Yokohama Tyres - Any Good?

[Hendry]

Needing a couple of tyres for my modern shit, 225/45/17, had been looking at Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 3s, are £82 from Kwik Fit and National, but absolutely loathe to take my car near these places.

 

Visited a local independent fast fit place who can do Yokohama C Drive AC02s for £79, reckons they are a premium brand tyre and just as good as the Goodyears.

 

Anyone any experience of Yokohama tyres?

 

I remember them being very expensive years ago and a lot of people used to fit them to souped up, modified and high performance cars but no idea if they were any good.

 

Current Barum Bravuris 3HMs are lethal in the wet, possibly due to being worn, but they make the car a white knuckle ride and it's on a 2 litre family saloon with 140bhp not a 400bhp Skyline, it spins in first in the wet and brings on the traction control even with a gentle pull away, understeers on bends in the wet and can feel it skittish and aquaplaning all over the place in the wet navigating roundabouts at 20mph, like the steering wheel isn't connected to the wheels in the wet! Ideally want something fitted I can drive the car normally in the wet without being very overcautious and uptight that the cars going to go wherever it choose and I've no control over it, yes the tyres really are that bad! Hence why I've always put branded stuff on, but I inherited the car with a full near new set of these ditch finders on it.

 

So yeah any experience of Yokohama tyres?

[Bobthebeard]

Needing a couple of tyres for my modern shit, 225/45/17, had been looking at Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 3s, are £82 from Kwik Fit and National, but absolutely loathe to take my car near these places.

Visited a local independent fast fit place who can do Yokohama C Drive AC02s for £79, reckons they are a premium brand tyre and just as good as the Goodyears.

Anyone any experience of Yokohama tyres?

I remember them being very expensive years ago and a lot of people used to fit them to souped up, modified and high performance cars but no idea if they were any good.

Current Barum Bravuris 3HMs are lethal in the wet, possibly due to being worn, but they make the car a white knuckle ride and it's on a 2 litre family saloon with 140bhp not a 400bhp Skyline, it spins in first in the wet and brings on the traction control even with a gentle pull away, understeers on bends in the wet and can feel it skittish and aquaplaning all over the place in the wet navigating roundabouts at 20mph, like the steering wheel isn't connected to the wheels in the wet! Ideally want something fitted I can drive the car normally in the wet without being very overcautious and uptight that the cars going to go wherever it choose and I've no control over it, yes the tyres really are that bad! Hence why I've always put branded stuff on, but I inherited the car with a full near new set of these ditch finders on it.

So yeah any experience of Yokohama tyres?

Barum 3's have been fine on the Saab so far, but are new. No idea about Yokohamas, but Hankook Ventus Evos are excellent on the MG ZT. They were around £70 each fitted a few months ago.

[Sigmund Fraud]

Yokohama make pretty good tyres, I would certainly recommend them.

 

Most types use a fairly soft compound, they're almost as soft as Uniroyals. I am not a huge fan of the "Blue Earth" models which are supposedly designed for low rolling resistance - they grip less well than the older models but wear out just as quickly.

[Hendry]

Yokohama make pretty good tyres, I would certainly recommend them.

 

Most types use a fairly soft compound, they're almost as soft as Uniroyals. I am not a huge fan of the "Blue Earth" models which are supposedly designed for low rolling resistance - they grip less well than the older models but wear out just as quickly.

They also had Firestone tyres at similar money but the guy said they're an even softer tyre than Yokos, tbh I'll be happy with 20k out of them as that's what I've been used to with other premium tyres ive had on the newish cars I've bought in the past which clearly had the factory Michelin/Continental/Pirelli tyres on.

 

Except from Continental Eco Contact 5s, Standard fit on my brand new 15 plate Corsa and even the fronts when I got rid on 18,500 miles still had 6mm tread on them, they wouldn't wear at all, but like a lot of "Eco" tyres they were shit, no grip, noisy, horrible.

 

If money was no object I'd be going for Continental Sport Contacts but they are about 30quid a tyre more at least, that's a lot of money extra spent on a set of tyres when you're not blessed with deep pockets.

[fordperv]

The only yoko i havnt liked is the s drive, put a set on mrs fps rs turbo and they were not great in the dry and even worse in the wet to the extent i tried to overtake a car doing 30mph on a moist country lane and they would not grip with a sniff of boost, on the flip side I have a set of Yoko on my saph fitted around 5-6k ago because i couldnt get a full set of uniroyal rain expert in my size and i am very impressed with them they grip well both wet and dry they have worn really well i don't drive like a granny either so would definately recommend

[greengartside]

I bought some part-worn Yoko A539's for the front of my Fiesta to replace the racing slicks it had fitted previously.

