Dry grip is the clear strength of the Yokohama ADVAN Neova AD08R, praised in 33 accounts against one criticism, with steering feedback and progressive breakaway also generally liked. Wet grip has more supporters than critics, but six owners raise standing-water concerns and six mention cold-weather limitations, each about one in seven. A firm ride is another minority complaint, while noise and wear are more mixed. Mid-life and end-of-life reports include both durable road use and rapid wear with track driving. One owner's later review describes intrusive noise and reduced performance after mid-life, but this is an individual experience; another pair of posts repeats the same account. The average score is 82% across 41 reviews, with 36 positive.
What owners mention most counted across 40 reviews
Marvellous grip in the dry, crossing white lines in the wet, not so good. My mistake was I bought 225/45/17 tires, instead of original size 215/45/17. On bumpy country roads, which is the custom in England ðŸ´ó §ó ¢ó ¥ó ®ó §ó ¿ the width of the tires scrape against the front wheel arches, though the rear is unconcerned . I will indeed buy them again, in the original SVT Focus size.
My car has staggered sizes, so this is also a review of 185/55 15 front tires.
Brilliant tires, straight up, but fairly hardcore. Great fun. You feel everything through the steering. These tires fundamentally change the whole feel of my car. The steel reinforced sidewalls literally make the car feel like it's had stiffer suspension fitted. Ideal for enthusiastic drivers, but, understandably, they ride a little harder than average. To me, that's worth it for the razor sharp turn in.
They tramline a little on my medium profile front tires - not enough to bother me, but you do notice. Anyone with 19" or 20" fronts on ultra low profile rubber should weigh that up carefully before pulling the trigger.
Dry grip and exceptional feel are these tires' forte. Wet grip is OK (but I have separate winter wheels/tires and would not advise pushing these tires in cold, wet conditions). Feel in the wet remains good. 10/10 dry, 7.5/10 wet.
Sadly, these tires have been discontinued, replaced by the AD08RS which has a lower rolling resistance. I hope this does not affect grip and feel. Time will tell. Looking forward to seeing some reviews on the RS.
Check out how the BEST all seasons tires perform against premium summer and winter tires!
Absolutely the BEST TYRES i have bought for my car ! Amazing grip !! These tires are out of this world !! Best tire ever !! Highly RECOMMENDED specially for enthusiastic drivers !!
Which tires do you drive?
Researching the Yokohama ADVAN Neova AD08R? Rate the tires you actually drive - and help the next buyer choose.
Recently replaced my superfair Uniroyal Rainsport 2 with these brilliant tires ,what a differences does it make.From the start the wheel response ingreased and gained weight.In terms of hard cornering they made my mind blown on dry.15 - 20km/h more speed on entry and yet not aproach their limits.In wet conditions thow in our horrible roads in Greece they make my feel like fish out of water.They don't like horrible shiny roads with few amounts of grip in wet and low temp conditions and they show you from the first moment.Despite wet perfomance (in my country) i suggest them to any enthusiast motorsport driver with proper tuned car who wants something more from a common street tire.
Best tire money can buy, its the ultimate street & also track proven! Used 4 pieces & 2 till end of lifespan..front 2 pieces lasted amazingly close to 57k km & rear still going strong 64k km! Will definitely buy again!
I have a Alfa Romeo 4C with factory fitted Pirelli P Zero tires. 18 inch in front, 19 inch at the back. I'm not the biggest fan of this tires. Probably they are great in Italy with warm weather, but the P Zero's just don't work in a cold climate. They are harsh, don't give a lot of feedback and aren't as grippy as I wanted.
So I bought this Yoko's. Well, what can I say? This tires are just out of this world! WHAT-A-GRIP! I can do launch controles without wheelspin, with my tuned and lightweight 4C. I also already drove it in the rain and they are much grippier than the Pirelli's to in that conditions. I do have to mention that the Pirelli's were almost gone in the back, so that also should have to do something with it.
