mjdavis

After finishing off some Yokohama AD08Rs during an exuberant outing at Pocono, I decided to take a chance on the new A052 tire. I haven't seen many reviews of the tire, but I was expecting something that felt like an evolution of the AD08. The test track was VIR, which I ran this past weekend with NASA at the OktoberFast event.

First impressions - it feels like an AD08R, which is a tire I loved. Very communicative, both through the wheel and audibly (it will yell at you when approaching the limit). Lateral grip was great for a street tire - my max G was around 1.4 and I'm sure there was more left in it if I had more brave pills. Especially in T10 and around the hogpen. Braking was awesome, no drama at all and no ABS intervention even in the hard braking zones (at least, not that I was aware of). I can't say anything about wet performance, since it was such a beautiful weekend, but the AD08s blew me away with how good they were in the rain (I first tried them at VIR right as hurricane Matthew was hitting, a couple years ago), so I would expect something similar.

When all was said and one, my best lap of the day was about 1.5 seconds better than my best with the AD08s - 2:18.7 vs 2:20.3, and I was consistently running laps below 2:20 when there was no traffic. Which was pretty rare, as I spent plenty of time trying to avoid getting run over by Time Trial Corvettes, Camaros, etc. In short, the A052 was everything I wanted it to be, I'm very impressed.

Schmidts Cat

ramans

What size were you running, it doesn't appear that they have them in 981 stock sizes (235/45 R 18 and 265/45R18) or the next common size (245/40R18 and 275/40R18), too bad as they sound like they might be a great swap over the RE71Rs

mjdavis

Sizing is 235/40 and 265/40 on 18s.

Macduff

Thanks for sharing, curious if you've been back to the track with these yet?

For those interested these come in sizes that may fit the GT4 as well:
20" A052 GT4 Thread

RaceDevelopementCenter

That's a great tire

andy7777

They look like a R compound but have the same wear rating as the AD08, interesting.

I love the AD08s for a combination street and track tire, the 052s look much more like track first, like the old AO48s, which nearly killed me during a strong rain on the way back from a track 100 miles from my house. So, I don't see the 052 as an evolution of the AD08 but of the AO48.

Thanks for the report, I have no doubt that the tires are a second or two quicker. I'll stick to the AD08Rs for now cause I'd be too lazy to keep changing wheels and tires. With the AD08s I just show up and drive, what a great world!