Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Wheels & Tires Yokohama AVS ES100s

Are these tires any good? They are availible in good sizes for our cars and seem to be focused towards the sport compact market (which the SVT Contour sort of falls into). Currently I am running the BFG KDWs and have been very happy with them, but as we all know, they are a bit pricey. The Yoks are rated up to 168 which IMO is plenty seeing as top speed for a Contour is 150 max. The wear rating is 280 which seems comparable to the BFGs and the tread design looks pretty good (for what thats worth). I've searched the archives, but there doesn't seem to be much input from people who have tried the tires out for themselves. Maybe you all could help?

I enjoy mine. I got the 225/45/16 version, and I've been very pleased. I have ~12K on them, they're wearing very evenly, and have lots of life left in them. I'm pretty easy on tires, though. FWIW, my stock BFGs lasted me 31K.

I have a lot of confidence in the curves and in the rain. I'm a death-tabogan in the snow. NO forward traction in the snow, but turning seemed ok in the snow.

For the price, I think they're a great deal.

they're not bad, i had some bridgstone s03's before i had these though, so they aren't nearly as good, but not half the performance for half the price.

I've got a set of yoko avs es100's 225-45-16 on my 2000 csvt. These things stick like glue man. A friend of mine with a very bad 89' e30 325i BMW turned me on to these tires. I've always been a dunlop kinda guy myself. I ran dunlops FM901's 205-40-16 on my 90 8v jetta at the time.
these are also great tires but I'm not sure if they make the dunlops in 225-45-16 for my contour.

But these yoko are awesome.I've used them for the past 20K
miles and now their about wore out but thats mainly my fault
i drive the car pretty hard.No complaints!they stick!!

with the stock firehawks 215-50-16 the rear end would step out on me in the hard corners. not the yoko's these things do nothing but grip. 90 mph around a freeway u shaped on ramp is not a problem for the yoko avses100's. i cant say enough about these tires. and you can't bet the price of $93 each. thats cheaper than the stock firehawks for a wider tire.

its about time to replace my tires again and i'm going with the exact same 225-45-16 yoko avs es100's.

P.S. these tires are no good for burnouts. and they wont cherp second gear anymore like the stockies but they more than make up for it with grip!

I've been quite happy with them.

They ARE a summer only performance tire. Don't take them in the snow (not designed for that anyway!)

I'm fairly hard on my tires, I've got probably 15k or so on mine and they've got maybe 1/3 life left. Now that I've got a 3L, they're wearing even faster

Grip is great. These things won't squeel in a forward spin, but they will in a lateral slide (as in taking a corner too fast) which really is perfect. I mean you don't need the attention if you're pealing out of a driveway or intersection, but you do want to know when they're close to their limits in the corners.

Thanks for your advice everybody. Is there anyone out there who can compare these tires to the KDWs that came stock on 98.5-00 Contours. Only being 18, I haven't really driven any performance tires other than the KDWs that I've got on my car right now, so a comparasin would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

They suck. For 50% of the price you get very average wet traction, OK dry traction, good ride quality, poor steering response and quite poor noise.

The wet traction is most disappointing, as it is rated AA but it most certainly is much worse than the KDW.

The dry traction is disappointing because the tread sure looks like it would do well.

The steering response is a shame, because now the SVT doesn't feel razor-sharp. It just feels like a sporty average car.

Don't skimp on tires. You'll have to live with it for 2-3 years. I learned my lesson.

Having said all that, if you don't drive too hard, then you may find them acceptable. I don't drive too hard at all, but occasionally I take corners aggressively and often drive in the rain.

Kerry

P.S. I'm comparing to life with the stock KDW tires, which were horribly noisy as they got old, but boy did they ever stick!