22 replies to this topic

[Anthony30]

Anyone tried Yoko A048 tyres? I was planning on fitting A539's but love the look of the semi slicks, and they must grip better. The car won't be doing serious mileage, but they cost over £25 extra, per tyre, over the A539's. I know these tyres  are no longer e marked for some reason, unknown to me.

 

[Mini 360]

Brilliant tyres if your car is used solely in dry weather.  Bit sketchy in wet weather which goes without saying.  A539 is a great all round tyre imo.

[Tupers]

I believe they lost their E mark due to road noise of a largely slick tyre and loss of grip in changeable road conditions (sudden rain).

If you search 'track day tyre ban' on google you'll turn up a bit more info.

It does seem to be a change made by the European Parliament so maybe we won't have to worry about it for long.......

[Anthony30]

It just seems silly to me. Legal for years then, for no reason, suddenly banned.   I sent Simon @ Mini Spares a message with a list of parts I need, and asked about the possibility of getting a better deal on four A539's.I like the idea of A048's, just not spending £350 on tyres.  I'm not one for cheap tyres, especially given the money I've spend trying to get the suspension as it should be. Adjustable this, adjustable that.

 

A048 =   £350.40

A539 =   £208.80

Saving = £141.60

Edited by Anthony30, 16 January 2017 - 01:09 AM.

[gadget555]

Agreed A048's and A032's are really good dry track day/road going tyres, A539's are a very good all rounder as stated above. I know you work in garage (just not sure where) and I know how much you love your mini, do you have adjustable suspension (adjusta rides and the like)? if you don't then the next upgrade I would do is to fit some adjustable suspension and see if any of the rubber cones have squashed over the years, if they have I would get some replacements of them also. Then once you have fitted adjustable suspension and (new cones if needed) drive it for a while to get the cones to settle in then I would find somewhere good that does suspension set up and get them to corner weight it, i.e. get all the corners weighing the same/ putting the same amount of pressure on the road surface through each tyre, once you have had the corner weight's done your car will be like night and day from what it was before as long as all the rest of your suspension geometry is set correctly. 

Edited by gadget555, 16 January 2017 - 02:51 AM.

[minidaves]

i am on nangkang greensport 2 this tyre i am impressed with and best of all is cheap as chips, and grips good in all conditions 

[Dusky]

There is a good reason why they are banned. Lethal when it suddenly starts raining. There are a lot of weard and stupid laws ,but this one isn't one of those imho.

[Mini Manannán]

539s for me. Marvellous tyres. I've done 12000 miles on mine and still plenty of meat left.  They've only let go once and that was in the snow,

[Sam]

The lost their E marking due to new regulations regarding noise (as did a few other tyres).

 

Mini tyre designs are falling well behind mainstream cars now. The A539 is now what, 15+ years old? A008 is prehistoric.

 

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[Richie83]

A032R are quite good in the wet. They have a tread they name Aquatusk - for that reason. The A539 are better on a regularly used road car though (I've got both these tyres by the way).

[gav]

A048's are great in the wet (they are even rated B for wet) standing water yes not so good but I use them on track in the wet fine. The soft compound is the wet choice for a lot of race series too...

[psychobob]

I used to run ao48's on my old Renault 5 gordini turbo. They are awesomely sticky tyres in summer. They used to pick up pebbles sticking to the tread on a good run out. On the other hand, I rarely got more than 4000 miles out of them before they where completely shot?

[Anthony30]

I bought a set of tyres today. Given that I need to spend money in other areas, I decided to get some A539's. I really like these tyres anyhoo, so not disappointed, going by reviews. I think it would be silly to splash out over £25 extra per tyre ATM.

 

[Steve220]

A539's - great all rounder, plenty of grip and a good price
A048's - semi slick, rubbish in wet, more road noise, less tread, great in the dry/track.

[Sprocket]

The Nankang NS2R are worth a look if you're after something similar to the Yokohama A048. The A048's are no longer available in the soft compound in the 175/50/13's which had a wet grip 'A' rating  they couldn't be that bad in the wet considering most every day tyres struggle with wet grip 'C' ratings!!

 

Last set of Medium A048's I had, the fronts lasted less than 3000 miles