Yokohama Advan A052 Review | A052 vs RE71R
05-31-2019, 03:41 PM
#31
First hand experience - on the track they're not wearing any more than the RE71R did. Actually the RE was worse because if you overheated it at all tread started to disappear. Also if your car isn't balanced correctly and/or your steering input is not great they get really bad taper wear on the center rib.
The shoulder of the A052 tends to drop away pretty fast, but I am not sure how much useable rubber is on that block.
The shoulder of the A052 tends to drop away pretty fast, but I am not sure how much useable rubber is on that block.
06-01-2019, 01:26 AM
#32
First hand experience - on the track they're not wearing any more than the RE71R did. Actually the RE was worse because if you overheated it at all tread started to disappear. Also if your car isn't balanced correctly and/or your steering input is not great they get really bad taper wear on the center rib.
The shoulder of the A052 tends to drop away pretty fast, but I am not sure how much useable rubber is on that block.
The shoulder of the A052 tends to drop away pretty fast, but I am not sure how much useable rubber is on that block.
Would more static camber protect the shoulder better? Being able to crank in huge amounts of negative camber with offset balljoint/RCA blocks is an S2k feature.
On another note, the A052 comes in a 245/45-16 size that should fit OEM AP1 wheels. It probably has no performance disadvantage to the 245/255 AP2 C/Street autocross configuration.
The Yokohama website says they have a $100 rebate for June, nothing on TireRack though.
06-06-2019, 07:33 PM
#33
I'm just glancingly familiar with the TT3 rules...questions:
there doesn't seem to be a penalty for running R1S or A7 tires. If so, why run A052?
there doesn't seem to be a penalty for running front diffusers and the splitter looks like it can be WTAC large. Why give up the extra downforce?
there doesn't seem to be a penalty for running R1S or A7 tires. If so, why run A052?
there doesn't seem to be a penalty for running front diffusers and the splitter looks like it can be WTAC large. Why give up the extra downforce?
Are you saying why not run a bigger splitter? Because this car also runs Gridlife and GTA. They only allow 5" off the bumper. I will be adding canards.
Keep in mind you are talking about Brian 
He is one stellar driver. So that is part of the gap. But yes, the yokos are looking to be very fast. They also, from what I hear, wear WAYYYYYY faster than the RE-71R. Some already talking about having them excluded from Solo And if what I hear about wear is true, and the $30 price increase per tire over RE-71Rs, I cant say I would disagree. I asked around at spring nats and a few were saying the wear makes the stones look like all seasons 
And stones do not last very long themselves.
At spring nats there was a pretty good showing for the yokos as well. But some bridgestones mixed in the top spots. We have Whitener now in STR as well so it is part tire, but a LOT him. He is an amazingly fast driver. Evidenced by him raw timing CSP on day two by 2 seconds. It was wet in that heat so that is part of it, but CSP drivers were on H20's. So the gap was not all tire and wet for sure. Whitener is that good.
And for the record, the PSS4 apparently is one amazing rain tire too. The fast folks on day two were running them or the contis. Again, hard to tell how much was driver vs tire, but Whitener was on the PSS4. The stones were not the tire to have that day for sure .. but some of us just have one lowly set of wheels and tires to work with! Although, I have no one to blame but me even with that in mind.. I had clawed back up to 8th before last runs in the drying conditions... then botched a corner and got the car sliding super wide on my last run... still 2/10 faster but should have been much more without that dumbass mistake
He is one stellar driver. So that is part of the gap. But yes, the yokos are looking to be very fast. They also, from what I hear, wear WAYYYYYY faster than the RE-71R. Some already talking about having them excluded from Solo And if what I hear about wear is true, and the $30 price increase per tire over RE-71Rs, I cant say I would disagree. I asked around at spring nats and a few were saying the wear makes the stones look like all seasons And stones do not last very long themselves.At spring nats there was a pretty good showing for the yokos as well. But some bridgestones mixed in the top spots. We have Whitener now in STR as well so it is part tire, but a LOT him. He is an amazingly fast driver. Evidenced by him raw timing CSP on day two by 2 seconds. It was wet in that heat so that is part of it, but CSP drivers were on H20's. So the gap was not all tire and wet for sure. Whitener is that good.
