Has anyone tried the Yokohama Advan Fleva V701?

[Capri to ST]

If you have I would love to hear about your experiences with them, particularly the turn in and the handling feel. I'd also be interested to know if you were able to run them safely below about 45°.
I'm getting closer to needing new tires in the OEM size, 205/40-17. My main and almost only priority is quick turn in, crisp handling. Because of that, my first choice would be the OEM Bridgestone Potenza RE050As that the car came with, I loved their handling feel, but they have been unavailable for many months. Tire Rack told almost a year ago that a new version was coming out, but that doesn't seem to be happening.
I'm currently on Firestone Firehawk Indy 500s, and they're okay, but the steering feel is too vague for me, they don't achieve my goal of quick turn in. If I go to Tire Rack and search for summer performance tires in the OEM size, there are only four others available besides the Firehawks. One is a Kumho PS31 which doesn't interest me. The Falken RT660 and the Yokohama Advan A052 are available, but I'm a bit reluctant to get those because here in Central North Carolina I run my summer tires all year round, staying off the road when it snows of course, but I would worry about those on colder days. Between those two I would take the RT 660, because Tire Rack said the steering was vague on the A052.
That leaves the Yokohama Advan Fleva V701. I had their predecessor, the Yokohama S.drive, on my other car, and was quite impressed with them. The handling was excellent, they just had a bit harder tread compound than some of the extreme performance tires which allowed them to last a little longer.

 

[CarGuy]

I've been running them for over a few years now unless the one you posted is some new compound. But I'm down in Florida so no cold weather experience from me. I can say that they are noiser than the stock Bridgestone tires and that I didn't think turn in was as crisp. I've got 11k on mine and over 2 years of use and they are still going strong but I don't drive like an idiot on the street so I'm pretty conservative compared to what I see most owners posting. LOL. I hope that helps.

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[Capri to ST]

I've been running them for over a few years now unless the one you posted is some new compound. But I'm down in Florida so no cold weather experience from me. I can say that they are noise than the stock Bridgestone tires and that I didn't think turn in was as crisp. I've got 11k on mine and over 2 years of use and they are still going strong but I don't drive like an idiot on the street so I'm pretty conservative compared to what I see most owners posting. LOL. I hope that helps.

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Thanks for your quick and helpful response.That's disappointing that you didn't think turn in was as crisp, that's why I'm frustrated at the continuing unavailability of the OEM Bridgestone Potenza RE050As.

 

[CarGuy]

Thanks for your quick and helpful response.That's disappointing that you didn't think turn in was as crisp, that's why I'm frustrated at the continuing unavailability of the OEM Bridgestone Potenza RE050As.

I don't think anything turned in like they did. Maybe next time I will try either Firestone, Michelin or maybe Conti's. Michelin's are great tires but always the most expensive. Firestone is owned by Bridgestone so maybe closest to the original tires.

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[haste]

Discount tire says they can get the Bridgestones....only $4000 for a set of four...looooolllz.

Bridgestone Potenza RE050A | Discount Tire

 

[Capri to ST]

Discount tire says they can get the Bridgestones....only $4000 for a set of four...looooolllz.

Bridgestone Potenza RE050A | Discount Tire

Okay, I'll take 'em, I guess you've got to pay to play right?

 

[VantuckyST]

Following as I'm looking at a similar set up for this summer and have been interested in the V701. Looking at either the V701's , the 660's or 615K+'s myself in size 215/40/17. A little concerned with how long the 660 / 615K+ might last, but they would be summer only tires and probably only see 5-8k miles a year before I switch back to my Pilot Sport A/S for the PNW "rainy season" that lasts 6-7 months lol.

Only thing I will say is that the A052's are freaking awesome. They came on the car when I bought it and the sheer grip they had was insane, the tires would barely break loose even with a COBB Stage 3 kit and stratified tune (93). I also wouldn't call them "vague" in the steering at all, but I wasn't running the car on the track at all. Definately negatively changed the way the car handled when I swapped to Pilot Sport A/S... Unfortunately they don't last at all and are really expensive for a daily car

 

[SteveS]

Discount tire says they can get the Bridgestones....only $4000 for a set of four...looooolllz.

Bridgestone Potenza RE050A | Discount Tire

When I looked it said $221 each.

 

[Capri to ST]

When I looked it said $221 each.

That's on Discount Tire Direct, as opposed to just Discount Tire. I looked at that a couple times, but every time when I looked farther down the page it said they were unavailable, and to call for an ETA . When I called they said they had no definite ETA .
https://www.discounttiredirect.com/buy-tires/bridgestone-potenza-re050a

 

[Mikey456]

I went from the Falken 615k+ Oem size to Dunlop Z3 in the 215/40. The grip seem similar, the turn-in a little less sharp but better ride quality. However these differences can just be due to just being a bigger tire. I don’t know how long these tires will last, but the Falken tires wore out too fast for me.

