Kerry

Drove two days at Putnam Park last weekend with the Bluegrass Bimmers BMW club. I didn't look at my inside sidewalls until I took the tires off to bleed and change out my RS19 pads tonight. Got a surprise when I looked at the left rear tire. These are Yokohama Advan Neova AD07; they (and the 996TT) are my daily drivers. This set has about 7,000 miles and 6 DEs. I'm not that fast so they don't get much wear; I usually run in the 'B' group. I monitor tire pressures very closely and keep them at 40psig hot +/- 2psig, usually starting with 32psig to 33psig in the morning. My 996TT has been chipped so I make about .9bar boost.

I can't tell you exactly when this happened; maybe bit by bit over the weekend. I had a very thorough tech before the event so I know the tires were fine then. I never lost pressure and even now the tire holds pressure. The only difference in the car I noticed last weekend was when I was fast in turn 2 the rear hopped more than slide. But it felt fine sliding in the faster turn 1 and the slower turn 7, and turn 5 (all of these are right-handers). My instructor didn't think there was any problem.

Question is, how common is this running a top quality street tire on the track?

Rich Sandor

Something must have rubbed up or gotten stuck against that sidewall, probably up near the spring.

I doubt it's a defect in the tire, but you never know, it might be. I'd take it to a yokohama distributor asap and see what kind of warranty they might honor on it.

Larry Herman

It's not common at all. We have many events with the Neovas on a WRX with no problems. One question though, have these tires ever seen very cold temps? They recommend that the tires do not ever go below 15 degF. It can damage the rubber compound. We take ours off and store them over the winter.

Kerry

Larry -
No, I bought these in May of this year so no cold temps.

Rick-
I looked at the coilover carefully and couldn't see where anything might have been caught, but I suppose that is possible.

Bos

I had the same thing happen to the Neova AD07 on my TT. The story is eerily similar to yours. Tires are fine prior to the June KYPCA event at Putnam. Post event tire swap and I notice a couple of sections of inner sidewall missing from drivers rear (crappy phone pic taken at the time). My weekend was cut short late Friday due to other reasons, so not sure if the sidewall would have continued to peel. Either way, disconcerting feeling when I saw it. I also never noticed any difference in handling, and probably wouldn't given such a small section in comparision.

I already considered all the reasons mentioned here - suspension (PSS9's), storage, etc. Don't think so. Also considered hard hits on rumble strips. Given Putnam layout and it was the drivers rear, turn 4 and outside of 7 are the only likely spots. Didn't happen. I never found anything conclusive and chalked it up to fluke or manufacturing issue. Maybe not, given your experience? I never contacted Yokohama about the issue.

amr89c4

WOW! I put a set of these (17" on my C4) on in April of this year. I have 3 DE's at TWS and one at Mid Ohio and the tires are doing fine. I run 33-34 cold and keep below 41 hot. I will keep an eye on them from now on, though. Glad nothing exciting happened on the track.

Is it just the pictures, or is the tire melting rubber at the bead? Other than a rub, I don't know. Did you go up in size when you replaced the old tires? All tires of the same size are not necessarily the same width so maybe there is an offset issue now?? Just guessing.

IcemanG17

WOW....scary you are very lucky it didn't blow while on track!!!!

I've heard nothing but good things about the AD07....I wonder what the weight rating is, but it still has to be under what a 996tt weighs.....very odd..... hopefully its fixed with the AD08

Kerry

Bos -
I was at the June KYPCA too, but not Friday. I'll be talking w/Tire Rack about this and let you know their response.

Amr -
No, not melting, must be the way the picture makes it look. I've stayed with the stock sizes, 225/40 and 295/30. This is my second set of AD07s.

Iceman -
Yes, I said the same thing to myself. And I hope it's fixed in the AD08s as well because I ordered a set before I saw what had happened.

Bos

I'm in ... You have my support, and I too will discuss with Tire Rack. I felt like this was a one time, but maybe not. Had no basis prior. Keep me posted and I'll do the same.