 

Grip is very good and feels a lot more planted on the road than a lot of the tyres on the market. They do wear out like a bastard though.

 

Landsail & Barum tyres are all good in my book too.

[New POD]

I had 4 yokos on a mk2 cav sri many moons ago and it transformed the car

 

.although at the same time I fitted 4 new shocks and mk3 Gsi front calipers (just fit under a 14 inch wheel with a fag paper to spare) and to be fair the tyres on it were 18 years old and shinny

[Stanky]

I had a set of Bluearths on my former Almera and was impressed with them. They did about 28k from memory and were replaced with about 3mm tread left with some Kumhos which were less grippy and more noisy but lasted about 35k and were still going when it got scrapped.

 

I used to drive it quite hard on shit A and B roads and grip was very good in all weathers. The car was only about a tonne and had a notional 85bhp on tap so nowhere near your Jetta.

[Hendry]

All the tyre websites have mixed reviews on them from people whove bought them, but it doesnt say what kind of car theyve been fitted to.

 

Some say poor wet grip and bad for aquaplaining, some say really good grip in the wet and amazing in the dry, but again you dont know how they drive or if the ones saying poor wet grip have them on 300bhp Focus STs and drive very enthusiastically. 

 

How reliable are the ratings on tyres? they get an F for fuel efficiency which seems to be the worst rating there is, but B rated for wet grip, A being the best, but the Barums currently on it get an E fuel rating and C for wet grip and id strongly disagree with the wet grip at least!

[Justin Case]

I have a pair on the back of the Mazda, not sure which model though, they have done about 18,000 miles and still have plenty of tread left. I have had Bridgestone T001s on the front for about 13,000miles and I'm impressed, excellent grip in wet and dry and again little wear, although to be fair, most of the driving is on main roads. They arequite a reasonable price as 205/55/16 seems to be fitted to just about anything without a prestige* German badge, at  just over £60 a corner. Perhaps worth looking at?

[Timewaster]

I always rated them when I had quick cars and drove like my trousers were on fire.

 

They don't seem to do them for slipper wearers in people carriers.

[M'coli]

I've had Yoko Bluearths on the ZX for the last 15000 miles, they have good grip and the fronts have more than 4mm of tread left. I'd buy them again.

[Partridge]

I had a set of Bluearths on my former Almera and was impressed with them. They did about 28k from memory and were replaced with about 3mm tread left with some Kumhos which were less grippy and more noisy but lasted about 35k and were still going when it got scrapped.

 

I used to drive it quite hard on shit A and B roads and grip was very good in all weathers. The car was only about a tonne and had a notional 85bhp on tap so nowhere near your Jetta.

I've got Kumhos on my Accord. Decent enough for the money, but not amazing. A bit too hard for my tastes, I regret buying them, I should have stuck with Dunlops.

[Faker]

I recently bought avons and I'm not impressed....

 

Used Yokohama on the nova rally car for years (a539 - a008 - ao32 etc). Great tyres.

[sierraman]

I've got Rovellos on the front of mine - fitted by the previous owner. Fine in the dry but in the wet...

 

When they've worn down (if they haven't killed me in the meantime) I plan to stick a pair of either Avons or Barum on, always found them a good tyre for the money. I think where tyres are concerned there's a massive difference between the cheapest Chinese shit like Wanli etc and some mid ranges like Kumho or Barum, but then not a lot between mid ranges and so called premium tyres like Pirelli etc.

[95 quid Peugeot]

I've got an old giffers question....if i go onto Camskill and look at Tyre performance ratings, most of the cheapo death rings have similar grip/noise ratings as premium brands,  i know this isnt the case,  simple answer if you're bored...ta

[Split_Pin]

Had Yoko Parada Spec 2s on my Coupe for 9 years, excellent tyres, no problems with them at all. Good grip wet and dry too.

[hpi_matrix]

They will probably be fine for that type of car, id just check they're the XL rated version.

 

Personally id just get these: https://www.tyre-shopper.co.uk/tyres/brand/avon/avon-zv7-xl/225-45WR17-94W-xl and save £10 a tyre.

[DodgyBastard]

Can't go wrong with a set of Roadhogs.

