Forum Review: Yokohama S.Drive Tires - Photos + Impression

[Quattro]

Hello Audizine,

I recently installed a new set of tires and felt I would provide the community with a detailed review regarding my new set of Yokohama S.drive tires. Information on these tires can be found here. (http://www.yokohamatire.com/tires/detail/s_drive) Everyone is always looking for tire reviews so here you are! I have always been a fan of Yokohama tires as many fellow enthusiasts mentioned to me how great their tires are. I have never owned a prior set of Yokohama tires, until recently, and I regret not switching over sooner. I am very satisfied with these new tires over my prior Toyo T1-R tires. Lastly, I uploaded a lot of photos of the process and a shot of the car in show mode. [wrench]

Background:

I Installed Yokohama S.drive 235/35/19 on my B7 A4 with HRE 19” wheels lowered on Bilstein PSS9 Coilovers set on the 7 setting. I have driven over a thousand miles on the tires and will update this thread in a few months when more miles are put on. Lastly, I always run my PSI around 37. I will rate these tires from a scale of 1 being low to a 10 being incredible.
Please note: These are my own opinions and do not reflect the opinions of this site and others. Please refer to this post for educational purposes only.

Ride Comfort:
I am extremely happy with the ride comfort on these S.drive tires. After a “long” weekend trip consisting of about 500 Miles in blistering heat, I was able to enjoy these tires over the course of my drive. Cruising at highway speeds of over 65 MPH, the tires felt solid with little noise (see below.) In comparison to my old Toyo T1-R tires, I can honestly say these tires by far provide a more enjoyable ride comfort. My preference on tires is not being very stiff, but I enjoy “feeling” the road to an extent. I feel these tires are a great compromise for my personal taste. I feel one with the road and driving throughout Los Angeles’ wonderful bumpy, uneven and pot hole infested streets I still am able to enjoy the comfort from the tires.
I have always felt, a good set of tires will make your driving experience more enjoyable and these tires surely are an addition to the experience. I rate the ride comfort a 9.

Road Noise:
Road noise from your tires is never a great sound to hear as you drive. I have personally driven numerous vehicles equipped with various tire brands; experiencing many levels of road noise from these drives. My opinion on road noise is that no tire can be completely free of road noise. These Yokohama tires have very little road noise based on all my driving thus far. I have taken these tires on various different types of asphalt and overall, road noise has been very minimal.
Los Angeles has wonderful weather, so I typically drive with my windows down. I, like many fellow enthusiasts, enjoy the occasional peaceful drives without music playing and letting the wind blow in your hair like a Fabio commercial of, “I can’t believe it’s not butter.” Road noise during these drives is important because I do not want to hear tire noise while I drive. I can confidently say, I do not hear loud sounding tires, just these tires carving the roads a new one. I also just hear a roaring exhaust, but that is for a different conversation.

Road noise rate is 3 for little to none.

Ride Handling:
This is my favorite section, because let us be honest with each other and say, “A tire can look cool and not make a sound, but if it does not perform who wants it!” Out of all the categories, I value the importance of handling the most. Having spent a lot of money on suspension and modification upgrades, I need my car to handle incredibly. These S.drive tires, high performance tires, are nothing short of incredible.
I have done spirited canyon drives and made enjoyable turns, of course all within the bounds of legality [evilsmile]. On every turn, these tires stick to the road like glue. Coupled with all of my suspension modifications, I experience little body roll and maintain incredible grip on the road.
Driving the same roads and making a comparison with my old Toyo Tires, these Yokohama tires have a better tire “break point.” On the same turns, the breaking point of these tires provides me the ability to enter the apex faster without any compromise. I feel that I can “push” the boundaries of my vehicle more with these tires, because of the added traction. The tire will “tell” you its limit and you can hear it when you start to reach it, but by far I have not reached this yet. How much further I can push the car has yet to be experienced and I will find out on the track.
Overall, the tire improved my handling and I did not need to correct the steering much to achieve the turns I needed. I rate these tires on handling at about 8.5.

CONS:
I cannot conclude a review without any cons of the tire. Face it, no product is perfect with no flaws. My biggest con, and thus far my only real complaint with the tire is the lack of stretch. I am running 19x9.5” wheels and with my old Toyo tires, they stretched more; As a result I experienced less rubbing. However, the counterpart is the stiffer side walls fills the wheel gap more and I just needed to roll my fenders more to remedy the problem. I could have gone with a smaller size 225, but I did not want to have “crazy” stretch. Rolling the fenders was an easy solution.