This tires are quite loud. But, living with a 4C that is your least concert. It really is a tire that makes a sportier car even better. The steering feel and front grip is just so insanely good. It maked the car a even bigger joy to drive. Congrats to Yokohama: this is the best tire I have ever had. Hands down!
I run these tires on an Elise S in 205/45/16 front and 235/40/17 rear. I replaced the original AD07LTS with them for track use as I found the original tire to underperform in corner entry. I bought the AD08R as they are priced and positioned as a street tire and at that time I was not so sure about how much track work they will get. I ended up using them as my track day tire.
The tire is run on whole day events with 30 to 45 min sprints, 30 to 45 min pause, then sprint then pause etc.
When cold the tire slides along quite heavily and it takes longer than others to warm up on my light car. This can be totally different on heavier cars. Normally I need 20 min to leave the track first time for pressure adjustments. I run 1.9 bar front and 2.1 rear hot, also used 1.8 front and 2.0 rear lately which seems to work a little better.
Once hot, the tire performs really well for a street tire. Biggest point on my car is that I can brake much later than friends on Federal 595 rs-r or Toyo r1r or other sport street tires. When reaching the limit the car is very communicative and slides progressively. I never had any nasty surprises.
In the wet for the race track the tire is really bad in my impression as a driver, even though others were surprised how fast the car still goes given the little negative profile of the tire. But the car was definitely no fun anymore in the wet, constantly managing understeer and oversteer it was quite hectic.
My biggest concern over the tire is that they eventually start overheating in the afternoon sessions if a high pace is keeped up for the day. This leaves the car sliding around, however this is still progressive and very manageable but leaves the impression that best laptimes are lost because the peak performance of the tire already left when the peak performance of the driver arrives. For that reason I will switch to a semi slick for pure trackwork.
On the Elise the tire lasts quite long, a front tire lasting twice as long as a rear.
Pro:
Communicative
Progressive
Great dry grip
Performs better than your average sporty street tire, but of course it can not reach a semi slick
Lasts surprisingly long
Contra:
Sketchy when cold
Sketchy when hot
Bad on track when wet (acceptable for the street though as you one does not drive nearly as aggressive on the street)
Buy when:
You need a sporty street tire that can keep up on the occasional track day
Do not buy when:
You need a tire purely for track work
Tires have great grip, but completely ruined turn in to corners. Car has lost that go-cart feel, much heavier to turn, very vague in the front end. Shoiuld have stayed with the P-zero's.
I have them on my 400hp Evo IX. I did trackdays, city driving, road trips, driven on the wet, even a 2km drive on snow to the tire shop last winter to change the wheels. So I know how they perform all round. And I can say they are great tires!!!! The grip is incredible. On track, warmed up, and with about 1.4 bar hot pressure they grip amazing, and also when the grip finally ends they are very predictable. In fact that is very good, that even on the edge, even when you entered a corner 50% faster than you knew it was sensible, they are predictable, they don't suddently give up on traction. Even on wet roads, they aren't that bad, of course there is acvaplaning, and some understear if you push them on wet roads, but it is progressive, it happens in a predictable way. I have participated at about 10 trackdays in the last 3 years since I have them, I have also used them on public roads, for city and road trips, for a total of I would say about 15.000kms. They still have tread left, I think They would last me also next season. Definetly buying them again!
The MGF is picky when it comes to tires and tire sizes. Therefore to be specific:
2x Yokohama Advan Neova AD08R 195/50 R15 82V
2x Yokohama Advan Neova AD08R 205/50 R15 86V
that replaced (the by many beloved... as long as the road was bone dry) Toyo TR 1 185/55 R15 / 205/50 R15's. The Toyo's were a good summer tire but squirmy in the wet and the limit of cornering speeds wasn't much higher that say a VW Golf before things got "interesting".
Despite the concerns of Rover MG of under steer with 195/50 in the front I decided to risk it (185/50 R15 being almost impossible to get these days). The tread pattern is more of a racing tire than your standard V tread (Toyo TR1). This means 1. huge blocks of road gripping rubber, 2. a much more rigid (stable feeling) tire and 3. a very unique look to the car. Under steer has never been an issue and I've had a lot less over steer than I did with the Toyo TR1's and factory Goodyear tires (so many years ago).
