The ADVAN A052 is Yokohama’s Extreme Performance Summer tire developed for drivers who use their street-driven vehicles to participate in high-performance driving schools, autocross, and open track events and want Yokohama’s highest level of DOT-approved performance. Like all Extreme Performance Summer tires, the ADVAN A052 is not intended to be serviced, stored nor driven in near- and below-freezing temperatures, through snow or on ice.
The ADVAN A052 molds Yokohama’s motorsports MS Compound into a track-ready, asymmetric tread design for extreme levels of grip. The low-void tread pattern features wide center ribs and an expansive outboard shoulder for maximum traction, and the rounded tread profile helps to evenly distribute pressure across the footprint, creating more contact with the road. Notches in the outboard micro groove improve cooling for added durability and consistency when used on the track. Two wide, circumferential grooves and the notched inboard shoulder help evacuate water from the tread pattern to enhance hydroplaning resistance.
A casing consisting of two plies of nylon cord supports two wide, steel belts beneath the tread and helps contribute to precise and responsive handling. Two spirally-wound, nylon reinforcement plies improve high-speed durability and further promote the steering response expected from a track-capable tire.
Important Care and Usage Instructions: Important Care and Usage Instructions: The ADVAN A052 was developed using high-performance compounds which become brittle at low temperatures, and therefore should not be used in certain conditions. ADVAN A052 tires thus must be stored or used only at temperatures at or above 14°F (-10°C) to maintain performance characteristics and to avoid any damage to the tire or injury to persons or property.
Founder at Tiresout. Used to be working as an engineer at Bridgestone Tires Akron Technical Center. The responsibilities included but were not limited to technical computing, indoor & outdoor testing of new tires.
I bought this tire in 235/40-18 and 295/35-18 for use with my 997.2TT on 18″ track wheels. The only real comparison I have is PSC2, which is not available in 18″ sizing to match the car’s OEM 19″ tire height and which is necessary to avoid triggering the PTM Hot warning message. Compared to PSC2 on the street, this tire seems very similar in terms of street noise, ride comfort, and water evacuation. Compared to PSC2 on the track, this tire seems to hold on longer and avoid greasiness, but wear significantly faster. My only track time on this tire was at Calabogie, which is notoriously hard on tires, but after about 6 hours of 8/10 laps, these tires had zero tread remaining. I’d definitely buy this tire again.
Bought these tires to run DEs. They replaced the used Hankook R-S3 tires that came with the used OZ wheels I bought for track use. I ran the Hankooks for one evening test & tune at Gingerman and one two-day DE at Grattan. The Hankooks were somewhat greasy but did decently. I wanted tires that would stick. I was told that these tires would blow me away. I chose to have Tire Rack heat cycle them to make sure they would stay consistent for me. I just completed another two day DE at Grattan. While the A052s didn’t blow me away, they were easily more consistent in the corners when compared to the Hankooks. After getting the pressures dialed in when hot, I was able to run consistently in the 1:28s and 1:29s, which is darn good for a stock (3100 lb) car on DOT tires. But the lap times came at a cost. After 56 mostly hot laps, the left-side tires are gone. The left front is well past the wear bars on the outer half of the tread and the left rear is at the wear bars on the outer half (Grattan is a clockwise track with only three left-hand slower-speed corners). The right-side tires are in decent shape. In my opinion, cars running these tires on the track need to have the camber settings adjusted accordingly–which is not something that is going to happen with most stock cars.
Again second time to write a review of this tire cause its that —- good. Not sure what happened to first review.(been over a week) But this tire on the front of my car is outstanding. The turn in on this tire is almost too good. I plowed over a ton of cones at the last event. I was turning early expecting front tires to slide they never did. Pop right over the cone. I gave them a poorer wear rating but that was not tires fault. It was a camber issue and I believe that issue to be solved now. If you are looking for a autocross 200 tread wear tire these should be a option.
Bought this set as a time trial tire for my BRZ. I’ve done a partial event on them (around 30 laps on the 2:00 Palmer Motorsports Park race track). For a track tire, they are communicative and have plenty of grip even in greasy conditions (not at the level of a slick but good for a ‘street’ tire). Highly recommend them. On my car it looks like it needs more than the -3 degrees of front camber I have as the outside of the front tires were pretty worn.