Overall:
Overall, I am extremely happy with the new tires and their performance. I feel the tire pattern is very aggressive and was built for handling. From my current drive time with these tires, I do not have anything really negative to comment on. I honestly only have good remarks regarding these tires. After spending countless hours researching on new tires, I found and heard nothing but great reviews of Yokohama Tire, which made me want to pursue a set.
I feel a great way to rate a product on is, “would I repurchase this item in the future” and I can say I would. I would get another set of Yokohama S.drive tires again without any hesitation…well, the only hesitation I would experience is indecision for Yokohama ADVAN Sport tires.
In closing, I would like to thank the Yokohama team for providing me with the answers to my questions, tire stands for shows, decals and their support. It is great dealing with businesses’ who are always there for their followers with support.
If anyone has specific questions that were not addressed in this review, please ask and I will do my best to answer any and all questions.

-Randy


Photos:

In the Car:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v171/emerged/YokohamaSdrive/IMG_1464_zps61682512.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/emerged/media/YokohamaSdrive/IMG_1464_zps61682512.jpg.html)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v171/emerged/YokohamaSdrive/IMG_1469_zps60b566b5.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/emerged/media/YokohamaSdrive/IMG_1469_zps60b566b5.jpg.html)

Ready to be Installed:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v171/emerged/YokohamaSdrive/IMG_1476_zpse159cb93.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/emerged/media/YokohamaSdrive/IMG_1476_zpse159cb93.jpg.html)

Shop Had This Outside
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v171/emerged/YokohamaSdrive/IMG_1474_zps51908975.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/emerged/media/YokohamaSdrive/IMG_1474_zps51908975.jpg.html)


Dismounted:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v171/emerged/YokohamaSdrive/IMG_1477_zps084a650e.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/emerged/media/YokohamaSdrive/IMG_1477_zps084a650e.jpg.html)

Mounted/ing: [wrench][wrench]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v171/emerged/YokohamaSdrive/IMG_1478_zps4fe70518.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/emerged/media/YokohamaSdrive/IMG_1478_zps4fe70518.jpg.html)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v171/emerged/YokohamaSdrive/IMG_1480_zps7bca5700.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/emerged/media/YokohamaSdrive/IMG_1480_zps7bca5700.jpg.html)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v171/emerged/YokohamaSdrive/IMG_1481_zpscdb5a609.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/emerged/media/YokohamaSdrive/IMG_1481_zpscdb5a609.jpg.html)

Ready to Party:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v171/emerged/YokohamaSdrive/IMG_1482_zps5eeb1691.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/emerged/media/YokohamaSdrive/IMG_1482_zps5eeb1691.jpg.html)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v171/emerged/YokohamaSdrive/IMG_1484_zpsdf7e5ba3.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/emerged/media/YokohamaSdrive/IMG_1484_zpsdf7e5ba3.jpg.html)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v171/emerged/YokohamaSdrive/IMG_1487_zps867b66ba.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/emerged/media/YokohamaSdrive/IMG_1487_zps867b66ba.jpg.html)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v171/emerged/YokohamaSdrive/IMG_1491_zps206e6d64.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/emerged/media/YokohamaSdrive/IMG_1491_zps206e6d64.jpg.html)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v171/emerged/YokohamaSdrive/IMG_1496_zpsa171d5d6.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/emerged/media/YokohamaSdrive/IMG_1496_zpsa171d5d6.jpg.html)


Show Mode:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v171/emerged/YokohamaSdrive/photocar_zps7c61b731.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/emerged/media/YokohamaSdrive/photocar_zps7c61b731.jpg.html)

[Operator]

Digging that last pic!!

[wildcat333]

Looks good! Let me know about the spring(s) in the karma thread or pm me.

[typeslone]

[up]

Glad to see a good review on the s-drives. I run these as street tires on my 91 vw gti drag car. I am on my second set, I think for a moderately priced summer tire, they are pretty good. Road comfort is good, road noise is minimal. They stick during spirited driving through corners. Dry traction is pretty good for the most part and so it wet traction and resistance to hydroplaning under normal driving. If I accelerate hard in the wet I can spin straight through 3rd gear, in the dry on a hard launch I can shred them half way into 2nd gear, but your talking about a 2200lb fwd car with a torquey 6 cylinder and very aggressive gearing.

Winter is a no no for these tires but that is what the B7 is for, you shouldn't be driving on summer tires in the winter months anyway if your area sees snow or gets below 50degrees.

