Owners of the Yokohama S Drive are most consistently positive about dry grip and handling, with tread life also attracting more praise than criticism. Steering feel is generally well regarded, although a notable minority find feedback lacking. Wet grip is nearly evenly divided, with 12 favorable and ten critical accounts, so dry-road confidence does not reliably carry over into rain. Noise draws nine complaints against five positive reports, while comfort is evenly split. Longer-use accounts include both retained grip and deterioration, leaving no consistent picture of performance as the tire wears.
What owners mention most counted across 46 reviews
Everybody has a differant opinion on tires, i've had this cup for 5 yrs and have tried vriedsteins, continentals, uniroyals, yokhamas and michelins and to be honest i find some of the reviews a little hard to believe. Take the uniroyal rainsports - yes they do grip well but they give the car a twitchy moving feel due to the softer rubber compound and i personally don't like the feel when cornering. The vried's and conti's were pretty much on a par - ok but wore quickly , the michelins are very good but pricey. The best i've found all round are the yoko's i went to the nurburgring and ran a set of semi slick pirelli's they were cained by the end of the day and i did a last lap with the yoko's i'd driven to germany on and they were only 15 seconds slower and they lasted another 9000 miles on the fronts and the rears are still on and going strong, not to mention they are half the price of the exalto's . as for road noise - it's a cup you can just about hear the radio on full blast and comfort depends on the springing in your springs and damper set up. Best advice is try a couple of brands and untill you find something that gives you confidence - or go straight to the exalto's but don't moan about the cost
When i imported my RX7 these tires were on it. I have not had a load of experience in the wet, but my feelings are the same as some of the other reviews.
The tires are great for grip and wear, they really handle well in a corner in the dry, there is a slight lack of feedback when taking it too the edge.
The noise level is probally a little high and i reckon the ride is a little hard for what you are getting.
My tires still have good tread left, i will keep these on until they need changing, but will try another tire.
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I bought the s.drives as a replacement for my Toyo T1-Rs. They are just as good overall, if a little more costly. The dry handling is very good, with pleanty of grip on acceleration, and less slip when conering compared to the T1-Rs. They are surefooted tires and a little more confident in the wet than the toyos, and *touch wood* no push on understeer in the wet, which i experienced with the proxes.
The tires are very uncomfortable for a performance tire, compared to the proxes but the payoff is I am confident they will keep me on the road.
Turing though sharp bends in the wet is precise, although there is no real feeling of how close to the limit they are. In the dry the noise on hard cornering, such as a roundabout is excessive. People often mistake the noise for slipping, but it wasn't. The noise is a by-product of hard use, which some users may not like.
It is a good tire, but the noise and that fact that they are too hard means that next change i will try a set of Pilots.
Appologies for the comparison with proxes, but i have run those for the last 4 years as the standard tires made me slide all over the place.
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Excellent tires in the dry, but have also proved decent on the wet slippery b roads of north wales.
In the dry they are very progressive and you know when you are approaching the limit with good feedback on bends.
In the wet they are fine on fast sweeping bends but a little poorer on slow speed sharp corners where they lose traction if pushed. No problems with standing water. Managed a few unexpected deep puddles hit at high speed with controlled ease.
Wear has been impresive given that they feel rather soft compound. 8000 miles are still plenty left to go.
Coped with recent snow better than I thought too, no drama unless induced.
Fairly quiet and provide a comfy ride in the Impreza Sportswagon they're fitted to.
In conclusion a great tire for mixed rural/motorway driving in the UK. I would buy again.
Excellent tire for dry roads, for sport drivers.
Grip on wet roads is good. Braking with this tire is outstanding, shortens stop distance when in working temperature.
I received these tires attached to a 2nd hand set of Rota wheels that i bought. The rims were perfect and the tires were almost new.
I had already read the negative reviews of the S. Drive on this site before i purchased these wheels and tires. But seeing as the tires were barely scrubbed in i thought i would just keep them on and use them up to save having to fork out for 4 brand new tires.
I have covered 2k miles or so in the last 3 months with these tires and i can confirm that they are very poor indeed especially as they are a premium priced tire.
Dry grip is not bad but tires lack feedback when on the limit though it is reasonably progressive once they let go. Sideways seem quite soft as well.
In the wet they are just simply ditch-finders. Feedback is non-existent and snap from grip to no grip very suddenly. The limit is easy to exceed even in mildly spirited driving. The tires inspire no confidence at all and makes driving in the wet a bit of a chore.
There is one redeeming feature and that is they don't aquaplane at all but seeing as it has huge gaps between the tread blocks i'm not surprised.
Comfort i can't comment on as my car has Tein springs and KYB shocks so its already very firm no matter what tire goes on.
Wear rate is not bad, little wear in 2k miles of spririted driving on town and motorways.
I muat add that i have tried other Yokos in the past and find that they are not really suited to the tarmac in this country as the tires are made in Japan. Yokohama is a well respected brand in Japan and i'm pretty sure these would be good on japanese roads but not on UK.
Overall i am not surprised that this tire is poor. I would not recommend buying as for the same money you can get much more performance and safety.
I have never had tires as good as these in either wet or dry. My Peugeot 106 just gripped and gripped (I drive pretty nuts all of the time ;) ). I have a friend with toyo proxies on a gti-6 - We found that they didn't grip as well (wet or dry) and they needed replacing after 7-8000 miles, and he doesn't drive anywhere near as fast as myself.
After 7000 miles I sold the wheels. If fronts and rears were swapped, I reckon another 5000+ miles would come of them.
I will definately get more of these on my next car if they are made in the correct size, or even if slightly off.
I bought the Yokohama S-Drive after receiving advice from vr2turbo and mubul of www.autoworld.com.my that it is great value and highly dependable. After driving for 2 months, I am so angry that I have been deceived or misled into believing it. It is no better than my old Falken 452, in fact more uncomfortable. Also it is noisier than my old tires which is making my car sound like an elcheapo car. Either this vr2turbo and mubul are actors or benefitting in some way pushing some products.
I am considering changing to a new set of tires when I get my next paycheck! A friend who own a E60 BMW is so happy his Goodyear Assymetrics which was highly recommended by www.tirerack.com (I noticed tirereviews.co.uk got useful user reviews and helpful links)
These tires replaced my BFG KDW's... they do not come close to the amazing level of grip the BFG's had. The S Drives real strong point is the ride comfort... For driving on bad roads these are the tires to get. For all out grip, look somewhere else.
These seem to have been a good choice, the grip in the dry is very good, I tend not to push the car in the wet so it is difficult to get a good view but they seem OK
I bought it based on Mubull's (of autoworld.com.my) recommendation. I will not buy this tire again. There are better tires for this money.Try the famous Bridgestone Adrenalin or Continental CSC2 or Goodyear F1 or Falken. Perhaps Mubull had some unseen commission in the process? I would be selling this urgently soon.
I replaced the Falken 452 with the much hyped Yokohama S-drives. This turn out to be a big mistake I ever made on this car! Although the S-drive feel comfortable and fairly quiet, it simply cannot match the Falken in terms of wet grip power and agility. In fact, the S-drive (supposedly based on nanotechnology )has strong tendencies to collect small stones onto the rubber compound! Just park and see what I mean. So many small bits stuck into the rubber for some reason. Perhaps the S-drive researchers did not anticipate their customers using it any normal roads!?
