar symmetrical tread design of 5 ribs.
Now this tire exhibits a more consistent tread design, characterized by continuous running channels.
And by that they form consistent rubber to road contact, though they hinder lateral water dispersion a little bit.
However, the outer shoulder ribs standing out with distinct lateral grooves, still help with that.
These shoulder lugs though don’t have a lot of biters, as they are only seen with mere lateral sipes.
The middle area with 3 ribs, is more aggressive, on the other hand.
Here all ribs are seen with notches, which connect with slightly interlocking sipes.
Moreover, all these ribs also have foundational supports (see the description of the image).
Internally, the tire is reinforced with a double-layer of lightweight polyester. This foundation is bolstered by two steel belts, while an additional nylon cap ply predominantly augments the tire’s durability, particularly at its core.
Tire Sizes
As each tire has its distinct features and vehicle compatibility, the table below offers a concise comparison to guide your selection.
| Specs | BFG Advantage Control | Turanza QuietTrack |
|---|---|---|
| Rim Size (inches) | 14 to 20 | 15 to 20 |
| Speed Ratings | H, V, W | H, V |
| Load Ratings | SL, XL | SL, XL |
| Tread Depth (32″) | 10.5 to 11.5 | 9 to 10 |
| Weight Range (lbs) | 17 to 32 | 19 to 33 |
| Tread Warranty | 75k (H) or 65k (V/W) | 80k miles |
| UTQG Rating | 700 B A | 800 A A |
Performance on Wet Surfaces
The efficiency of a tire on wet surfaces largely hinges on its ability to expel water from its tread. This is crucial because water is in-compressible.
So in extreme cases, if the water isn’t effectively removed, it can form a layer between the tire’s tread and the road, causing the tire to hydroplane, or float.
Now tires manage water expulsion primarily through sipes and grooves.
Here grooves of course being larger voids, expel out majority of water, preventing hydroplaning, while sipes come in later.
These (sipes) tiny slits basically suck up the remaining water particles, clearing the road a bit further, so the rubber can properly contact the ground, and the biters can provide you with the needed grip.
Now both tires perform neck to neck here, I mean, you can’t put one over the other, when you consider all factors (such as float speeds, traction, steering response), with them both getting similar scores in all these areas.
Though still, there’s one thing to note here: The BFG Advantage Control is better at wet handling, showing up with larger lateral g forces, while the Bridgestone Turanza QuietTrack is better at directional grip, though stopping only less than half a feet quicker, comparatively (on average).
Snow and Ice Traction
Winter performance presents a diverse set of results for both tires. Though considering all (winter performance affecting) factors, here I simply things for you by saying this:
While BF Goodrich Advantage Control shines in snow acceleration, the Bridgestone Turanza QuietTrack still takes the lead, showcasing better overall winter scores (concluded from my testing).
Interestingly, despite the QuietTrack’s slightly harder rubber composition, which should become stiffer in colder temperatures, its abundance of siping and chamfered tread edges grant it a comparative “advantage” in ice traction.
Additionally, its secondary groove patterns help trap more snow particles, allowing for a superior and more effective snow-to-snow contact.
This “contact” type is pretty significant, when we’re talking salt-like/powdery snow, because snow adheres more effectively to itself than to rubber, allowing the Turanza to excel in soft snow traction.
Note: Though keep in mind, that there far better option out there, I mean in the grand touring all season category, ones with 3 peak mountain snowflake ratings, which both these tires here are missing with.
Road Noise
In terms of noise levels, the BF Goodrich Advantage Control is marginally noisier than its rival, where the main culprit for this “added noise” is the tire’s tread design, or to be more specific, it’s open shoulders.
Let me explain.
Noise is generated with air particles engaging with the tread, they come in from shoulder voids (for the most part), and their impact of striking the tread’s neighboring walls, creates the main source of noise.
They then have a tendency to echo, which creates in groove resonance, and then that also leads to cavity sounds.
Now simply put, the BFG lacks with its more open shoulder voids, allowing more air to get in. So despite it’s pitch sequencing tread, it’s tread still manifests a faint high-frequency tone.
Now sure, it’s not “loud”, but it still is louder, relatively, as seen by it’s decibel readings.
On the other hand, the Bridgestone Turanza QuietTrack, equipped with QUIETTRACK technology, provides a notably quieter experience.
This is thanks to it’s more effective variable pitch tread design, that keeps the in-groove resonance from amplifying too much. (Basically its tread produces a wide range of sound frequencies that essentially neutralize each other).
