Need Tire Advise from those who've tried and compared/ yoko a048 vs ad07

[chris22104]

Width/wear/rain. I need to order 4 new tires for an 08 roadster, today. I know the a048's are softer than the ad07's, and grab better on dry roads. Not so good in the rain, right? Any one drive on them in the rain? If so, how bad are they? But I like the idea of having the wider 195's on the front (with the a048) as opposed to the narrower 175's (with the ad07.) For those of you that have used the softer a048, with a wear rating of only 60, how many miles are/did you get out of them? Is tire rack the most reasonably priced place to buy?
Thanks for your advice guys!
Chris

[Jaff]

Yes, I'd like to hear some experience reports from those with the A048's with respect to wet weather performance as well.

I use my Roadster as a daily driver...I put snow tires on in the winter, but have taken a conservative approach to driving the rest of the year with the AD07's...I'd like to move up to the A048's though...

[Doug_G]

I've got myself a second set of rims with A048 for autocross etc. Once the weather improves I'll be able to give you a pretty much back-to-back comparison.

[Jaff]

Sounds good...thanks Doug!

[ggr]

I started with AD048s. San Diego doesn't have much wet, but they handled it fine. My big problem with them (beside the cost) was noise... I was shocked at the difference when I replaced the rears with something else (Michelins) at about 4.5k. I replaced all four with Kumho's (don't do that) at about 13k, but was again surprised just how much road noise the old fronts had contributed.

[Jaff]

Thanks for the reply ggr...other than the noise, how did you find the wet weather performance (in the few times you experienced it) versus the Michelins?

Were the Michelins you put on closer (in performance) to the AD07's or the stickier A048's?

The noise doesn't really bother me too much as I usually have the music on (and the lid off when the weather permits)...

[Doug_G]

I have driven once with A048's, and I'll second the motion on noise. They're loud.

[chris22104]

The a048's are actually cheaper than the ad07's on tirerack.com. Thanks for the input on the noise factor. But what about tread wear ggr? How many miles did you get out of them? (for comparison purposes.)

[smorgasbord]

As discussed in the 2.5 Tire Thread, there are also AD08's available for the rear. $100 cheaper per tire, 1lb lighter than AD07s, and a better compound (supposedly). Still have to run AD07s on the front, though.

[Doug_G]

As discussed in the 2.5 Tire Thread, there are also AD08's available for the rear. $100 cheaper per tire, 1lb lighter than AD07s, and a better compound (supposedly). Still have to run AD07s on the front, though.

I know a guy who is running his Elise that way, and he says it works just fine.