And for the record, the PSS4 apparently is one amazing rain tire too. The fast folks on day two were running them or the contis. Again, hard to tell how much was driver vs tire, but Whitener was on the PSS4. The stones were not the tire to have that day for sure .. but some of us just have one lowly set of wheels and tires to work with! Although, I have no one to blame but me even with that in mind.. I had clawed back up to 8th before last runs in the drying conditions... then botched a corner and got the car sliding super wide on my last run... still 2/10 faster but should have been much more without that dumbass mistake
First hand experience - on the track they're not wearing any more than the RE71R did. Actually the RE was worse because if you overheated it at all tread started to disappear. Also if your car isn't balanced correctly and/or your steering input is not great they get really bad taper wear on the center rib.
The shoulder of the A052 tends to drop away pretty fast, but I am not sure how much useable rubber is on that block.
The shoulder of the A052 tends to drop away pretty fast, but I am not sure how much useable rubber is on that block.
06-07-2019, 07:25 AM
#34
I have the complete opposite experience. I am getting more grip throughout the session and im like 5 track days in. The RE would have heat cycled out on me in 255. Happened to me in 2017. The life on the 52 is def better. The shoulder does seem to be wearing quickly. The RE i was wearing the center rib SUPER fast.
Tire Rack did their tire testing and will publish soon, but copying one of the testers thoughts. Beware long post:
I had the opportunity to drive on the Yokohama’s in the wet and dry during our Tire Rack Extreme Performance tire test over the last few days. Many of you are aware of our test method, which includes four identical, current generation BMW’s run our asphalt (un-sealed) track. Each driver is given two laps per tire and then immediately moves to the next car. Typically, the cars have 5-10 minutes of “rest” between runs. I was the third driver out during our dry test, so the tires were up to temp and in great condition.
The times shown below are my personal times.Tire Rack will publish our official, detailed, test results within the next few weeks that represent the Top 10 averages generated by our sales staff and managers that take part in the tests. The average results may vary somewhat from my personal times, but typically the rank order ends up very similar
Dry Track Conditions = 67-70 degrees, clear skies
Test vehicle = 2017 BMW 430i Gran Coupe, stock suspension, equalized alignments
Wheels/Tires = 18x8, 245/40r18
Yoko A052
Dry
28.89
29.10
Avg. = 29.0
Wet
32.46
32.60
Avg. = 32.53
BS RE71R
Dry
29.36
29.43
Avg. = 29.4
Wet
32.40
32.65
Avg. = 32.53
BFG Rival S 1.5
Dry
29.10
29.21
Avg. = 29.16
Wet
33.13
33.67
Avg. = 33.4
Dunlop Z3 Star Spec
Dry
29.37
29.40
Avg. = 29.39
Wet
33.96
34.01
Avg. = 33.99
As Jeremy eluded to in his post, the Yokohama’s strength is excellent longitudinal grip and very consistent behavior. Forward bite was soo good, that you had to manage the power-on understeer on the BMW’s. Where the other tires would rotate on power during full-throttle cornering segments, the unloaded rear tire would stick and drive the car forward with the Yok’s. The RE71R’s continue to turn-in the best, with sharp response to initial steering inputs, the A052 was not far behind and offered a very linear feel. The excellent grip under braking also promoted a lot of driver confidence and consistent lap times seem to come easily for the A052, even as tire temps rise.
Wet grip was also a surprise, matching the RE71R on our fully wet and lightly puddled asphalt course. I thought the break away and recovery was more forgiving for the RE71R, but the A052 produced lots of grip and strong lap times. Just be ready to adjust when you step over peak grip.
