At the very top of the Yokohama food chain is the ADVAN series of high-performance street and track tires. These are the tires that are fitted as original equipment on such serious machines as Bentley Continental GT, Mercedes-Benz AMG CL65, Porsche 911 Carrera 4, Aston Martin DB9, Audi S8, and Lotus Exige.
And one of the more potent and famous ADVAN street tires has been the AD07; it is such a serious piece of rubber that Yokohama and many performance addicts call it a “pseudo track tire.”
New and improved
Yokohama recently introduced the AD07’s successor — the AD08. With its sterling “track record,” Yokohama didn’t have to completely re-invent the tire. Instead, it further enhanced its branded “Nanotechnology,” which bonds the three elements of the tire’s main compounds — polymer, silica, and carbon — at a very base, molecular level. Yokohama purports that this bonding is done to a tolerance of one-billionth of a metre.
“On this particular tire, we selected very fine silica and very fine carbon, and this allows the compound to be very pliable,” said Greg Cressman, the chief technical guru at Yokohama Canada. “This in turn allows the tire to mould to the undulations in the road, versus riding on top of the undulations… We achieve 10 percent better contact, because the rubber is in better microscopic contact with the road surface.”
Cressman notes that in addition to better grip, the compound provides longer tread wear.
Treading the line
Enhancements to tire construction and tread design also provide more grip and longevity — and less of the pattern noise common with ultra-high performance tires.
(Before we list these enhancements, however, may we offer a brief warning: If you’re into tire technology, this is fun and interesting. If not? Maybe skip down a bit…)
• Specially placed steel sidewall inserts help resist lateral deflection, to “sharpen” the handling;
• Contact patch is optimized by low void to tread ratio. Basically this means less grooves and more rubber to make contact with the road;
 |
| Photo: Yokohama |
And one of the more potent and famous ADVAN street tires has been the AD07; it is such a serious piece of rubber that Yokohama and many performance addicts call it a “pseudo track tire.”
New and improved
Yokohama recently introduced the AD07’s successor — the AD08. With its sterling “track record,” Yokohama didn’t have to completely re-invent the tire. Instead, it further enhanced its branded “Nanotechnology,” which bonds the three elements of the tire’s main compounds — polymer, silica, and carbon — at a very base, molecular level. Yokohama purports that this bonding is done to a tolerance of one-billionth of a metre.
“On this particular tire, we selected very fine silica and very fine carbon, and this allows the compound to be very pliable,” said Greg Cressman, the chief technical guru at Yokohama Canada. “This in turn allows the tire to mould to the undulations in the road, versus riding on top of the undulations… We achieve 10 percent better contact, because the rubber is in better microscopic contact with the road surface.”
Cressman notes that in addition to better grip, the compound provides longer tread wear.
Treading the line
Enhancements to tire construction and tread design also provide more grip and longevity — and less of the pattern noise common with ultra-high performance tires.
(Before we list these enhancements, however, may we offer a brief warning: If you’re into tire technology, this is fun and interesting. If not? Maybe skip down a bit…)
• Specially placed steel sidewall inserts help resist lateral deflection, to “sharpen” the handling;
• Contact patch is optimized by low void to tread ratio. Basically this means less grooves and more rubber to make contact with the road;
 |
| Photo: Yokohama |