 

[SteveS]

That's on Discount Tire Direct, as opposed to just Discount Tire. I looked at that a couple times, but every time when I looked farther down the page it said they were unavailable, and to call for an ETA . When I called they said they had no definite ETA .
https://www.discounttiredirect.com/buy-tires/bridgestone-potenza-re050a

I just clicked your link and it showed this. It says available now, arrives in 1-5 days.

 

[Capri to ST]

I just clicked your link and it showed this. It says available now, arrives in 1-5 days.
View attachment 46077

Interesting, thanks for letting me know.
I went back to the site again just now, and it still shows that they are unavailable for me. It also shows a very slightly different price, $220.96. It shows the same item number. The only thing I can think is that since we are in different parts of the country, maybe their website detects where your computer is and shows regional availability, where a physical store location might be able to get them.
In any event, I appreciate the heads up and will pursue this further.

 

[VantuckyST]

I went from the Falken 615k+ Oem size to Dunlop Z3 in the 215/40. The grip seem similar, the turn-in a little less sharp but better ride quality. However these differences can just be due to just being a bigger tire. I don’t know how long these tires will last, but the Falken tires wore out too fast for me.

How many miles did the 615K+ last? Haven't been able to find much data on this, a lot of "X amount of track days" but no street mileage information on them.

 

[Catnip4CarGuys]

We have about 20K on ours. Decent tread left, no problems with leaks or punctures. I would agree that turn-in is not quite as sharp as the Bstones, but still is very good. Stable during cornering. Use them all year down here.

 

[Mikey456]

How many miles did the 615K+ last? Haven't been able to find much data on this, a lot of "X amount of track days" but no street mileage information on them.

I don’t remember exactly but I got under 10k on them but there is a price to pay if u spend too much time in the canyons. The Bridgestones lasted about 20k in mixed driving. I’m hoping the Dunlops will give me closer to that amount.

 

[rallytaff]

I had that bad experience with Falkens on my stock Focus and wouldn't put them on my car if they were giving them away. They could care less about the problem I had with them!

 

[Dpro]

How many miles did the 615K+ last? Haven't been able to find much data on this, a lot of "X amount of track days" but no street mileage information on them.

Relating the experience one has with 615+’s to 660’s is only done by people who have never owned 660’s and fail to read and realize that they are two completely different tires. I get tired of people ruling 660’s out based on experiences with 615+‘s . First off one should remember we are talking 200TW tires so ya they will wear faster and driving habits can contribute to that.

With that said a 660 will beat a Direzza ZIII . It runs neck and neck with A052’s . I have run 660’s and consider them to be excellent street with track day tires. They are pretty damn quite compared to others as well. They are sticky like no tomorrow. 615+s wish the were as sticky
Honorable mention goes to Federal RS Pro’s
which are the bang for the buck tires if you are running a tuned stock engine. They give up some grip when you upgrade the turbo bit are still fun with a bit of noise.
Though they are not as noisy as RSRR’s which are right there 888r’s in the competition for who is the noisiest tire that sticks ok.

Oh and ya when my RS Pro’s wear out on my Dekagrams they will get a set of RT660’s having tried them in 17 and liking them I am dying to try them on lighter wheels.

Oh and ya Fleva’s are a different class of tire . Being that they are Yokohama they are most likely decent tires though I am not sure they would perform at the level of even the O.E. Re50’s . The RE50 was in a different class of tire in comparison.

 

[Capri to ST]

Bumping my thread to see if anyone else has experience with this Yokohama Advan Fleva V701?

 

[Dialcaliper]

I'll chime in. I currently have V701's on my other two cars in 205/50R16's and 185/55R15's (but not the ST, which I just bought last week). They are an amazing street tire - so far they are my favorite summer tire that's not in the 200TW class. They are Yokohama's replacement for the S.Drive - same tread pattern and carcass, slightly improved compound, but otherwise the same kind of grippy, responsive tire that doesn't need a warmup with the same great driver feedback as its S.Drive predecessor was. Just don't try to compare them to the dry grip of a "Super 200" tire like the ones discussed above, because its simply not a fair comparison for a different class of tire.

I will say that personally, I greatly prefer the Advan V701 Fleva over the Firehawk Indy 500's that came installed on the ST when I bought it. The latter, which seems to be a favorite around here has a similar grip level, but feels like it has more vague steering feedback to me, which sounds similar to your experience. The V701's are also decent in wet weather. They get a bit firm below 40F, but I've had zero problems driving to work on them on the infrequent mornings each year around here where it froze during the night and the car's thermometer said 30-32F

Really the only bad thing I have to say about them is that at least they way I drive, when they get down to about 1/3 of tread left, they have heat cycled a bit and lose some of their grip. As far as tread life goes, it's hard to say - the car I have gone through two sets of S.Drives and is on the second set of V701's is an electric Fiat 500e that eats its 185/55 tires for breakfast - I get about 15-20k miles out of them, but like pretty much every other electric car, between high low end torque and regen braking on the front wheels, it is extremely hard on tires (the front tires wear twice as fast as the rears just driving around town and commuting - not even pushing it). The only comparison I have is the stock Firestone Firehawk GT's that came on the car (which are complete rubbish) are a 460 B A all season that only lasted 25k miles on that car. I consider them a consumable entertainment expense.