Tire wear. The Dunlop offered the best wear by far of this group. The RE71R was next best as the outer rib is very durable. The center rib takes a beating, but then flattens out as the outer tread blocks wear down. The Rival S 1.5 shoulder appeared to wear a bit faster on these camber challenged cars but it held together thru our test. The A052 shows wear similar to the RE71R on its two outermost ribs. We also noted accelerated wear at the tread cap to shoulder junction. After many hot laps, this junction showed some early signs of splitting under these extreme conditions and were ready to be flipped.
My info above is merely one dudes data points and opinion of this new contender in the 200TW segment. Your results may vary
The times shown below are my personal times.Tire Rack will publish our official, detailed, test results within the next few weeks that represent the Top 10 averages generated by our sales staff and managers that take part in the tests. The average results may vary somewhat from my personal times, but typically the rank order ends up very similar
Dry Track Conditions = 67-70 degrees, clear skies
Test vehicle = 2017 BMW 430i Gran Coupe, stock suspension, equalized alignments
Wheels/Tires = 18x8, 245/40r18
Yoko A052
Dry
28.89
29.10
Avg. = 29.0
Wet
32.46
32.60
Avg. = 32.53
BS RE71R
Dry
29.36
29.43
Avg. = 29.4
Wet
32.40
32.65
Avg. = 32.53
BFG Rival S 1.5
Dry
29.10
29.21
Avg. = 29.16
Wet
33.13
33.67
Avg. = 33.4
Dunlop Z3 Star Spec
Dry
29.37
29.40
Avg. = 29.39
Wet
33.96
34.01
Avg. = 33.99
As Jeremy eluded to in his post, the Yokohama’s strength is excellent longitudinal grip and very consistent behavior. Forward bite was soo good, that you had to manage the power-on understeer on the BMW’s. Where the other tires would rotate on power during full-throttle cornering segments, the unloaded rear tire would stick and drive the car forward with the Yok’s. The RE71R’s continue to turn-in the best, with sharp response to initial steering inputs, the A052 was not far behind and offered a very linear feel. The excellent grip under braking also promoted a lot of driver confidence and consistent lap times seem to come easily for the A052, even as tire temps rise.
Wet grip was also a surprise, matching the RE71R on our fully wet and lightly puddled asphalt course. I thought the break away and recovery was more forgiving for the RE71R, but the A052 produced lots of grip and strong lap times. Just be ready to adjust when you step over peak grip.
Tire wear. The Dunlop offered the best wear by far of this group. The RE71R was next best as the outer rib is very durable. The center rib takes a beating, but then flattens out as the outer tread blocks wear down. The Rival S 1.5 shoulder appeared to wear a bit faster on these camber challenged cars but it held together thru our test. The A052 shows wear similar to the RE71R on its two outermost ribs. We also noted accelerated wear at the tread cap to shoulder junction. After many hot laps, this junction showed some early signs of splitting under these extreme conditions and were ready to be flipped.
My info above is merely one dudes data points and opinion of this new contender in the 200TW segment. Your results may vary
09-27-2019, 11:15 AM
#36
Seasonal wear rates
Thanks fro finally talking about wear rates guys!
My biggest problem with the RE71Rs is that they don't last me a season of time attack and my budget forces me to go with something like the Hankook RS4s. From my understanding of this whole thread, the Z3s are likely closest to the RS4s, then followed by the tight packing of the A052s and RE71Rs. But how close is the Z3 to the RS4s in terms of longevity?
My biggest problem with the RE71Rs is that they don't last me a season of time attack and my budget forces me to go with something like the Hankook RS4s. From my understanding of this whole thread, the Z3s are likely closest to the RS4s, then followed by the tight packing of the A052s and RE71Rs. But how close is the Z3 to the RS4s in terms of longevity?