[sierraman]

I've got an old giffers question....if i go onto Camskill and look at Tyre performance ratings, most of the cheapo death rings have similar grip/noise ratings as premium brands, i know this isnt the case, simple answer if you're bored...ta

It's moreover a worry what would happen in ithe event of an emergency stop. A tyre can be really quiet but completely useless in the event of having to slam the anchors on.

[Hendry]

I've got Rovellos on the front of mine - fitted by the previous owner. Fine in the dry but in the wet...

 

When they've worn down (if they haven't killed me in the meantime) I plan to stick a pair of either Avons or Barum on, always found them a good tyre for the money. I think where tyres are concerned there's a massive difference between the cheapest Chinese shit like Wanli etc and some mid ranges like Kumho or Barum, but then not a lot between mid ranges and so called premium tyres like Pirelli etc.

There's a Rovelo on the back couple with the 3 Barums. Can't say I've noticed how bad it is, but I probably would if I put it on the front.

 

Anyway took the plunge and got the Yoko, just got the 1 because thats all I urgently needed, I'll see how it goes before I decide what to replace the others with when they wear down.

[tooSavvy]

I have 4 'black circles' on mine...

 

... called Landsail

 

 

Not Dedd [yett]

 

 

TS

[sierraman]

The worst I ever had was some Roadstar Radials, closely followed by Camac tyres. Both shit in every front.

[philsford]

I brought a pair of 225/45/17 uniroyal rainsport 3s for £116 delivered off camskill last week. Then £10 to have them fitted. So £126 fitted and balanced. Cheap I think and not worth entertaining the cheapo rubbish.

[stripped fred]

I have c drives on my mr2 and they grip well. Can't comment on wear as it only does about 500 miles a year!

[Partridge]

I've got an old giffers question....if i go onto Camskill and look at Tyre performance ratings, most of the cheapo death rings have similar grip/noise ratings as premium brands,  i know this isnt the case,  simple answer if you're bored...ta

They're tested in labs, like cars are for emissions and MPG.

Most "decent" budget tyres are fine when they're new, but once a few miles are put on them they soon go to shit. Triangle Tyres are notorious for this. The actual rubber itself they use is fairly good and appears quite soft at first...But as they wear they loose this softness to the detriment of grip (because the surface of the road doesn't dig into hard rubber as well as it does soft rubber) and they get noisier and start to feel more unpleasant, and transfer less feel into your paws as well as having the nasty side effect of being more keen to tramline. The silver lining is they last longer...which is why the Nexens my old Sterling came with were annoyingly hard to kill.

 

Then you have the actual carcass (the metal bit inside the tyre) which is where they really skimp. These deform faster on ting tong tyres than branded tyres, which can lead to juddering or steering wheel shakes, mimicking a fucked wheel bearing, brake disc or a wheel balancing issue. In the very worse cases, when the tyres has been used well after it's sell by date, they deform so badly they can cause a tyre to de-laminate because they eventually break apart and the tyre can't hold itself together. But that's your fault is you keep them for too long.

 

So yeah, initially they will be fine, but if you're planning on keeping the car very long, not worth it.

[95 quid Peugeot]

Partridge

A very consise reply to my question. Ta

[Hendry]

 

Then you have the actual carcass (the metal bit inside the tyre) which is where they really skimp. These deform faster on ting tong tyres than branded tyres, which can lead to juddering or steering wheel shakes, mimicking a fucked wheel bearing, brake disc or a wheel balancing issue. In the very worse cases, when the tyres has been used well after it's sell by date, they deform so badly they can cause a tyre to de-laminate because they eventually break apart and the tyre can't hold itself together. But that's your fault is you keep them for too long.

 

 

Thats interesting because the Barums on my car caused steering wheel shakes and were 4 and 6mm on the front, I had my brakes checked, suspension, wheel bearings and all ok, had a 4 wheel alignment done, all the wheels checked for flat spots, buckles etc. and all the wheels balanced and all good but still got the steering wheel shakes, sounds like this could be why. 

[Junkman]

Stupid question amnesty, please.

 

Why does a 2 litre family saloon have 225/45/17 tyres?

My 2 litre family estate has 185/65/14s and I find those overkill.

[Hendry]

Stupid question amnesty, please.

 

Why does a 2 litre family saloon have 225/45/17 tyres?

My 2 litre family estate has 185/65/14s and I find those overkill.

Your guess is as good as mine!

 

I'd like to know this as well? Especially as base Golfs and so on have 15" wheels. It's probably just for the bling factor when the cars new cos that's what a lot of new car buyers look for in a car, bling wheels, chrome bits, piano black bits, all that nonsense!