The second car they are on now (A Honda Fit that is being replaced by the Fiesta ST) was just shod about 5000 miles ago, so I don't have good wear estimates for them.

My best guess is that for a "normal" sporty gas powered car like the ST that doesn't try to spin the tires every time you pull away from a stoplight at half throttle, you might get 30-45k miles out of them depending on how you drive. If you are looking for a street tire that you can both commute and have fun with on the weekend, and one of your priorities is feel and feedback, I think you won't be disappointed in the V701 Fleva.

FYI, the RE050A has been replaced by the RE71R and now RE71RS. Unfortunately it appears the closest size they come in is a 205/45R17, which is a bit tall. There appears to have been a great winnowing of small rolling diameter summer tires, and choices are much more limited as new cars are now coming with pointlessly large 18+ inch rims, and rolling diameters have increased in the search for fuel efficiency and low rolling resistance, at the cost of performance and high unsprung weight.

Also, if you want a good review of 200TW tires, Grassroots Motorspots did an excellent review of pretty much all the available track/autocross tires out there:

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/articles/track-tire-buyers-guide/

 

[Capri to ST]

I'll chime in. I currently have V701's on my other two cars in 205/50R16's and 185/55R15's (but not the ST, which I just bought last week). They are an amazing street tire - so far they are my favorite summer tire that's not in the 200TW class. They are Yokohama's replacement for the S.Drive - same tread pattern and carcass, slightly improved compound, but otherwise the same kind of grippy, responsive tire that doesn't need a warmup with the same great driver feedback as its S.Drive predecessor was. Just don't try to compare them to the dry grip of a "Super 200" tire like the ones discussed above, because its simply not a fair comparison for a different class of tire.

I will say that personally, I greatly prefer the Advan V701 Fleva over the Firehawk Indy 500's that came installed on the ST when I bought it. The latter, which seems to be a favorite around here has a similar grip level, but feels like it has more vague steering feedback to me, which sounds similar to your experience. The V701's are also decent in wet weather. They get a bit firm below 40F, but I've had zero problems driving to work on them on the infrequent mornings each year around here where it froze during the night and the car's thermometer said 30-32F

Really the only bad thing I have to say about them is that at least they way I drive, when they get down to about 1/3 of tread left, they have heat cycled a bit and lose some of their grip. As far as tread life goes, it's hard to say - the car I have gone through two sets of S.Drives and is on the second set of V701's is an electric Fiat 500e that eats its 185/55 tires for breakfast - I get about 15-20k miles out of them, but like pretty much every other electric car, between high low end torque and regen braking on the front wheels, it is extremely hard on tires (the front tires wear twice as fast as the rears just driving around town and commuting - not even pushing it). The only comparison I have is the stock Firestone Firehawk GT's that came on the car (which are complete rubbish) are a 460 B A all season that only lasted 25k miles on that car. I consider them a consumable entertainment expense.

The second car they are on now (A Honda Fit that is being replaced by the Fiesta ST) was just shod about 5000 miles ago, so I don't have good wear estimates for them.

My best guess is that for a "normal" sporty gas powered car like the ST that doesn't try to spin the tires every time you pull away from a stoplight at half throttle, you might get 30-45k miles out of them depending on how you drive. If you are looking for a street tire that you can both commute and have fun with on the weekend, and one of your priorities is feel and feedback, I think you won't be disappointed in the V701 Fleva.

FYI, the RE050A has been replaced by the RE71R and now RE71RS. Unfortunately it appears the closest size they come in is a 205/45R17, which is a bit tall. There appears to have been a great winnowing of small rolling diameter summer tires, and choices are much more limited as new cars are now coming with pointlessly large 18+ inch rims, and rolling diameters have increased in the search for fuel efficiency and low rolling resistance, at the cost of performance and high unsprung weight.

Also, if you want a good review of 200TW tires, Grassroots Motorspots did an excellent review of pretty much all the available track/autocross tires out there:

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/articles/track-tire-buyers-guide/

Thank you for this detailed and helpful write up. It sounds like these tires will meet my goal of having responsive steering and quick turn in.I had the S.Drive on another car and liked their responsiveness.
I run my tires all year round because it doesn't snow much here in North Carolina and doesn't get super cold. It just doesn't make sense for me to get winter or all season tires for the cold weather.I stay off the road after a snow, but I do sometimes drive them in cold weather so it's nice to know that you can do that.I just take it easy when it gets below about 45°.