[taranonline]

Originally Posted by Optimus7

How many Kms have they done, before getting noisy? How about the road grip is it the same as before or does it detoriate too?

Hey

Im not sure but may be 5-8k kms. Road grip is excellent.

[Optimus7]

Originally Posted by taranonline

Hey

Im not sure but may be 5-8k kms. Road grip is excellent.

5-8K kms seems to be a bit early. My dealer told me its life is about 25-30K kms and that the grip will be good all its life, but didn't warn me about the noise.
The road I take daily to my office is well laid and the speeds are quiet high, so good road grip and braking distance is important to me. I can live with a noisier tyre, but not without good road grip. My conern with the tyre is the lack of comfort. My friends fiesta with the A-drive is more comfortable. He is running on 185/65 r14 and I'm with 195/55 r15. Is it due to the lower profile of the tyre? or is S-drives really low on comfort as compared to A-drive?

[Jaskirat]

Hi Guys,

I have just completed 30K Kms on my Ford Fiesta 1.6 SXi that had Yokohama S-Drives. The size I am using is 195x55xR15. My feedback on these tyres is:

a) Excellent Grip on both dry and wet surface. The cornering ability is fantastic. Fiesta, which has very good handling, performs even better with S-Drives. I had earlier used Michelin Pilot Perceda 2 (pic) on the same car, but prefer the handling with the S-Drive.

b) As far as life of the tyres is concerned, after 30K kms, they need to b replaced. Except of the circumferential grooves, the tyres have become nearly bald. The lateral grooves are nearly gone.

c) Noise level, which were definitely more than Michelin PP2, has gradually increased. It is not unbearable, but more silent tyre is what I am looking for now.

d) Ride quality is better than Michelin PP2, maybe because the side wall of S-Drive is a bit on the softer side. Overall, the ride has been quite pleasant.

My recommendation is, if you are looking for a sporty tyre then S-Drive is the way to go. It would not last more than 30 - 35K, but those 30 - 35K would give you lot of driving pleasure. They look great and deliver what they are supposed to do.

Will I buy them again, maybe NO. This is nothing to do with the S-Drive, its only because I have hit my 40s and my Fiesta is now 6 years old. Both of us need to slow down a bit Probably I will go for Yokohama A-Drive or Michelin XM-2 ... but I will let you guys know.

Regards

Jaskirat Singh Nagra

[Optimus7]

Congrats Jaskirat on completing 30K on the S-drives. I too have the same 195/55 r15 tyres in my fiesta, hoping to make it last 30K kms. The looks are really great, 205/50 r15 was even meatier, wanted it but the dealer warned that, the steering will get heavier and the comfort will be low as compared to 55 profile tyres.

Any issues, you faced with the tyres?

[Buffetfan]

Originally Posted by Jaskirat

Hi Guys,

IMy recommendation is, if you are looking for a sporty tyre then S-Drive is the way to go. It would not last more than 30 - 35K, but those 30 - 35K would give you lot of driving pleasure. They look great and deliver what they are supposed to do.

Will I buy them again, maybe NO. This is nothing to do with the S-Drive, its only because I have hit my 40s and my Fiesta is now 6 years old. Both of us need to slow down a bit Probably I will go for Yokohama A-Drive or Michelin XM-2 ... but I will let you guys know.

Regards

Jaskirat Singh Nagra

Try the C.Drive if you want bot performance and silence. They are even better than S.Drive in the wet but pretty silent as I can confirm.
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/tyre-a...ml#post2022454

Beween them and XM2 I would prefer XM2 only if I want stronger sidewalls.

[Optimus7]

Originally Posted by Buffetfan

Try the C.Drive if you want bot performance and silence. They are even better than S.Drive in the wet but pretty silent as I can confirm.
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/tyre-a...ml#post2022454

Beween them and XM2 I would prefer XM2 only if I want stronger sidewalls.

The problem with going for C-drives, is they are not available in the 195/55 R15 size.

195/60 R15 won't fit in a fiesta, so i had to either go for A-drive or S-drive and I chose the later.

[Surprise]

Originally Posted by Optimus7

fiesta, so i had to either go for A-drive or S-drive and I chose the later.

