Ariel.Club Forum

Yoko A052's...they are in a league of their own, at least on the Atom 4. The only negative thing is...you will not want any other tire again on your Atom after you had a set of A052's. They give reasonable grip from the start, remarkably more the the ZZR. ZZR feels like driving on ice first few hundred meters when starting from cold. People who say A052 are only good for track is nonsense, as they are much safer tire on public roads as well. ZZR's however are a great tire if you like to drive sideways. Keep us posted please!

Thanks for the replies, looks like A052's are worth a try at least ...

I live in a colder part of the UK and don't do anything special for the tyres (albeit the car lives in an outdoor cover in a non-heated barn, temp dropped to just over freezing this winter). A few people have said to me that the big problem with the 888Rs is getting heat into them but I haven't struggled with this, even on fairly cold days. On a fairly cold track day (approx 4c/39F at Croft) it took a couple of laps but we got there and I'm not driving so aggressively on the road that it has been an issue.

It gets pretty cold where I am but the car gets put away for the off season. Generally I buy 4 rears in a go (cheaper) then store a set from anywhere up to about 8 months off the car in regular cellar without issues. I don’t know how long tires generally last for but judging by the amount that get dumped in land fills and seem to be around for ever, I don’t think you’ll have any problems

Just in case you need another vote for the A052’s it looks like they maybe standard fit on the 4R!?

So guys, I assume some of you live in "colder" climates and might not have heated garages, so I wanna ask this tire related question.
Do you guys do anything over the winter to keep your tires from getting too cold? Wrap them? Park on wood?

Here in the PNW of the US where I am, we had a week this winter of temps below 0C, where my garage was probably 10C or so. As such, I've put off getting new tires until the temps break in the next month or so.

Am I just being silly?

I really like the A052's on my Atom 3 - They are pretty grippy in most conditions and let go very progressively when at their limit, the only slight annoyance is fairly rapid wear, but they are not too bad. Factor in replacing the rears twice to a pair of fronts and they are pretty good all round.
The only others I tried were my cars original Yokohama Advan AD08's, but they are not in the same league as the A052's and worse in every respect apart from longevity IMHO.

I've done some research, and the kumho v730 is highly rated. Anyone know anything about them? (Plus they come in the right sizes for my 3S).

I have the same use and I was totally surprised by the endless grip of the a052’s compared to the zzr I had on the previous car. Even when cold the front axcle has grip always. I went through one set of rears in 4000km incl 5 trackdays.

Also keep an eye out for the nankang cr-s, they look exactly like the a052 and should perform about the same (they position them above the ar1 which in the dry is allready almost the same performance on track)

When I bought my 2020 A4 last year it came with lightly used 888Rs. Apart from the journey home from picking it up (first time driving it ... in sleet and snow!) they have proven excellent for both road and track. But after 2500 miles last year they are now completely shot.

The obvious and default thing to do is replace them like for like but I hear lots of people say good things about Yamaha AO52s. And there are other just-about-road-legal semi slicks to choose from.

What do people suggest for a mix of 85% road and 15% track driving? Road is pretty much always dry or nearly dry ... although living in the English/Scottish borders you can never be 100% sure when you start on a dry day that it will stay that way!

I don't want to trailer the car to track days so slicks aren't an option but getting another set of wheels and having a set of track day tyres and a set of road tyres is if it's better not to compromise. I've run my Impreza like this for years albeit with winter and summer tyres rather than track and road ... it's initially expensive but pays off in the long run IMO.

All recommendations and suggestions welcome.

TIA