Yokohama Avid-s Vs. Bf Goodrich Traction T/a

[amcdonal86]

Hey guys,

I'm looking to buy some tires in the next two weeks or so. I found the Yoko Avid S for $403 installed, and the BF Goodrich Traction T/A for about $430 installed.

Which would be better for the LS400, and are there any other tire recommendations you might have in this price range? (These tires are probably both light years better than the Dunlop Sport 4000s that I have right now.)

[EDIT]I'm also considering the Goodyear Eagle Assurance ComforTred. Anyone have any experience with those?

[Threadcutter]

Hey guys,

I'm looking to buy some tires in the next two weeks or so. I found the Yoko Avid S for $403 installed, and the BF Goodrich Traction T/A for about $430 installed.

Which would be better for the LS400, and are there any other tire recommendations you might have in this price range? (These tires are probably both light years better than the Dunlop Sport 4000s that I have right now.)

amc;

I've got a '95 and @ 155K I put on a set Yoko Avid Tourings. It now has 247K, the Avids are still on there and there is still useable tread, in fact quite a bit. I pinch myself when I think about how long these have lasted. They are noisier than Michelins, but not by much. I do a lot of freeway driving and they have been just fine for that. Would I do it again? Yes, probably. The only reason I don't go ga ga with a response is that my benchmark is Michelin and the fact that they are so quiet. Flip side is the Michelins are much more expensive and don't have the life. How would I characterize my experience with the Yoko's? I've been quite pleased.

[amcdonal86]

Hey guys,

I'm looking to buy some tires in the next two weeks or so. I found the Yoko Avid S for $403 installed, and the BF Goodrich Traction T/A for about $430 installed.

Which would be better for the LS400, and are there any other tire recommendations you might have in this price range? (These tires are probably both light years better than the Dunlop Sport 4000s that I have right now.)

amc;

I've got a '95 and @ 155K I put on a set Yoko Avid Tourings. It now has 247K, the Avids are still on there and there is still useable tread, in fact quite a bit. I pinch myself when I think about how long these have lasted. They are noisier than Michelins, but not by much. I do a lot of freeway driving and they have been just fine for that. Would I do it again? Yes, probably. The only reason I don't go ga ga with a response is that my benchmark is Michelin and the fact that they are so quiet. Flip side is the Michelins are much more expensive and don't have the life. How would I characterize my experience with the Yoko's? I've been quite pleased.

Thanks for that info!

Do you think that they're quieter than my completely worn bald Dunlop SP Sport 4000 A/S tires?

[Threadcutter]

Hey guys,

I'm looking to buy some tires in the next two weeks or so. I found the Yoko Avid S for $403 installed, and the BF Goodrich Traction T/A for about $430 installed.

Which would be better for the LS400, and are there any other tire recommendations you might have in this price range? (These tires are probably both light years better than the Dunlop Sport 4000s that I have right now.)

amc;

I've got a '95 and @ 155K I put on a set Yoko Avid Tourings. It now has 247K, the Avids are still on there and there is still useable tread, in fact quite a bit. I pinch myself when I think about how long these have lasted. They are noisier than Michelins, but not by much. I do a lot of freeway driving and they have been just fine for that. Would I do it again? Yes, probably. The only reason I don't go ga ga with a response is that my benchmark is Michelin and the fact that they are so quiet. Flip side is the Michelins are much more expensive and don't have the life. How would I characterize my experience with the Yoko's? I've been quite pleased.

Thanks for that info!

Do you think that they're quieter than my completely worn bald Dunlop SP Sport 4000 A/S tires?

a;

Most Likely!.........That bad huh?

[amcdonal86]

Hey guys,

I'm looking to buy some tires in the next two weeks or so. I found the Yoko Avid S for $403 installed, and the BF Goodrich Traction T/A for about $430 installed.

Which would be better for the LS400, and are there any other tire recommendations you might have in this price range? (These tires are probably both light years better than the Dunlop Sport 4000s that I have right now.)

amc;

I've got a '95 and @ 155K I put on a set Yoko Avid Tourings. It now has 247K, the Avids are still on there and there is still useable tread, in fact quite a bit. I pinch myself when I think about how long these have lasted. They are noisier than Michelins, but not by much. I do a lot of freeway driving and they have been just fine for that. Would I do it again? Yes, probably. The only reason I don't go ga ga with a response is that my benchmark is Michelin and the fact that they are so quiet. Flip side is the Michelins are much more expensive and don't have the life. How would I characterize my experience with the Yoko's? I've been quite pleased.

Thanks for that info!

Do you think that they're quieter than my completely worn bald Dunlop SP Sport 4000 A/S tires?

a;

Most Likely!.........That bad huh?

Haha, well they're bald on the edges (probably from a previous bad alignment) but I got an alignment done a couple months ago and it's time to buy new tires! (2mm of tread left!)

[blake918]

I had Traction TAs on my former '95 LS, and I loved them. I found them better than the over-rated Michelin MXV4 tires I drove on for something like 50,000 miles. The BFGs were just as quiet and smooth as the Michelins, but the BFGs had vastly superior wet traction and were much cheaper, of course. When I sold the car, the tires had 45,000 miles on them, and they still looked like new. I'll probably buy them again when my current LS needs tires.

