Yokohama S Drive

make: Toyota Starlet 1.3 primo 16V 1998. Driving style: Rather medium to fast. Driving Roads: Highways but also bad country roads. First tire 1998-2003: michelin 175/60/13 did not last though soft. second tire: Michelin energy saver plus: liitle better but sides also soft. change to 185/55R14 with s.drive.I found my health. Reasons: a) My starlet is all mechanichal (No hydraylic steering, no ABS,no TCS). This tire helped me cause has the tension to oversteer if the turn angle begins to close a liitle bit further. b) Feeling the steering wheel and the tires enough simultaneously (at dry and wet also) is something i like. I want to feel the car not the automatic controls at any speed.The comfort is something i had to forget cause of Cayaba's front and rear, but i had confidence in open angle turns with high speed. This tire though is really great at summer not the winter times. After 2 years it start slippping and spinning at glassy roads though it is hard stuff but i have a heavy foot too.going to the country with open windows i liked the tire sound couse i heard the little stones going through the tire lines and sometimes i stopped and cleared them before the highway. i rebought 2011-2016 and 2016-2021. 4.5 to 5 years 15000km a year approximatly. One mysterious phenomenon. Although the valves were good and Rims were good, the tire Sides after 4.5 years (Greece-too hot country) the tire loosing air from the Rim sticking (is tubeless remember), so i oblidged to change them. The great disadvantage is the snow. Although you can drive them at snow if you are an artist of driving theese does not stop at all if braking at snow. but they had the tollerance at ice not to crack also at hard roads and hard parking......i liked them but i feel they are too expensive now.

When I purchased my 2014 Swift Sport it had mismatched tyres front and rear (Falken on the front and Continentals on the rear) and in the summer months it felt OK, but quickly began to feel a bit too unsure in the wetter months. In early 2018 I changed to the S.Drives all round and quickly noticed an improvement in the handling, particularly in front end bite. With an electric steering set-up the car isn't exactly buzzing with feedback, but you felt the confidence to lean more on the fronts during turn-in. Rear end stability is much improved, and now it's only really standing water or uneven surfaces that cause the back to skip slightly. Even so, when it does, the S.Drive feels a really progressive tyre. Wear appears to be pretty good, the last 2,000 miles has seen a change in commute to a couple of B roads and I do lean on the car quite a bit. So to see decent tread depth still and little sign of edge wearing is a positive. Overall, I'd definitely buy these again rather than pay more for the Continental option.