Yokohama Tires for Pagodas? - Quandry...

[Bonnyboy]

I am in a quandry.  I won a contest with Yokohama for tires but the fancy tires that I won won't fit my car - 14" is not on their catalogue for the fancy tires I won.  Considering that I don't want any 40 series tires on my car I am going to try to negotiate a different tire.  I checked our site and it appears that tires with a stiff sidewall in a 195-75-14 should work fine.    My questions before I start the negotiation process are as follows:

Has anyone put Yokos on their 113 and how did they handle. If yes what model tire.
Do I need extra stiff sidewalls?  Would 6 ply light truck tires be overkill?
Considering that the original tires had inner tubes and 4 rayon cords would any higher performance touring tire be fine for my car.  I don't expect to be subjecting my baby to high lateral forces  like Uhlenhaut but you never know what happens when I actually get her on the road. It may be fun.

And no I haven't driven my car or any 113 for that matter so I don't what to expect but free tires are free tires that will last a year in my attic until I get her on the road....or should I just sell the low profile high performance racing type tires to my Boss for his porsche and put the $$ towards a new fuel pump which I'm sure I'll need.

Ian in North Vancouver
69 Euro not running since 1993 yet to arrive in my garage

 

[69280sl]

My two cents.
Sell the prize tires if that is an option. Apply the money to what you want, when you want it.

Gus

[Raymond]

I've had a set of Yokohama Avid A4s in 205-70-14 on my Pagoda since 2003.  I only have 10 or 11 thousand miles on them and will replace them for age within the year. 

As for handling, remember that my tread design is 8 years old an they may not make this tire anymore.  That said, wet weather handling is superior.  Tires are good at pumping water out.  Dry performance is quite good, but not as sticky as other tires I've had on other cars.  As our cars suffer from understeer (push), that may be less the tire's fault than the car.  On curvy roads through the mountains, they are predictable, comfortable, quiet and fun.  Straight line braking is good.  You could do much worse than Yokohama. 

[MichaelB.]

Yes, I have had good luck with Yokohama too, for many years. I have reproduction Phoenix white walls on my 113 but every other car I own has had Yokohama's on them at one time / or currently.

[Khurram Darugar]

Im 69280sl with, you might even have a few $ left for some fuel!

[Shvegel]

I too had Yokohama Avids on my car. I drove them very hard and although the rear would "Waggle" a bit when it regained traction I didn't mind.  It became an indicator of when I could get back on the gas.

[Bonnyboy]

Thanks all for the comments - I ended up getting 5 of the Avid series tires for free and they are installed waiting to go on my car when it will will go and stop when desired.   I look forward to seeing if the newer rubber will indeed "waggle".

Ian

[J. Huber]

Just out of curiosity, of those of you who had Yokohamas, what do you now have? I am like Raymond in that I should probably replace my Michelin's due to age. (only about 12K on them but 2003s)...

[m300cab]

my vote
sell the tires!
buy a euro brand, I've had great luck with dunlop and perelli
or
get the pump!

[zoegrlh]

Buy Vredestestein Sprint.  These are by far the best riding tire and are true to the original specs of the Phoenix.  These have the and original tread pattern plus curb bump too.  Do a search, for Tires, you will see my write-up of the research I do on Vredestestein.  Only come in blackwall.
Bob

[Bonnyboy]

As I noted previously - the tires were free - I have them installed and will wear them out and as I do that I will let you know how I like them - once I get the car on the road.  I can't justify getting $.20 on the dollar selling brand new tires just so I can buy another tire that may or may not be any better than what I have.    I may look for 5 Vredsteins once these ones are thoroughly worn out.

Ian
 

[Bonnyboy]

OK - as promissed I am now reporting on the Yokohama tires I put on my car.  My experience after burning through 4 tanks of gas is as follows:

WOW,  I love these things - they stick on the highway way beyond my driving capability and work great in the rain (yes I finally broke down and drove my car in the rain on the highway at sustained speed for at least 25 minutes).   

I would purchase another set and the moment that did it for me was getting a bit too fast into a corner coming down one of the local mountains and I encountered a bit of gravel and slid out of my lane heading for a concrete barrier but as I slid into the oncoming lane the tires found bare pavement and gripped and hauled me right back into my lane. 