Dry Performance
When assessing a tire’s efficacy on dry roads, grip and handling are two main areas, worth considering.
Let’s analyze them both.
Longitudinal Grip
The longitudinal grip, primarily roots from the tire’s central region. And this area is crucial, because it gets the most concentration of weight on it, as the tire rolls in a straight-line motion.
Now BF Goodrich Advantage Control exemplifies this principle, with it’s central ribs forming a consistent contact with the ground, allowing for greater grip, with linear lateral biters (on them) further adding to that.
Its design showcases sleek, vertically aligned ribs, which enhance its rubber-to-road interaction, thereby boosting friction.
Whereas unlike the BFG, the Bridgestone Turanza QuietTrack, without “continuous” running ribs doesn’t offer a “consistent” contact with the ground.
Moreover, since the tire is heavier, it creates a greater momentum (while moving at high speeds, particularly). Meaning it’s more difficult to slow it down, relatively.
That’s why you see it braking 4 feet longer compared to BFG, (it’s significant, because braking distance is the direct measure of longitudinal grip).
Dry Handling
Handling is the mixture of lateral grip and steering response of a tire. Let me explain both.
Lateral grip comes from shoulder’s efficacy to make contact with the ground, as they have the most weight on them, when the tire cornering. While steering response depends on sidewalls and tread (construction, both internally and externally).
Having said that, the Bridgestone Turanza QuietTrack is a better pick here, with the tire featuring superior lateral traction values, and a better over/understeering balance relatively.
It’s continuous running shoulders with reinforced foundations provide better lateral grip (as seen by calculated lateral g forces), while it’s stiffer nylon cap plies, and sturdier overall construction, keep it’s lugs form flexing too much.
This is significant because with lugs bending/flexing, tread takes “time” to recover back (from deformity), and that is translated in to “overall handling times” on laps.
On the other side, with the Advantage Control, you get a lagging steering feedback, due to the tire’s relatively softer construction, and greater tread depth.
And so the BF Goodrich shows off (1 second on average) slower handling times, on lap tests, compared to Turanza.
Tread Life
When assessing tread life, three primary factors come into play:
- The tread depth of the tire.
- Its compound composition.
- Its overall construction weight.
And taking these factors into account, it can be seen why the Turanza QuietTrack is a better overall pick. The tire is crafted with a robust rubber blend, enhanced with specific polymers, providing superior overall wear resistance.
Now, although both tires are comparable in weight, the Bridgestone’s tire benefits from a more balanced weight distribution across its lugs. This design prevents excessive downward pressure on the tread, ensuring minimal rolling resistance.
Conversely, while the BF Goodrich Advantage Control has a deeper tread depth, which is beneficial for longevity, it still lags slightly due to its softer rubber compound.
Why tread depth is a factor here? – In theory, a deeper tread suggests a longer lifespan until it reaches the US legal tread depth limit of 2/32″.
Though don’t get me wrong, the BFG’s tire is still pretty great and offers just a 5k less treadwear warranty, though its V and W speed rated sizes only offer 65k miles, (which makes sense, because speed rating is directly proportional to wear rate).
Ride Smoothness
Ride comfort is predominantly influenced by a tire’s capability to buffer against road irregularities. Hence, the composition and construction of the tire are pretty important dimensions to note.
Now, given the design of both tires, it’s evident why the Turanza QuietTrack achieves superior comfort ratings, where it aligns with many luxury all-season tires, especially excelling in smoothing out minor road inconsistencies.
Now although Bridgestone’s adaptability to larger bumps might not be optimal, it still outperforms the BF Goodrich Advantage Control, which has a firmer rubber composition.
Moreover, the BFG has stiffer internal construction too, where particularly it’s nylon cap ply (although offers great handling stability), crates a more, you can say jittery ride experience, especially when cornering.
Take Home Points
Contrasting the tires reveals individual strengths in each.
The BF Goodrich Advantage Control excels in the following:
- Longitudinal grip due to its central ribs providing consistent contact.
- Wet handling capabilities, showing up with larger lateral g forces.
- Snow acceleration, where its design allows for better performance.
While the Bridgestone Turanza QuietTrack takes the lead in:
- Dry handling, offering superior lateral traction and a better steering response.
- Ice traction, courtesy of its ample siping and chamfered tread edges.
- Ride comfort, smoothing out minor road inconsistencies more effectively.
- Tread life, thanks to its robust rubber blend and balanced weight distribution across its lugs.
- Road noise, with its QUIETTRACK technology ensuring a quieter driving experience.
