Yokohama S Drive

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 tyres 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 tyres are very uncomfortable for a performance tyre, 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 tyre, 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 tyres made me slide all over the place.

Excellent tyres 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 tyre 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 tyres attached to a 2nd hand set of Rota wheels that i bought. The rims were perfect and the tyres were almost new.

I had already read the negative reviews of the S. Drive on this site before i purchased these wheels and tyres. But seeing as the tyres 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 tyres.

I have covered 2k miles or so in the last 3 months with these tyres and i can confirm that they are very poor indeed especially as they are a premium priced tyre.

Dry grip is not bad but tyres 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 tyres 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 tyre 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 tyres 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 tyre is poor. I would not recommend buying as for the same money you can get much more performance and safety.

I have never had tyres 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 tyrereviews.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