Yokohama Advan Sport V105S

These replaced some uncouth Road-X tires. Superb Japanese tires. Do they know how to make a tire or what? It punches well above it's weight and drives like a Michelin PS5. They just put the power down. As they are so progressive they keep on giving. The car drives fantastic. A complete and utter transformation and new lease of life to the car. Corner fun? Check. Aqua plane? No problem. All round amazing tires that just get better and better the more you throw at them. No tramlining but stick to the road like glue. My first time trying a Yoko, having stuck to the big main brands for over 30 years. No regrets whatsoever. Slightly heavy as a run flat (newer run flats are lighter and weigh about the same as non run flats) but the minor fuel penalty is something I can life with because they feel so safe and assuring. We have a safe tire here. Sporty characteristics when required. Comfort when required. Not many can achieve that. Looking forward to trying the V107.

Great SPORT tires. Made in Japan now replaced by V107, I believe. Oldie but goodie and still great tires. Had them on for about 3 years. Stiff sidewall gives your great handling and a stiffer ride, with direct steering. Not much in the way of rim protection tbh. These tires shine in wet and dry and give a great feedback through, just make sure you have the chassy to enjoy it, along with the steering precision. These tires are rated under UTQG = 240 AA A People don't mention this metric in Europe, sadly, because its a more USA thing, but its an important one. Even some reviewer such a tirereviews rarely mention it???? Grip is AA highest. Temp is A highest and thread life is 240....errrr..... That's the bad bit on these tires, that's not far off track day tires. Wear is not the best. If you are looking to get 20K miles on these, forget it. These babies will give your car a stiff, grippy ride in any condition. You will enjoy driving, with control safety and grip. If only for about 14,000miles - 16,000miles. Noise is average due to grippy compound. EU rating for rain is A and economy is F, which is a bit poor these days. Again due to sticky compound. Would i buy again? Hell yeah if they are on offer, sadly currently, they are not.

I used these on the front of a rear wheel drive car (rears were a different brand). I like the way these sit on the wheel. The side wall was straight and flush with the wheel instead of rounded like some other brands. I only had them on the car for 8 months (so can't comment on wear) then sold my wheels with the tires on. Everything about them was good. Although my previous Continental gave me better confidence in the wet, the Yokohama didn't slip or slide either. In the dry they felt better than the Continental so not worth paying the premium price for Continental. I put Goodyear on my new wheels and the Goodyear give a smoother, quieter and more comfortable ride as well as better steering response. The Goodyear aren't as expensive as Continental so if the Goodyear and Yokohama are a similar price I would go for Goodyear. All in all if the Yokohama come up at a good price in future I would definitely buy them again. I've had a good experience with some older Yokohama pattern years ago too.

Dry Grip:

Outstanding. Very, very good performance indeed. Never had DSC cut in under hard acceleration or cornering, Ive done fast road events on these without issue and have plenty of confidence in them.

Wet Grip:

Again very impressive. The car feels planted and the amount of water they shift is quite impressive, I followed my car being driven by someone else yesterday In the rain and you could tell just how much they contact the road by the tire marks being practically water free behind the car. Ive not had the back end twitch in the car which is excellent as the RX8 is known to be a tad twitchy.

Progressiveness/Feedback/Comfort:

The very rigid sidewall on these means they feel firm going over pot holes and speed bumps but the car does ride better with them on. They give excellent levels of feedback though the pattern on these do create some tramlining on the RX8 - this is the price you pay on UK Roads if you want to know what the wheels are really doing. When pushed to the limit they let you know the boundary quite well with a tendency to start to squeal mildly, though it's easy to control and very predictable.

I can't comment on wear as Ive only covered 2000 miles.

I would certainly recommend these for a sportier car, which is what the Advan range is aimed at. Excellent grip, feedback and predictability make for excellent spirited driving and these would suit a track toy well.

Id perhaps consider softer alternatives for a predominantly passenger run around, such as the Continental Sport Contact line.