Now, I don't really know how much was Uhlenhaut's magic and how much was the new rubber but whatever the formula I'm a believer.
 

[mdsalemi]

May I make a suggestion?

When discussing or offering up tires as part of a discussion, at this point in time it is absolutely imperative to not just say the make (Yokohama, for instance) or the model (Avid) for instance, but also the sub model and specific size.  Why?  Well, the USA's leading [mail order] tire dealer, Tire Rack, offers up 14 different Yokohama tires with the name Avid, everything from ultra-high performance, to a variety of rather pedestrian all-season varieties.  Of course they aren't all available in all sizes, thus size is quite important as well.  A link to where you found or researched the tires is very helpful, too.

There is also a prevalence of "private label" tires, which might be for example, a specific make and model of tire which is only available at a certain retailer.  This past summer, I saw a tire display at a Honda dealer; the purpose of the display was to convince the Honda owner to buy their tires at the Honda dealer, for [seemingly the] same tires available at national tire chains (umm...Tire Rack??) were not exactly the same tires.  They actually had some kind of pressure testing devices where you could see/touch and feel the differences in tires which was supposed to convince you to get your tires from Honda, as these "true tires" designed for their car were not available anywhere else...despite the identical name and size on the sidewall!

With this complete information, I can see that the Yokohama Avid A4 cited by Raymond in the 205/70-14 size are no longer available.  In fact, there doesn't seem to be any Yokohama brand tires from Tire Rack in that size.  In BonnyBoy's early post in this thread, he mentioned 195/75-14.  I don't see any Avids in that size, the only tire is a Yokohama Y356 LT (light truck) tire.

[Bonnyboy]

Good Points Michael. 

All the details of my tires are as follows:
AVID TRZ, 195-70-14 90T,  Tubeless M+S, S316, D7970L3  Made in USA for Canada and USA,  DOT CCVF 8120160-000

When I was researching the Yokohama tires at the local tire dealer (in North Vancouver Canada)  there were only three Yokohama tires available in the size I wanted - one light truck tire and two AVID series - Touring and TRZ (higher performance).  I chose the AVID TRZ which doesn't seem to be available in my size anymore when searching the Yokohama site by size.

I like to buy local as much as possible so don't do much online shopping - I like to look at the guys I'm gonna buy stuff from hence most of my parts are from either the "20 blocks away" Mercedes Dealer or the "25 minutes away" BMV Autoparts shop.  Tire shop is "6 blocks" away so that is where I go. I may pay more but hopefully it will help keep the store in business.  Its also nice to run into the vendors at car shows, Christmas tree lightings, supermarkets or even at church.  Up here in Canada we sometimes don't get very much options so choices come down to what is available from the vendor you deal with. 
 

[Russell]

How refreshing. Good for you. Good for them too.

[Raymond]

That post I made about the Yokohama A4s was in June 2011.  A month later, while driving through the mountains of West Virginia enroute to PUB, the left front suffered a belt separation.  The Avids were 8 years old even though they were low mileage.  Because of that, I had planned to replace them after returning from Blacklick.   I limped into nearby Clarksburg where I bought a set of Cooper 205/70-14 whitewalls.  The date code on the "new" set was almost 2 years old.  They look great and are also discontinued.  Having driven these a bit now, that is a good thing.  The Avids were GREAT performace tires while they lasted.  The Coopers are good for viewing.

I would have chosen a set of Goodrich Traction T/As.  Although the Bridgestone Potenza RE960s on the Bimmer are great.

The choices for our favorite sizes will continue to dwindle as newer cars are built for 17-inch and larger rims, and with sidewall ratios of 60 or 50. 

[mdsalemi]

Ian: most commendable, your "buying local".  I try the same; it isn't always the lowest price that is best.  Be aware, however, that the "mail order" Tire Rack "partners" with local independents all over the USA for installation, and you can ship the tire there, and still keep friendly relations--and business--with small independents who you know and trust.  I know that Canadian Tire stores, are owned and operated by local business people in a franchise, so going there isn't so bad if they have one near you.

As this thread basically states by default, don't blink your eyes because the tire selection is changing...