Yokohama Avid

Initial Review, 1,300 Miles on Tires
January 08, 2013

Very good tire, both of my parents did most of the shopping around and we found these to be the best rating for the price. I am very happy with them and they do make a huge difference. Handling is much improved over my old tires, and it handles rain/snow very well for an all weather tire, which is important to me living in Michigan.

Initial Review, 6,000 Miles on Tires
January 11, 2013

These tires are junk. They slip and spin on dry pavement, wet pavement, and snow. Ride is smooth, and they are quiet, but definitely not smooth/quiet enough to offset the unbelievably poor traction. Even my wife remarks about how often these tires break loose, and she is completely "easygoing" driver. Treadwear is average, about what I'd expect for a passenger/touring tire on a minivan.
These tires came on the van when we bought it in the summer. I figured we'd be able to get through the winter without replacing them but I need to replace them now, mid-winter.

Initial Review, 25,000 Miles on Tires
February 09, 2013

An good all around tire, but with one big flaw. These tires became VERY noisy after around 12,000 miles. I admit that I should have rotated them sooner. And I should also state that my car is over 10 years old and is, in its old age, much noisier than in the past. But even so, the amount of tire noise is far greater than I've experienced with any other tire. Traction in the snow has been quite good up until now (around 25,000 miles). The tires are finally starting to become mediocre in the snow now that the treads aren't as deep. If it wasn't for the road noise I'd buy these tires again.

Initial Review, 33,000 Miles on Tires
January 11, 2013

Unlike other reviews, i found these tires to be pretty good and i constantly drive 70+ mph, sometimes hitting triple digits and found that the faster i go the more grounded i felt. Good cornering on dry and wet roads, decent thread wear. I put on over 30k and found the tires to have sufficient thread left but the traction definitely has diminished after about 15k miles. My only issue with these tires is their supposively snow traction, which is almost non-existent.

Initial Review, 2,000 Miles on Tires
January 08, 2013

I'm just very pleased with these tires! Way better than the Goodyears that came with the car!

Initial Review, 31,000 Miles on Tires
January 09, 2013

They do well as a performance tire for rain. light snow and durability but they got really loud after about 20,000 miles. It could be that this is what you get with performance tires and that being the case, I am going to try a more touring oriented tire with good reviews for low noise levels. I had these on another vehicle and liked them, I don't recall them being so loud though.

Initial Review, 5,000 Miles on Tires
January 28, 2013

I believe that each tire performes differently on different vehicles. On our minivan this tire is absolute awesome. There is no comparison between these and the stock firestones it came with. We had zero snow traction with the old tires. With these tires the snow and ice traction is better than any tire I ever had. We just had a ice storm in lacrosse Wisconsin last night and the van outperformed my 4 wheel drive truck in 4 wheel drive. Highway driving is smooth and quiet. Wet traction is great no hydrplaning at all. No problems at all with braking even in wet conditions. I have tried many tires on differnt vehicles and know that each one performes differnt on differnt types of vehicles. I highly recommend this tire if you have a mini van. Absoluty the best tire I've owned period.

Initial Review, 40,000 Miles on Tires
January 25, 2013

40,000 miles over 6 years of very ordinary city/highway driving on a light-weight car, driven conservatively by an mpg-conscious driver. Occasionally rotated. Picked up a nail once, had the hole plugged, no further problems. Very reliable, stable, fairly quiet and smooth. Not great in ice and snow, but drivable. Getting good efficiency, keeping them pumped up. Much much better than the OEM tires were. Still plenty of tread left. Very happy with this purchase; we'll see if anyone comes out with something compelling enough to make me switch in a couple more years when these are worn out, assuming these tires are even still made in 2015.

Initial Review, 20,000 Miles on Tires
January 24, 2013

Considering that these tires are LRR (low rolling resistance,) the low treadwear and improve MPG they offer is nice and rated high. But due to the hard compound the dry traction suffers and doesn't seem deserving of their "high performance" title; and they're just about on par with other all season tires in the dry traction category. Wet traction is great and seems better than my last all season tires (Pirelli P6s.)

