09-13-2014
Yokohama Advan AD08 R and new alignment specs:
I ordered a set of AD08 R's not long after they became available and they had been waiting for me to mount at Tech3 for quite a few months now, so I was extremely happy to get them mounted yesterday as well as make a few tweaks to my alignment. Big thanks to Anish who has set me up with a great price on basically every set of tires I have put on my S2000, and Sonny at Tech3 who spent a lot of time dialing everything in perfectly for me.
There is just something about this tread pattern that I have always loved. Not that it really matters, but I have always thought this was the prettiest of all the tires. Certain tires just have a much more sculpted look to them while some look designed by a machine. The AD08s just have a nice rounded shoulder to them. With the tires off the wheels, to my hands the side walls seem pretty similar in stiffness to the RE11A, but the RE11A has a much more squared off shoulder.
I had nice overall wear inside to outside on these RE11As. The rears were finished off in an act of non-violent protest against those who throw away tires before they have used up all the rubber, doing tandem donuts with my friend in his Mustang who was finishing off some ZIIs.
Front outer shoulder.
Rear outer shoulder. Time for a bit more rear camber. The results were similar on both sides of the car.
Sonny and I got the ride height dialed back to 13" (330mm) (the springs had settled about 1/4" all around) and he also marked all of my perches with a paint marker so I can easily keep an eye on things and make sure nothing gets loose. I usually make it a point whenever I remove the wheels to make sure everything is snug. We were actually able to mark them in a way that can be easily seen without removing the wheels as well.
And next up was the alignment. I was curious about the adjustability range of my front J's S1 camber joints/rca so we did a little testing. The maximum caster possible at my ride height was 7.5 and at this caster setting the camber maxed out around -3.0. The max camber possible was -3.5 with a caster of around 6.8. This will likely vary a bit with each car, but hopefully that can help someone make their decision when it comes to camber joints. The S1 should provide me with the range I need for the life of the car I think. I definitely don't want anything over 6.5 caster, and can't see myself ever going beyond -3.5 camber.
Initially I was planning to do -2.8 F -2.6 rear on this alignment (coming from -2.6 F -2.4 R) but looking at my front and rear shoulder wear I decided to move in small increments and only adding more camber in the rear so I could see the specific effects that would have. The car was lacking a little bit of corner exit grip with my last setup. A lot of people say certain tires like more or less camber, but I think your spring rate plays a huge role in this as well. I plan on picking up a pyrometer do do some further testing, but so far -2.6 seems to work very well with the tires I have used and my suspension setup.
So my current setup is -2.6 F -2.6 R — 6.5 — 1/16th total toe-in. I increased the caster to see what effect that would have on high speed braking stability.
Of course later that evening I took the car out to put the new tires through their paces and see what they could do, and to see what effect my alignment changes would have.
Initial Impressions: f@#k these tires are good
Without another set of wheels it is hard to do a truly fair comparison between different tires honestly. After going through quite a few sets of RE11 I like to think I have a pretty good understanding of their initial grip when new. On my first few runs I definitely found myself thinking the AD08 R exhibited more general grip all around. But again it really isn't fair to compare grip levels unless I can do direct back to back tests with new sets of each on the same surface on the same day at the same temps.
Being a particularly warm day (70 F in the middle of the night) the braking, turn-in, and corner exit was phenomenal. The AD08s definitely don't make as much noise as the RE11A but still provide useful audible feedback. I don't really care about noise from the tire in terms using it as a tool for driving to be honest, but less noise can be a good thing when it comes to avoiding unwanted attention. The transition is nice and buttery just like the RE11A, but so far I think the AD08 gives better feel and allows me to a be a bit more precise with how I am placing the car. Right away with the AD08 R I was even surprising myself with how precisely I was able to place the car and how close I was getting to the specific landmarks I like to use on my favorite roads. They are both happy with a large range of slip angle so in that since they are both very easy to drive.
In terms of normal driving, the RE11A probably makes a little less noise on the freeway, but who gives a f@#k? With full tread they both seem equally comfortable to me, but again who gives a f@#k? Whenever I wear a tire down past the wear bars I will usually soften up the dampers a bit to accommodate for daily driving. Stiffening them back up a notch was definitely necessary with this new set of AD08s.
I am the type of driver who just goes out without a plan and just does a general test to see how the car feels. And then react based off those tests and take mental notes. The change in camber was a massive win in this case. I immediately realized I am going to need to push myself into full throttle earlier with this setup to make the most of the grip available on corner exit now. The simplest way for me to judge my own driving and my setup (as well as others) is by looking at how much of a gap their is from full throttle to full throttle. If anything this is just a good measurement of how much confidence a driver has in a car and there are many different ways to decrease the full throttle to full throttle time. I am talking about the time from being full throttle coming into a corner, braking, and transitioning back to full throttle. It is easy to tell when a driver is new, because this transition will be much less precise. They will lift off the throttle and get onto the brakes with less urgency, they will brake earlier and not use the full braking grip, they will release the brakes in a way that loses the weight transfer and will be sluggish back into full throttle often losing a lot of momentum and grip on exit. Through every part of a corner there are ways to decrease this time. Transitioning from throttle to braking faster, which will let you brake later, using maximum braking grip, which will keep the weight transferred in a way that maximizes cornering entry grip, releasing the brakes in a way that maintains the weight transfer, letting you get back to full throttle earlier and maximize corner exit grip.
The purpose of that little anecdote was to say that the AD08 R is begging me to do all of those things a bit better. Even if the AD08 grip falls off quicker than the RE11A (which I have no reason to believe it will) I would still choose it for the various reasons mentioned above. What a phenomenal tire.