[amcdonal86]

I had Traction TAs on my former '95 LS, and I loved them. I found them better than the over-rated Michelin MXV4 tires I drove on for something like 50,000 miles. The BFGs were just as quiet and smooth as the Michelins, but the BFGs had vastly superior wet traction and were much cheaper, of course. When I sold the car, the tires had 45,000 miles on them, and they still looked like new. I'll probably buy them again when my current LS needs tires.

To be honest, I have had some experience with the BF Goodrich Traction T/As. My brother's 626 had them, which I drove for maybe a total of 1000 miles. Unfortunately, after 3 years, they were dryrotted. The cost of the prorated replacement was more than we could get them new at Costco, so they were replaced.

The "quietness" of the tire didn't jump out at me, but the 626 is a fairly crude car so I probably wouldn't have even noticed any road noise (or lack thereof) to begin with. Your opinion takes great credence with me and the fact that you say the BF Goodrich Traction T/As are as quiet as the MXV4s (having had extensive experience with both) makes me want to try those tires out on my LS400!

If only I could find them cheaper than $100 a piece. [EDIT]DiscountTireDirect.com has them for $376 with free shipping. They are H-speed rated, though, but I don't think I'll be driving more than 90 miles per hour on these tires (at least not on purpose!), much less 130!

[amcdonal86]

By the way, Blake, which Traction T/As did you get? There are so many versions.

[blake918]

The "quietness" of the tire didn't jump out at me, but the 626 is a fairly crude car so I probably wouldn't have even noticed any road noise (or lack thereof) to begin with. Your opinion takes great credence with me and the fact that you say the BF Goodrich Traction T/As are as quiet as the MXV4s (having had extensive experience with both) makes me want to try those tires out on my LS400!

If only I could find them cheaper than $100 a piece. [EDIT]DiscountTireDirect.com has them for $376 with free shipping. They are H-speed rated, though, but I don't think I'll be driving more than 90 miles per hour on these tires (at least not on purpose!).

I think you bring up a good point about how refined the LS is. It seems that traction is what differentiates between the tires since I've yet to have a set that didn't ride smoothly and quietly. I never compared the sound readings with a decibel meter, but to my ear, I couldn't hear any difference between the Michelins and the BFGs. My '99 LS came with Uniroyal Tiger Paw tires (the receipt in the glove box showed they were $95/each...jeez). I was a little surprised to see them on the car, but they ride smoothly and quietly. They don't have very much traction though (it seems most noticeable on dry pavement); it doesn't take much to get vsc to kick in.

The Traction TAs I had were only good for 118mph (what is that T?). Some posters were saying that the car wouldn't handle the same, ride the same, etc. It handled and rode the exact same. I chose the lower speed rating since the treadwear rating was higher than the other speed ratings, but it still had the same load rating as the other speed ratings (I would have never considered them if they were a safety risk). I'm not sure which exact ones I had; I didn't know some were different from others (aside from the dimensions or speed ratings). I'd guess these are the ones I had (I wish they were $83 when I bought them though! I think I paid $90 or $95.): http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?ti...;speed_rating=T

[amcdonal86]

Thanks for the extra info, Blake!

http://www.discounttiredirect.com/direct/f...alse&cs=225

Looks like they can be had for $88 each, shipped, so that's about $352 for the set, and factor in $65 for mounting and Hunter Road Force balancing at Merchant's, and it comes in at just over $415.

I wonder how they compare to the Yokohama Avid Touring-S, though. I see lots of customer reviews proclaiming that the Yokohama Avid Touring-S is a quite tire, but I haven't really seen many from BF Goodrich Traction T/A users saying the same thing.

Road noise is hard to quantify without a decibel meter. Whenever I'm in the car and I think I'm hearing a lot of road noise, I talk to myself--I'm always surprised at how loud my voice sounds in relation to the road noise!

[amcdonal86]

Argh... so difficult to decide.

Anyone else have an opinion? I'm trying to order tonight!

[amcdonal86]

Okay! In my haste, I decided to get the S speed rated Yokohama Avid Touring S tires. Sorry Blake! :)

I will let you know what I think about them!

[amcdonal86]

Well, I got the Yoko Avid Touring S tires today. They are fantastic! I've had some time driving it around on wet local roads, and also some time driving it on moist highway (enough to cause a little spray).

Even with the spray on the highway, these tires are much quieter than what I'm used to with the Dunlop SP Sport 4000 A/S tires.

They do feel a little bit softer, but they handle very well. You turn the wheel, and it goes! Accelerating from a stop on wet pavement is okay--better than my bald Dunlops, but it's still difficult to get going on certain tight right turns from a stop sign. However, I expect this to improve as the tires get broken in (I'm not sure, but the stickers may have been left on the tires, causing this issue).

Braking is fantastic in the rain. Where my Dunlops would have already engaged the ABS, the Avids were gripping the pavement like mad!

Conclusion: I have never tried the MXV4 Primacy, but people say that these Yoko Avids are Michelins for half the price. And from what I've experienced so far, there is no reason to dispute that. If you're thinking about getting the MXV4 but don't want to pay top dollar, give these Yoko Avid Touring S tires a try. I don't think you'll be disappointed!