Snow traction... for a "High Performance" all season tire these do not fit their title. They seem to lack that certain "bite" to go through the snow. They've been put through heavy & slushy wet snow, light $ dry snow, and hard packed snow; and these do not excel and just barely get by in snowy conditions.

Overall not a bad tire for commuting, and in that respect they are very capable. But, for spirited driving they do not seem to be very "high perform", then again you can't expect to get the best of all worlds in a single tire... Overall I'd say these deserve 7 out of 10.

Initial Review, 2 Miles on Tires
January 07, 2013

Just mounted up my new wheels and Yokahama tires on my new (to me) 2010 Ford Transit Connect. The OE Conties still had plenty of miles left (about 34,000 logged on the odo), but I just purchased the Transit and wanted to upgrade the wheels, so I got the wheel and tire package. With the OEM tires the ride was a little harsh - more like a sports car where you could feel every little bump and crack in the road, but nothing alarmaing, just a little harsh for my preferences for my every day commuter. Just took a short spin around the block on the new Yokahamas and night-and-day differnece. Drives much quieter and smoother. I like the feel too. The response is slightly, ever-so-slightly dampened, but I like it and it seems to drive/handle a little better - maybe more neutral. Probably just because of the added tread depth of the new tires, but I'm excited to drive it into work tomorrow and get on the highway. Will check back with an update after I get some good miles on these.

Got a couple hundred miles on my Yokahamas now. Most on the highway. Very quiet and smooth on the highway. Still lovin' them. Will be monitoring rain and snow characteristics as we are supposed to get some weather this weekend. Will report soon.

Initial Review, 40,000 Miles on Tires
January 22, 2013

After a few disappointing Goodyear purchases, I changed my brand to Yokohamas. It has proven to be a great choice. This set of tires went on a car with approximately 160,000mi on it. I wasn't sure which would last longer- the car or the tires. Now, almost 40,000mi later, it looks like the tires are going to win. With proper rotation, these tires work great on rainy roads and super hot summer highways. We haven't had as much snow as usual the last few winters but what we have had has not been any trouble for the AVIDs on a rear wheel drive coupe. I really notice a difference in the breaking distance, too. I feel confident in traffic and sudden stops. That was something I gave up on with my last set of Goodyears. When driving "spiritedly" the Yokos have kept to the road instead of any lose feeling I've gotten with a previous brand. The tread life has been incredible. I expect I'll get very close to 50,000mi out of them- a distance I haven't had from tires in at least my last two tire purchases over 6yrs. I would definitely recommend Yokohama AVID Envigors to any small car owner. I'm thinking of replacing my Benz with a newer Volvo S40 and will definitely put the Yokos on that car when its time.

Initial Review, 12,000 Miles on Tires
December 29, 2012

The winter performance of these tires is embarassing. With 12k miles I am struggling to keep the car on the road, while other small front wheel drive cars with oem tires pass me. Traction/Stability control kicking on and off in light snow, straight line stability does not inspire confidence, can feel the rear end drifting.

Looks like I have to buy some Conti Dedicated Winters again, never had any luck with Yoko's.

Initial Review, 3,000 Miles on Tires
January 21, 2013

Replaced a set of Nexen Roadian tires that were too aggressive and hammered mileage (18-20 mpg). Even in 20-30 mph headwind got 22-23 mpg in rain. Wet traction is not as good as expected as I have 'worn out' several sets of Yokohama tires on various vehicles and never doubted grip. These tires are quiet and not harsh on rough pavement like many LRR tires are, and Texas panhandle snow has not kept me from going places, but they don't seem to stick like past tires. That said, dry traction is not a problem and 90% of my driving is on dry roads. I bought these tires because of the Blue Earth technology and past experience with Yokohama. They are made in USA too!

Initial Review, 30,000 Miles on Tires
June 11, 2009

These tires are very good. Tread life is holding up well.

Initial Review, 25,000 Miles on Tires
January 03, 2013

Tires are round and do not shake the car, but the ride is a little rough. The noise is absolutely terrible. If you have a Honda, do not buy these, as Honda's transfer a lot of road noise to begin with.

