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About Yokohama Tires
Launched in 1917, Yokohama is one of the most popular tire brands in the world. Since it was founded more than 100 years ago, Yokohama has been consistently producing high-quality tires, which deliver superior performances on and off the road. Its tires are among the most trusted in the world, due to their unmatched reliability and longevity.
While its main headquarters are in Japan, it also has a couple of manufacturing facilities and distribution centers throughout the globe. For instance, it owns two manufacturing facilities in the U.S, based in Virginia and Mississippi.
Yokohama is also renowned for its sustainable methods of tire production. Also, it ensures the rubber used in the production of its tires is sustainably farmed, harvested and processed.
Similar to other renowned tire brands, Yokohama produces tires for almost all types of vehicles. Whether you own an SUV, a passenger car, a sedan, a light truck, pickup, or a bus, you are assured of finding a Yokohama tire that’s compatible with your vehicle.
Also, Yokohama offers various sponsorships to various sports times like and events, as part of its corporate social responsibility. It’s also involved in various humanitarian projects across the globe.
Most Popular Yokohama Tires
As highlighted above, Yokohama produces tires for almost every type of vehicle on the road. It also produces tires that are specifically built to handle various conditions and terrains such as all-season tires, high-performance tires, winter tires, all-terrain tires and summer tires, among others. Some of the brand’s most popular tires include:
Yokohama Avid Touring S All Season
The Avid Touring S is one of the company’s best-selling all-season tires. It’s built to deliver outstanding all-weather traction combined with a comfortable ride. This all-season touring tire is designed for all types of sedans, minivans, sports coupes, crossovers and minivans, just to name a few.
Key Features
Yokohama has outfitted this tire with a tri-plex tread compound, which has been molded into a symmetrical tread pattern. This combination helps to deliver enhanced all-season traction and longer tread life. The tire’s tread also comes with added siping on the tread blocks, to enhance its wet and dry traction while delivering a smooth and comfortable ride.
The Avid Touring S also comes with four deep circumferential grooves, tapered rain channels as well as cross traction sipes. These three features help to channel water from beneath the tire, resulting in increased grip and traction over wet, slippery, snow-covered, and slushy surfaces.
Yokohama has further provisioned this tire with its exclusive Twin Rail Stability Rib, which has been placed around the center of the tire’s tread. This feature helps to increase the tire’s stability while enhancing its steering response and control. Also, it helps to minimize road noise and vibrations.
The Avid Touring S has also been outfitted with hard rubber inserts throughout the sidewalls. These rubber inserts help to enhance the tire’s absorption capabilities, resulting in a smoother ride over bumps and unpaved roads.
Pros
- Outstanding wet and dry traction
- Smooth and comfortable ride
- Impressive steering response
- Sturdy construction
Cons
- It may become noise as the tread wears down
Verdict
The Avid Touring S remains one of Yokohama’s most popular tires. It has remained one of its bestselling tires over the years due to its outstanding performances in various key areas. Its traction is top-notch, steering response is excellent while handling is great. Overall, it’s a no-frills all-weather tire, which gets the job done.
Yokohama Geolander A/T G015
The Geolander A/T G015 is an all-terrain tire, designed for drivers of light trucks and SUVs. It’s built for driving both on smooth highways and on rough terrains. Released to replace the Geolander AT-S, is billed as Yokohama’s toughest all-terrain tire.
Key Features
The Geolander A/T G015 sports a sturdy Enduro all-season tread compound, featuring a combination of advanced high-tech polymers and orange oil. This combination is designed to provide enhanced traction and grip on and off the highway. Also, it’s engineered to deliver a longer-lasting tread.
Yokohama has also provisioned this tire with its exclusive EdgeTec Grooves tread design, which creates large void areas between the tire’s tread blocks. This design helps to get rid of sand, dirt, rocks as well as heavy amounts of mud.
The Geolander A/T G015 also comes with 3D sipes, which provide additional biting edges for the tire, for increased traction and grip over snow-covered and slippery surfaces. Also, these sipes are designed in such a way that they will change their shape as the tread wears down. With this design, they will continue providing reliable traction, thus keeping you safe while driving.
It’s important to mention that this tire bears the RMA mountain/snowflake symbol. With this designation, it means that it has been tested and certified for use in extreme weather conditions. Whether you encounter light, snowy conditions or roads covered with heavy layers of snow, this tire is well equipped to handle such conditions.
According to Yokohama, this tire’s braking and handling in snowy conditions have improved by approximately 25%, compared to the previous iteration, the Geolander A/T-S.
Pros
- Excellent on and off-road traction
- Outstanding performance on ice and snow
- Smooth and comfortable highway ride
- Vast selection of sizes
- Exceptional durability
Cons
- A bit pricey
Verdict
The Yokohama Geolander A/T G015 is a great choice for drivers looking for an all-terrain and all-season tire. While it may be priced slightly higher than some all-terrain tires from the lesser-known brands, it will be almost impossible to find a tire that can deliver the same performance levels as the G015 at this price range. Unless you are an extreme off-roader, this tire will comfortably handle almost any condition that you encounter and get you to your destination safely.
Yokohama Avid Ascend
The Avid Ascend is an all-season high-performance tire, designed for a wide range of sedans, coupes, crossovers and minivans. According to Yokohama, this tire is built to deliver reliable all-season traction, a quiet and smooth ride as well a long tread life.
