Which summer tire.

[AMontgomery]

I've been daily driving and occasional autocrossing on AD08Rs, they hum on the freeway and get louder as you wear them down.
When new their dry and wet grip is fantastic! It's noticeably less grippy as you wear them down and heat cycle them through.
Wouldn't say they are terrible, but having experienced them when new, they are certainly not the same with some age.

Sorry for the delay in response.

Are they worse than the stock Potenzas after they wear down? Primarily speaking grip. And what kind of life have you gotten? Close to stock?

Grip is my primary concern, life is secondary.

 

[lukits01]

Sorry for the delay in response.

Are they worse than the stock Potenzas after they wear down? Primarily speaking grip. And what kind of life have you gotten? Close to stock?

Grip is my primary concern, life is secondary.

The stock tires sidewalls are just too soft for track work imo.
My AD08Rs are are at the end of their life now and they are still better on the track than the new Potenzas.
I got about 10000 Miles with a track session every month or so.
Who knows how the stock tires would do with abuse, you'd probably kill the sidewalls before the tread.

 

[AMontgomery]

Are you running the same pressures as you would on the stock Potenzas given the change in sidewall?

 

[lukits01]

Are you running the same pressures as you would on the stock Potenzas given the change in sidewall?

definitely not, it's a completely different tire design, no reason for them to behave the same.

edit:
unless you're talking about pressures on the street, then yes, I keep it roughly same ballpark figure.

 

[GAbOS]

I have 225/45 r16 Dunlop Star's on my BMW and love them. I would go with the 215/40 r17 option if I stay 17" on the Fiesta.

Real world usage note of the DII's. I curbed the BMW hard, breaking a wheel and taking a good chunk of rubber out of the sidewall and it still held air.

 

[AMontgomery]

Ended up going with a 215/40R17 Advan Neova AD08R. I'm liking them so far. It's about as wide as I could see fitting on the stock rims. They feel great so far but I haven't pushed them hard yet.

 

[STandGT]

^^^ Damn you AM those look badass! Now i am looking them up on tire rack lol

Keep us posted on how they work out for you.

 

[AMontgomery]

So far I'm extremely impressed. Traction is almost excessive as I can't get so much as a bark out of them in straight line acceleration (outside of dropping the clutch with no LC engaged and I never do that). 1st to 2nd doesn't so much as chirp in straight acceleration regardless of I'm using FFS or not. I'm only stage 1 at the moment so maybe that will change with more mods.

In the turns the limit seems to be a good deal higher, though it's hard to tell as I haven't been able to really push it outside of taking a few street corners very quickly. I'll get to run down one of my favorite roads this weekend, after which I'll give a more thorough review.

My initial thoughts are as follows:

I'm impressed with the grip despite the higher treadwear rating (180 on the Neova vs 140 on the Potenzas) though I can't tell what can be attributed to the additional width of the 215 vs 205 of stock.

Maybe not quite as fun as stock because the limit is so high as to be scary trying to perform the same tail happy antics that we love in the stock car. But taking slow curves fast completely settled and composed is a good trade off in my book.

The only downside I've found so far is the weight at more that 2 lbs heavier than stock per tire, but I am also one size larger so that accounts for some of it. They are thicker as well. Which I hope will mean slightly longer life than the stock Potenzas, if only a few thousand miles more.

Cost was high, but not unreasonable at around $170-180 before shipping per tire compared to Direzzas at $150-160 per tire. Right now, with 500 miles on them, I'd give them a solid recommendation, but I'll know more after this weekend once I get to push it a little bit.

 

[praecurvo]

Ended up going with a 215/40R17 Advan Neova AD08R. I'm liking them so far. It's about as wide as I could see fitting on the stock rims. They feel great so far but I haven't pushed them hard yet.

Can you post some profile (side) pics please with your follow up review?

 

[AMontgomery]

Sure thing. I'll snap a few.

I'm planning on making a separate thread and linking it here. Figure it'll be Saturday afternoon or Sunday sometime.

 

[GAbOS]

That's the perfect "meaty" look on a stock wheel... wow.

How's the stiffness of the ride compared/stiffer sidewalls?

 

[AMontgomery]

It's definitely more communicative with the road surface but that is to be expected. The car is pretty harsh in stock form so I'm not sure if it rides any worse now. I can just feel the differences in surface texture and the instances when the car's native driver aids kick in, TVC is very noticeable coming out of a mid speed corner at full throttle, almost a shutter through the steering wheel now, where before it was much harder to detect. But from a performance standpoint that's a good thing. Though it definitely lets you know the car lacks a true LSD.

Turn in takes a bit more effort now, though it's hard to quantify. But grip is better at all points through the turn so it's a good trade off.