Providing this rating for 215/40R-17 Yokohama ADVAN A052 in comparison to 215/40ZR-17 Kumho Ecsta V700 Star MINI SL.I have only driven my Mini Gp2013 (sustantial negative camber in rear) with the Kumho V700 tires and decided to try the newly released Yokohama ADVAN as the tread wear was much higher at 200 vs 50 for the Kumho. Initially, i found the ADVAN to be un-predictable in steering. The tires would seem to either steer on the single large groove of the tire or possibly more prone to tramling (tendency of a vehicle’s wheels to follow the contours in the surface upon which it runs). Cornering was also much less solid/planted/stable, thus lowering safe cornering speeds on on/off ramps in particular. It should be noted that the beginning tread depth of the advan is 7/32 v/s 6/32 for the kumho. After approximately 3,500 miles, these tires are completely LOCKED-IN. All of the previous mentioned negatives have completely faded. Initially these tires, on my vehicle, i’d argue were somewhat dangerous and that care/attention was warranted. 3,500 miles later these tires respond completely different from new. This i believe is expected to some degree, the kumho v700 were slightly different new, but not nearly as substantially. I absolutely recommend these tires as an alternative to the K v700. If they last nearly 3-4 times as long, i will be super satisfied. Drive carefully for a few thousand miles and you should be very satisfied with the Yokohama ADVAN A052. My experience with these 2 tires is completely isolated to a mini gp 2013, as such these tires may handle completely different on any other vehicle. I hope that this review proves helpful to you in your purchasing decision. Best, Johnny
I love the “200 TW” tire wars! I used to cart Hoosiers to every track day but gave that up in favor of the convenience of “arrive and drive”, With these latest generation of tires the penalty is just not that bad, Love it! These are definitively faster than the RE71R I had before, FWIW, at Buttonwillow I was able to match the best time I had set on Hankook Z214. Keep it coming tire companies!
This tire is more picky about wheel alignment than other tires that I have ran on open tracks. Tire wear is just OK , not great. It’s a very predictable tire, better ran at lower pressures, i.e. 26 psi to 30 psi. It does throw off a lot of rubber.
Ran first autocross on these tires. Massive grip in straight line and out of the corners. Mid corner they are very forgiving of mistakes and peak grip maintained and recovers quickly. Prefer the Yokos over the RE71
Ran these tires for the first time at Circuit of the Americas last weekend. I was very impressed with how well they stuck on the out lap. By Lap 2 and 3 I was able to beat my personal best time that was previously set on toyo r888rs. I went out at 28 psi and came back it at 37 psi which I think is about 3 psi too high for my car. After lap 4 or 5 you could feel the tire slow down some but it was my fault as I was definitely over driving the tires. Reducing cold pressure would probably allow the tire to go longer before falling off. Hands down the easiest tire to drive at or over its limit, even with the car sliding you always felt in control. We put 6, 25 minute sessions on the tires so far and the tire wear is noticeable visually but performance has stayed consistent. I think these tires would last another 15 sessions , maybe more if I cleaned up my driving style. Unlike the toyos, these will probably cord before they heat cycle out. I seriously love these tires, they are barely slower than full race slicks but way more forgiving.
I purchased these tires after running 2 sets of AD08R before. I wanted something with more grip for track day use. The A052 definitely fit the bill. I also drove it on the street occasionally.On track, the sidewalls of this tire is softer than the AD08R. You need to run higher tire pressure to have good steering response. At lower pressures, the tires flex and there is a delay in response. Overall grip is much higher than any other Extreme Performance tire I have ever used. I was able to drop my lap times about 4 seconds a lap on a 2 minute course with no other changes.On the street, these tires were surprisingly quiet and the ride was compliant from new all the way to no tread. Very surprising for a tire designed for ultimate grip at the track. I drove it in the rain a few times. At normal speeds, it does not hydroplane but as this tire is not designed for wet use with a very low tread depth, I did not push it.The downside of all this grip is that the tire does not last long. I was able to get 3000 miles from this set. For me, this was 4 track days and almost a year of driving. Overall good tire but budget for new tires if you want to run these regularly.
I bought these primarily as autocross tires but I do drive them to and from the events and about once a month, on the street. My first thought was how much better they rode than the other 200 tread wear tires, I’ve driven on, Those being Falkens and Dunlops. I don’t think the steering response is a crisp as either of those either but boy do the AO52’s grip the road. They also wear at a considerably faster rate. I wore about 3/32 off the front tires in about 12-14 minutes of on course, on Asphalt time! That was on the same alignment specs I’ve used for years. As I run a staggered setup I’ve ordered two new tires for the front, for an extra pair of wheels I have, just in case it rains, which I haven’t driven in yet.
These are my new go to tires!! After years of running Hoosier (non-SCCA) and 200tw+ (SCCA events) I have found these are the best for everything and I ditched using Hoosier… are these as grippy as Hoosiers, NO, are they close = close enough I am still placing around same place in events 🙂 Are these MUCH easier since I can run them to the event and not swap tires YES! These are great tires and am now convinced Hoosier are not needed to compete at the top, I took 2nd place beating out other Miata’s on Hoosiers, a viper and a GT3 so I’m sold on these tires, will be moving up to 255 for next year and 295 the year after once turbo’ed, I love kicking NA’s butts in my NC