Cornering speeds: 90 degree unbanked turn = 60 to 70km/h
Swerving between cars / obstacles speed: 80 to 100 km/h
Burnout minimum revs: 4000 rpm (TOYO 3000 rpm)
This is a tire you want to drive hard. Arrive home after "a bit of fun" and you'll smell the rubber. Extremely stable with plenty of grip on dry surfaces, and less tread wear / sidewall deterioration than the Toyo TR1 after 2 summers (which needed balancing every year). Breaking feels more controlled and changing gears at high revs will actually surge the car forward.
Here we have roads with traffic obstacles in the center of the road that cover only half the lane in concrete paving stones. The AD08R will actually pull the steering wheel towards the center line because of the grip (unlike the Pirelli, Toyo or Michelin I've had on other cars on this road). Response / feedback from changing surface conditions / quality is incredibly clear.
I'm supposed to mention comfort as well: if you want to know about comfort, buy a French car and move to a retirement home, and don't be surprised when an MGF overtakes you for being old.
If you're going to invest in your MGF as a true British performance sports car, these are about as good as you can get to performance summer tires without having your own pit crew changing from racing slicks to treads every time it rains. That is, until Yokohama bring out their replacement for the AD08R.
The car is 2.0tsi FWD STAGE1 with close to 300 bhp and 480 nm torque. Its being driven fairly aggressively on mostly city and country roads with the occasional motorway driving. I come form Kumho Exsta XS ku36 tires 235/45/17 i.e. one size larger footprint then the Yokos. First impressions after 500 miles are that the Yokos fee much much lighter (although if you look at the spec sheets its only a couple of kgs a corner) They are significantly more responsive in terms of steering feel and direction change. If anything lateral grip has improved slightly although longitudinal grip and breaking capacity have been perhaps slightly reduced. If this is indeed the case the difference very small. This could very well be due to the Yokos smaller 225 section or maybe is a misperception on my end. Everything I write is based on feel alone and I have no data to back my experiences.
The Yoko is definitely the better tire of the two it has better comfort, exceptional performance and a very sharp steering feel making the dull VAG/Audi steering more enjoyable to drive. The tire handles small road imperfections very well on par with a UHP tire. This changes as the imperfections become bigger and tire starts to show its hard sidewalls. There is the occasional tramlining but its not as bad as it is on the Kumhos. Surprisingly quiet tires. There is none of that humming and buzzing that I used to get form the Kumhos. The Kumhos at 120 km/h and above sounded as if I have a swarm of angry bees in the engine bay. Wet driving is fine I rarely drive hard when its wet so nothing to complain here but then again the tires have not been pushed in the wet.
Due to their better steering capacity, occasional tramlining and hard sidewalls you need to be awake when pushing on country roads with less then perfect surface as the tires become very "nervous" and small steering inputs sometimes result in bigger then expected direction changes at very high speed 140 km/h +
I have these fitted on my Tommi Makinen Edition running 370hp. These tires are phenomenal, the grip is enormous and the direct feel from the steel inserts in the sidewalls means you can really point the car through the apex with astonishing precision. These tires have so much grip that it's actually scary and maybe not as fun to drive on them if you like a car to be quite playful. These are extreme road legal track tires so it's hard to imagine you will go near their limits on the street. If you do, you will be cornering at outrageous speeds. They are very progressive on the limit and are not snappy on the edge of the grip limit. They don't go off when very hot either. Wet weather they are actually very decent although I cannot judge them in standing water yet, only a wet surface. Tire noise is acceptable, however you don't buy tires like these if you are worried about noise levels. The jurry is still out on wear rate, but I would assume they are not going to last a lengthy amount of time if you are driving hard and on the limit. That being said, I could not imagine a street legal tire that does a better job for the price for sheer outright grip in dry conditions. I certainly don't think a the more expensive Michelin cup tire is any better, but you pay a lot more for them. I recommend giving the AD08R a try if you are after extreme grip and care for nothing else but going ballistic.
