OKay I got these puppies on Monday. I'm still waiting on my allignment (they "didn't have time" on Monday), but so far it's pretty awesome. These tires are unforgiving; they have a really stiff sidewall, and a lot of rubber to the ground. I am using stock wheels, so I got 225/50/16 tires.

THEY STICK LIKE NO TOMORROW!!! They do not squeal when taking 90 degree turns over 20 mph, they are fimly placed on the tarmac at all times so far. I can't wait to do a high speed run!

No difference in the way the car is counting miles for some reason, and the MPH seems dead on still.

Coming from the absolute CRAP tires I had...it's a big leap, but very awesome!

Anyone else here running these tires?

 

I had the 235/45/17 version of the tires.
Grip was gr8 in rain, dry etc. They didn't last very long of course because they performed so well. I'd say I used the max grip of these tires 10% of the time.
The only thing I ran into was a slight vibration at 50mph no matter what variations in tire pressure I ran. I guess the 16's don't have that issue but I read a review saying that they did have vibs. I bought them any cuz I got a good deal.

here are the pics for ppl that want to see the tread design

http://maxima.homeip.net/max/5THGEN/2KMAX/index1.html

 

I had these tires in 235/45/17 on my 95 max. I really liked these tires, my favorite thing about them was there hydoplane resistance. I could never make the tires break free either. I was always afraid they would just stop gripping with no warning though, luckily that never happened

 

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....tireModel=A520

and this is a neat article...
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/ecsta.jsp

LOL Ethan! I hope I never have that problem...I don't WANT to break them free. I'm gunna try auto-x again soon.

 

Here's my take on a few tires:

* Yokohama A520:
Eh. Decent. Compound is hard. dry weather is pretty good. wet weather is not bad until the thread is about 30% left. lasts HELLA long time.
~$120 a tire . hard side wall. kinda noisy

* Yokohama AVS Intermediate
EXCELLENT DRY WEATHER TIRE. by far, the closest thing to race rubbers. hehe. but only lasts 5k miles on hard driving. SUX AZZ on wet weather. WARNING. you will hydroplane if there is water on the free. beware. $Cheap. but no longer available. soft sidewall. quiet tires

*Bridgestone RE730
EXcellent dry AND excellent wet weather. semi-hard compund. lasts a while. medium sideway. very quiet. i love em. but expensive. $150 a tire

*Khumo ESCATA SUPRA 712
CHEAP! Awesome xtraction on dry and decent wet. did i say cheap? hard compound ( compared to the others) um. CHEAP Z's!

these are all the ones i've been in contact and have driven on.
hope that helps other buyers.

--cheston

 

Hey, Cheston! The compound isn't actually hard at all...it's supple. However, the sidewalls are reinforced, so the ride is unforgiving. Yes, a bit noisy, but that's what the radio is for!

 

well all i know is. its gonna last you a while

my roomate had em on his car for like 2 years! ~16k before it was time to change ie...

 

How would you be able to tell?

 

225/50-16 makes the speedomoeter read about 3 -4 mph high at 70 mph in my car. It actually helps me out because I think I am going faster than I really am.

 

Ben, I LOOOOOVE your sig pic. Ironically the LOTR soundtrack is playing as I type this....

Anyway, how did I tell. Well, I checked with the old tires how many miles from work - home and back. Then I did it again just yesterday with the new tires. Same mileage.

Tuesday, I had someone drive along with me on the highway and check various speeds (cell phone).

 

I have/had these on my car (235/45/17's). Never been in a car that gripped the turns so well, couldnt even make them squeal. The right front blew, however, a past repair that went bad. To replace all four tires w/ brand new from Les Schwab run $520(Federals, bleh) and up. So, until i want to drop some major duckets on rubber, i'm rolling the stock 15's

 

oh man that STINKS! Yeah I somehow got my A520's dirt cheap...I am appreciative to the local shop that helped me get them. The car is being aligned right now, actually.

They are insane tires. I really love 'em! Trying to decide on winter tires...15" steelies....

 

A520s SUCK big time!! They are very loud, the tire is way hard and the treadwear is horrible. I walk away everytime someone offers them to me. I deal with alot of wheels and tires and I know for a fact that A520s are not the tires to purchase. Yes, the handling in pretty descent but everything else is not. Never again will I have these tires in my possession. I could literately hear the car about 2 blocks away. I wish Mr. Sweetsound could give you guys more input, he was there.

Yokohama is one of my favorite brands, they just killed it with the A520.

No offense Lime, I'm just giving alittle input on my experience with the tires. Good Luck!

 

That is good to know, I've never had lo-pro tires before, so i have nothing to compare the ride/noise/wear to. What brand/model would you recommend Mr. Nismo. I dont want to spend a lot of money, so i'm trying to find something used or off of ebay. I cant see spending almost $800 on tires when i have stock SE suspension.

 

omg LOL this is too funny. They're not tires for people who want a cushy ride. They are not advertised as such. How about reading that link I posted. The tires perform supremely; they are not luxury tires, however, so what's the problem?