Initial Review, 2,000 Miles on Tires
December 31, 2012

I purchased in the fall to replace old Pirellis, which were very good tires. Since I'm in north east Indiana I waited for some snow to fall before rating these Avids. I'm delighted with this tire so far. They ride very nicely, no road noise that I discern. They perform well in both snow and rain. I think this tire purchase was great bang for the buck!

Initial Review, 1,600 Miles on Tires
December 31, 2012

OEM tire on the 2013 Subaru Impreza with only 1600 miles on them and I'm already replacing them. Although the low mileage, these tires have seen it all in those miles. The wife and I drove up to Tahoe/Truckee for Christmas with her parents, during a snow storm no less and also have just returned from a long trip to SoCal after a visit with my parents. Being that these tires are new and on a AWD vehicle the traction in rain, heavy snow, and dry conditions have been decent and I accredit that to the AWD system mainly. The biggest and the most unacceptable quality of these tires is the noise. My ears are still ringing as I write this review. After 5 hours in the car with these tires I got on Tirerack.com and ordered new tires(Kumho Ecsta 4X)....as well as new wheels;)

For the price, I wouldn't recommend these tires...especially if you want to save your hearing.

Initial Review, 14,000 Miles on Tires
December 26, 2012

Well balanced all around tire which I was so glad to pick. As soon as the vehicle has worn this tire, the ride became softer and smoother, and best of all; the vehicle turned out very quiet regardless of any road surface. I must confess that I did not realize how much road noise was pronounced until I replaced old Yoko to this Michelin. Now, I neither raise my voice up to communicate with the person who sits next to me nor crank the volume up to listen to my favorite music. Both dry and wet traction are just adequate to put my foot down comfortably – even under the torrential downpour in TX, or 2-4 inches of fresh snow in OK, whereas the vehicle feels lighter for acceleration and gets easier to maintain its speed.

Sure, some people might feel scary due to the coasting nature of low road resistance tire; but, hey, this is definitely not one of the Ultra High Performance All-Season tires. So, let’s face it. We cannot have a great mileage and highest grip at the same time. There should be a tradeoff and we must understand the name of the game in the first place. Thus, if you are looking for a tire which allows you to do maximum attack on each and every corner, there are bunch of great tire out there. Instead, if you are looking for a moderate, well balanced tire with the great mileage as a bonus, please try one of these and I believe you will not be disappointed.

FYI, here are some additional numbers from our recent cross-country trip.
35.2mpg (from Albuquerque to Amarillo; 325.5miles/9.25gal)
35.5mpg (from Amarillo to Oklahoma City; 258.6miles/7.28gal)
The vehicle having 5MT carried two adults with full load of cargo. All we did was topped off Shell regular gasoline, set the cruise control at 60mph (in another word, the engine rev was kept at 2,500rpm), and enjoyed the view during the road trip. As I am not a Mileage expert, in a similar condition, my previous tire Yokohama Avid H4S gave me barely up to 31mpg. Not a bad choice to improve fuel efficiency about 13%!

Initial Review, 46,000 Miles on Tires
December 30, 2012

The Yokohama Avid TRZ is a very good tire--excellent in fact for traction and longevity. My only complaint is that it is a bit noisy. I installed the tires in Dec. 2009 at 61,000 miles. I rotated them at 83,000 and 93,000 miles, and just replaced them in Dec. 2012 (with Yokohama Avid Ascends) at 108,000 miles. Got 47,000 miles out of them and they were just hitting the wear bars. Not bad considering I got only 25,000 miles out of the factory tires and 35,000 miles out of the 2nd set, Goodrich T/A's. If the Avid Ascends are anything like the Avid TRZs (which I think they will be), I will be happy.

Initial Review, 58,000 Miles on Tires
January 02, 2013

Very happy with wear, have rotated every 5,000 miles, checked balance every 10,000 and also maintained air pressure at 35 psi. Found performance in rain and snow alike very good, and provide a quiet ride overall. Tires are just at wear bars and I am shopping for another set.