Key Features
Yokohama has utilized orange oil when making this tire’s tread compound. The use of orange oil helps to make the rubber compound more flexible and durable. Also, it helps to reduce the tire’s rolling resistance. With this combination, the tire can deliver great fuel economy without compromising on all-season traction.
The Avid Ascend also comes with an optimized tread design, featuring unique tread block ridges. This tread design helps to minimize tread movement when the tire is rolling. As a result, you will not experience excessive noise or vibrations, even when you are cruising at high speeds with this tire.
Yokohama has also equipped this tire with four deep and wide circumferential grooves, which help with water evacuation, resulting in minimal aquaplaning issues. So, if you happen to encounter rainy conditions or extremely wet surfaces, you are assured of a safe ride. The Ascend Avid also comes with adaptive 3D sipes, which help to provide extra biting edges on snow-covered and ice-covered roads.
The Avid Ascend sports larger tread blocks than most all-season tires. The larger tread blocks are designed to increase its dry surface traction and high-speed cornering grip. It also comes with a tapered center rib, designed to enhance the tire’s steering response. Yokohama has further outfitted this tire with tread block bridges, which help to enhance its stability and reduce road noise.
Pros
- Excellent dry performance
- Impressive traction in wet and snowy conditions
- Smooth, quiet and comfortable ride
- Great handling and steering response
Cons
- A bit pricey
Verdict
Yokohama is renowned for producing high-quality tires, which perform extremely well in their designated areas. And, the Avid Ascend is no exception. While it may be more expensive than some of the other tires in its class, its performance, ride comfort, fuel efficiency and durability are almost unmatched. So, if you are in the market for a premium all-season, high-performance tire, then the Yokohama Avid Ascend will be an excellent choice.
Yokohama Tires Warranties and Guarantees
Yokohama tires come with two main warranties – standard limited warranty and limited mileage warranty. Also, all original tires from this brand come with a 30-day trial warranty.
Standard Limited Warranty
This warranty is designed to protect buyers against loss if a Yokohama tire becomes unserviceable due to workmanship or materials defects. Under this warranty, Yokohama promises to replace an eligible tire with a comparable new one, if it becomes unusable during its first 2/32 inch of the original tread.
If the tire becomes unserviceable when more than 2/32-inch of its original usable tread is worn, Yokohama will replace it on a pro-rated basis, where the buyer will contribute a certain amount towards its replacement, depending on the level of tread wear.
Mileage Warranty
Apart from the standard limited warranty, Yokohama tires also come with a mileage warranty. Under this warranty, Yokohama will replace your tire, if it wears out evenly to its treadwear indicators, without delivering the warranted mileage.
All the replacements done under this warranty are on a pro-rated basis. Coverage under this warranty extends for five years from the tire’s date of purchase.
30-Day Trial Warranty
Yokohama tires also come with a 30-day trial warranty. Under this warranty, Yokohama gives you up to 30 days after purchasing a set of its tires, to evaluate whether they are the right fit for your vehicle. If you are not fully satisfied with their performance, you are free to return them and you will get a full refund.
Why Buy Yokohama Tires
Your options are almost endless when it comes to purchasing a set of tires for your vehicle. So, why should you choose Yokohama tires instead of the other tire brands in the industry? Here are a few reasons why.
Thoroughly Tested Tires
Yokohama pays maximum attention when manufacturing its tires, to ensure they are of high quality and safe to use on the roads. To this end, this company employs a strict testing process. Every tire that comes from its production lines passes through advanced computer technology testing.
Each tire is tested for various performance-related aspects like water evacuation and tread wear, among other vital areas. So, whenever you purchase a Yokohama tire, be it an all-season tire, a performance tire, an all-terrain tire, a winter tire or any other type of tire, you can rest confident that you are getting a tire that will not disappoint you.
Technological Innovations
Yokohama is consistently working to come up with various tire technologies, designed to help its tires to deliver at the highest levels. Some of its renowned technological innovations include advanced tread compounds, which require a lesser amount of fuel to manufacture.
Also, it was the first tire manufacturer to come up with nanotechnology, which enables a tire to remain flexible in freezing temperatures, meaning it will continue to provide reliable traction and grip.
Yokohama has also come up with a W-speed rated winter tire, which can comfortably handle extremely cold temperatures, without sacrificing vehicle performance and high-speed driving capabilities.
From all-season tires to all-terrain tires, high-performance tires to winter tires, every tire from the Yokohama lineup is well equipped with various technologies, to ensure it will deliver solid all-around performances.
Yokohama Tires Pros
- High-quality tires
- Vast selection of tires
- Solid warranties and guarantees
Yokohama Tires Cons
- Some of its tires are a bit pricey
Our Take
Yokohama tires deliver the perfect blend of performance, safety, comfort and reliability. And this explains why they are trusted by millions of drivers from all parts of the globe. And while they may be slightly pricier than some of the others in the mid-level range, you are getting a product that won’t compromise on quality and reliability. So, if you are in the market for a new set of tires, then you should check out Yokohama tires.
About The Author
Charles Redding
I've spent many years selling cars, working with auto detailers, mechanics, dealership service teams, quoting and researching car insurance, modding my own cars, and much more.
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