ONCE AGAIN!!!!!!!!!! The rubber is not hard!!! The sidewalls are reinforced. Again, check the link.

The treadwear is fine on them; I know about 5 ppl around here who never had problems with that; perhaps your car was not aligned properly (most common cause for uneven treadwear).

 

Would this effect the odometer in any way? Will u put on more miles then usual?

 

*****
I just went through a set of 235\45\17s and they didn't get loud until they were almost dead. They lasted about 20,000 miles but still performed even under heavy cornering and turns. I think the tirerack has them for $102 a tire. Not bad. Now, the intermediates are hella loud. But for $65, you can't get mad.

 

I stick with Michelins, Brigestones, Yokohamas, just not the A520! But in all honesty, for the most part you get what you pay for.

Bidnizman, if you need tires let me know. I have 235/45/17" RE730s and if you need 18's I have 235/45/18s Bridgestone Turanzas RE33s. Email me at Mrnismo@cs.com for pics and info. You'll definitely get them for waaaay less than $800. Thanks!

 

these are not low profile tires, to clarify. As I said, 225/50/16.

I will post a picture as soon as I can get a cord for the digital cam I borrowed.

 

I've got some Yokohama AVS DB (about 6 months now) and I love them. Dry traction is good, Wet traction is great and best of all they are quiet. I do reccomend them

 

Shadow had the A520's on his old 17" wheels and they pretty much sucked. He originally had Yokohama Nexus tires(predecessor to the AVS Sport) and those gripped so much harder that his car couldn't even spin a tire. They only lasted 6k before wearing to the belts but they had more traction than any other tire we've tried. He switched to the A520's and they just sucked in comparison. They did last 20k which is pretty good but they just weren't true performance tires. They did have a lot of road noise too. The Nexus were worse but they also had a tendency to pick up tons of rocks and spray them all around the wheel well. I even took it through some curves after my friend's M3 and the Max actually had more traction but it felt so terrible w/ Intrax springs.

The A520's aren't great high performance tires but they are pretty well suited for duty on a Maxima since most of us don't go carving turns at 80 every day of the week. They last a while, get decent traction, and don't cost too much.

 

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/ecsta.jsp

I don't think your estimate is terribly accurate. Perhaps the Intrax springs were too harsh. You won't feel the springs' effect on a car with soft, pathetic tires. A lot of the DSM guys around here are running the A520's, as well as some of the mustang guys, Subaru guys, etc. They really love the A520's, and they all use their cars for different things.

Tires are, of course, fairly personal. If you want a cushy ride, don't get aggressive tires, or, for that matter, aggressive springs.

 

The Intrax spring rate was way too low for hard cornering. The car was rocking around like a gigantic boat through the turns which made it feel terrible, not the tires. It could have been riding on R compounds and still felt like that. Even w/ an Addco rear sway bar there was way too much body roll b/c his Tokico's couldn't slow the springs down. This was w/ the Nexus which had a far more aggressive compound than the A520s which he got afterward.

The A520's have a harder compound which lasted almost 20k w/ Shadow driving them pretty hard. Yokohamas have a tendency not to last very long but the A520's are about as good as they get. His Toyo Proxes FZ4's lasted about 16-20k but all 4 of them cracked and 1 of them even threw a belt b/c the Maxima exceeds the specifications of the tire apparently. His new Falkens are like trying to drive in snow. Stomp the gas and they won't stop smoking until you get to 50. They do get great wear and its good for him since he's putting 300-400 miles a week on the car.

BTW, Shadow obviously doesn't have a problem w/ harsh ride since he's rolling 19's which only have a 35 series aspect ratio. He's also got Ground Controls which keep the car much better into the turns but the Tokicos perform even less damping now. Intrax are appearance oriented springs that drop more for looks than performance. They're supposed to offer stock ride and they do that but are terrible for performance driving.

I think of the A520's as somewhere in the middle of performance tires below the high end tires Pilot Sports or P9000's but better than the 300 treadwear tires like FZ4's or Falkens. I just don't think of them as really great performance tires.

 

how long do those yoko avs db last??long?

 

haha. do explain that to the people at auto-x who want tires that grip in the rain as well as the dry. The only tires better are Falken Azinis, but they blow goat butt in the rain.

 

We had some killer rain last night and today! We really needed it, but anyway, the tires really are great int he rain too! STILL GRIPPING! I'm so used to not having traction on a road even after it's partially dry; this is a great change. The tires cut through the highway rivulets and such at 70-80 mph super well.

 

Lime, I remember hearing the sound as Mr. Nismo's GF pulled away in his 99 SE-L riding on A520's...

It sounded as if it was an off-road truck with that loud A$$ huuuuummmmmmm...........

 

no one has complained about the noise outside of the car. I'm never not driving it, sorry.

 

I remember the similiar paths shadow and I had for a while.
17x8 Borbet Type M's on yoko nexus for a grand since the nexus was being discontinued. then once our nexus wore out we went a520 cuz at the time they were the best bang for the buck. Where has he been?
Hows his business coming along making stickers and other custom designed pieces of art?