09-27-2019, 11:24 AM
#37
Nationals clearly showed the dominance of the A052 on an autox course. No question they are better there. We were not able to get any for nats as they were backordered but here is what I have heard through others running them.
On camber limited cars (Espeically FWD) the yokes wear like hoosiers. If the outer shoulder is put under a high amount of punishment they go away fast, as in ridiculously fast. On cars with good camber adjustment where camber can be optimized, they wear much better, but I think no better than the RE-71 (maybe a bit worse). These are things typically not covered on tire rack ratings so good to know.
Doing track nights with my S2k this year and co-driving a different car for autox (ND), once I went through my brand new RE-71Rs, which took 3 track nights, I bought some Falken RT615k+'s. Those kinda suck for autox since they literally need to be sprayed every run even in cool conditions, but they only fall off a bit from peak grip after that and wear very well. That coupled with $600 per set and a $70 rebate led me to buy those for track nights. I have run one and while I was a tad slower, they do very well. They were recommended to me by a local who runs SCC class for autox (they have to run the Falkens and do not like them in that use case) and time attack, where he actually likes them.
The RS4 is pretty well accepted as great for track stuff since they have good enough grip and wear well. I only personally know one person running the Z3, but only for autox. He loves them for the price, but they are slower than the stones, BFG or yokes in that use case.
On camber limited cars (Espeically FWD) the yokes wear like hoosiers. If the outer shoulder is put under a high amount of punishment they go away fast, as in ridiculously fast. On cars with good camber adjustment where camber can be optimized, they wear much better, but I think no better than the RE-71 (maybe a bit worse). These are things typically not covered on tire rack ratings so good to know.
Doing track nights with my S2k this year and co-driving a different car for autox (ND), once I went through my brand new RE-71Rs, which took 3 track nights, I bought some Falken RT615k+'s. Those kinda suck for autox since they literally need to be sprayed every run even in cool conditions, but they only fall off a bit from peak grip after that and wear very well. That coupled with $600 per set and a $70 rebate led me to buy those for track nights. I have run one and while I was a tad slower, they do very well. They were recommended to me by a local who runs SCC class for autox (they have to run the Falkens and do not like them in that use case) and time attack, where he actually likes them.
The RS4 is pretty well accepted as great for track stuff since they have good enough grip and wear well. I only personally know one person running the Z3, but only for autox. He loves them for the price, but they are slower than the stones, BFG or yokes in that use case.
09-27-2019, 01:22 PM
#38
I'm running A052s on '11 Cayman this year. Minor mod = GT3 front control arms for -3 front camber. On only their 4th track day (1 wet and 1 dry day at Mont Tremblant, 1 day at Thompson CT, 1 day at Palmer clockwise) and ~2000 street miles, tread started blistering/delaminating at the edge. Outside edge of outside front, inside edge of inside front. I was delaying swapping them left/right because I thought I'd get at least another track weekend out of them! I got a new set because only 4 track days left in the season. In my experience the RE71Rs I've been running on the BRZ are *way* more durable. They would go bald pretty quickly but at least they didn't start coming apart!
A friend has been running them on his BRZ, experienced same phenomenon at the same time!
A friend has been running them on his BRZ, experienced same phenomenon at the same time!
09-27-2019, 01:26 PM
#39
^^ that is what I heard up front about them. People said they "grip like hoosiers.. and wear just like them too!!" lol Then others said it was not so on cars with good camber, but with -3 you should be good there. They may be the bees knees for autox and not so much for track days. The RE kinda has that problem. I am faster on them than the Falkens, but not THAT much faster that I care too much for HPDE. I guess I will just have to give up on being HPDE Champion to save some money on tires lol
09-27-2019, 02:01 PM
#40
It wasn't even the wear so much as the fact that the delamination rendered them useless even for street use. Had to take backroads home from Palmer at less than 50mph. They were great in the time trial, started coming apart during open track at end of the day. Meanwhile I'm still streeting on RE71RS on the BRZ that have something like 8 track days on them...