[FraggyA4]

I had yokohama's on my jetta, and they wore terribly and prematurly. I think they were bald within 2 years/18k miles. Not saying these will be bad but with that experience I will never get yokohama's again.

[Sly Raskal]

I've had these tires on my car for the last few years now. Due for new tires very soon. Loved the tires. Great street tire without sacrificing too much grip!

[Amarao]

I gave up on Yokohama when I was running AO48s, I went the reverse of you and went to Toyo.

[Mister W]

Great review. I was going to order them, but went with Avid Envigor instead. They should last longer and were cheaper too, but noisier and maybe a harsher ride. For now they are OK.

[Quattro]

[up]

Glad to see a good review on the s-drives. I run these as street tires on my 91 vw gti drag car. I am on my second set, I think for a moderately priced summer tire, they are pretty good. Road comfort is good, road noise is minimal. They stick during spirited driving through corners. Dry traction is pretty good for the most part and so it wet traction and resistance to hydroplaning under normal driving. If I accelerate hard in the wet I can spin straight through 3rd gear, in the dry on a hard launch I can shred them half way into 2nd gear, but your talking about a 2200lb fwd car with a torquey 6 cylinder and very aggressive gearing.

Winter is a no no for these tires but that is what the B7 is for, you shouldn't be driving on summer tires in the winter months anyway if your area sees snow or gets below 50degrees.

I forgot to mention and go into price. They priced fairly well and are a great bang for the buck! I love the tires so far!


I had yokohama's on my jetta, and they wore terribly and prematurly. I think they were bald within 2 years/18k miles. Not saying these will be bad but with that experience I will never get yokohama's again.

I haven't ran these tires for that long of a period, so I don't know its future. I plan on updating the thread as time goes on with updates and now thread wear. If they go bald in 2 years, I will cry!


I've had these tires on my car for the last few years now. Due for new tires very soon. Loved the tires. Great street tire without sacrificing too much grip!

Can't go wrong with another set hehe


I gave up on Yokohama when I was running AO48s, I went the reverse of you and went to Toyo.

Toyo does make good tires. In comparison with my old T1-R, I feel these new tires out perform them. However, everyone has different expectations in tires.



Great review. I was going to order them, but went with Avid Envigor instead. They should last longer and were cheaper too, but noisier and maybe a harsher ride. For now they are OK.

Keep it in the family!

[FraggyA4]

I hope I just got a bad set and these run you for a long time, also great review and thanks for helping out the community.

[wootwoot]

I had yokohama's on my jetta, and they wore terribly and prematurly. I think they were bald within 2 years/18k miles. Not saying these will be bad but with that experience I will never get yokohama's again.

I really enjoyed the S Drives on my A4 but had a similar experience, I think I made it around 23k miles before they needed changing. Now I have the Hanhook Ventus and while they drive well and were cheaper than the Yokohamas they definitely aren't as sticky.

[Kubus]

If you have any camber they fall apart

http://www.rlyslow.com/Random/AudiA4/camber.jpg

My experience was negative and I wouldn't buy again.

Now I'm running Nitto Neogens and loving them

[Sly Raskal]

Wait a sec, you're blaming the tire for falling apart because your car has negative camber and prematurely wore out the tire? And if that's the outside of your tire it's pretty damn bald on the inside, sounds to me like you're pointing fingers at the wrong place. Any more pics of said tire?

Any tire ran with negative camber will fall apart. The traction rating on it will lessen or exacerbate the rate at which they will fail, and fail they will no matter the tire.

[Kubus]

I have like a degree of camber. That shouldn't amount to ruined tires

[Sly Raskal]

Can't go wrong with another set hehe

I actually ran them on my Integra as well before I sold that car. Probably will buy them again. I don't track my car and I don't drive it super aggresive on the street so it's a good compromise tire for daily commuting and spirited drives.

[Sly Raskal]

I have like a degree of camber. That shouldn't amount to ruined tires

I ran about 0.5 degree of negative camber on my Integra running S.drives, no issues for ~20K miles which was when I sold the car and I enjoyed taking spirited rides in that car, but nothing aggressive. If the tire is as bad as you claim them to be, why would they sell well enough for Yoko to keep them on the market for 4 years now and we should be hearing more issues about them. Could be just a bad batch or something else.

[Quattro]

I have like a degree of camber. That shouldn't amount to ruined tires

I am running about the same camber, I plan on updating this thread in the future with some more updates.