Hey, how many kms have you done with S drives...Today I had fitted "S' drive in my Fiesta 195/55/R15...Change is from Potenza GIII & wanted to just experience one such performance tyre.

[Optimus7]

Originally Posted by Surprise

Hey, how many kms have you done with S drives...Today I had fitted "S' drive in my Fiesta 195/55/R15...Change is from Potenza GIII & wanted to just experience one such performance tyre.

I have done about 5K kms. So far the performance is good, braking is good and there isn't any tyre noise. But the comfort is down a notch. But that wasn't a deal breaker for me.

One thing to watch out in the S-drives is the softer tyre wall, so better be careful when you go over pot holes and stones. Enjoy your ride.

[Surprise]

Originally Posted by Optimus7

One thing to watch out in the S-drives is the softer tyre wall, so better be careful when you go over pot holes and stones. Enjoy your ride.

I went for a long drive & was very apprehensive on 'S drives' giving up due to bad road condition...Entire 6k the tyre performed very well...the first pothole I hit at good speeds, which I thought even the alloys would have bent, but luckily the tyre held up nicely...ended up hitting 4-5 potholes in similar fashion though with lesser intensity.

I always thought ride quality is not a big concern for me..so moved from 195/60/R14 to 195/55/R15, but iam not that comfortable with this newer size...esp on poor surfaces. Yet to load the car fully..dont know what's there in store :(

[naveen.raju]

I have been using S Drives on my Swift for couple of years now. Clocked 40k and going great. The mechanic advised me to change in another 5k-8k kms. The best thing I have noticed is that I havent had a single flat tyre in 38k kms. Recently cracked the side wall and had to change one tyre. Road conditions here are bad and I do frequent trips to Blore where around 50-60 kms are filled with potholes.

I admit it's not comfortable when running over potholes but grip is amazing. Steering feels a bit heavy but stays glued when cruising triple digit figures. Havent experienced any mileage drop (Cant comment more on that since I used the stock tyres only for 1k kms) but manage to squeeze around 17kmpl in city and close to 19kmpl on highway.

Planning to go for S Drives for the next upgrade too but higher profile this time. BTW, my car runs on 205/50/R15

[ghostrider]

I've had S-drives (195/55 R15) on my Ikon 1.6 Nxt (running 15" Lenso SHUs) for about four years now and clocked about 28,000 on them (mostly city driving with a few highway runs). I've never felt they were delicate - they grips levels are good, they're pretty quiet, and they're not prone to punctures or cracks.
All in all, I've always felt they were a tyre I'd recommend, but I've also had Yoko A-drives (195/60 R15) on my Swift and they're about as good. The A-drives feel a little noisier (but that could also be because the NVH insulation on the Swift isn't as good as the Ikon, so more tire noise gets through) but as a tire they're about as good as the S-drives in my personal experience. I've done highway runs averaging triple-digit speeds over three or four hours at a stretch and believe me when I tell you there's no perceptible difference because of the tire.
I wouldn't pay a significant premium for S-drives over A-drives today.

[rjstyles69]

Originally Posted by naveen.raju

I admit it's not comfortable when running over potholes but grip is amazing. Steering feels a bit heavy but stays glued when cruising triple digit figures.

What's the comfort concern here, hard sidewalls or something else ?

From my experience driving with those tires for about 25k clicks the S drives had the strongest sidewalls. Took a hit at about 100+ and busted the alloy but the tire was intact. In-fact fellow member od and yours truly were the 1st people on this forum who shod our drives with the S-drives, this I think was back in 2007 or so.

Used to love to corner with these tires and still they would never squeal. Still remember the drive on that curve near Ulsoor lake from the Sai Baba temple where we took it in 3 digit speeds and the car was planted on the road with the steering still feeling heavy. This only to test the FFE and the brand new tires at about 1:00am or so.

The wet grip was also pretty good compared to the other tires.
The only better tire we had then was the Advans which were expensive.

[naveen.raju]

Originally Posted by rjstyles69

What's the comfort concern here, hard sidewalls or something else ?

It's because I run 50 profile tyre. The bang tends to hit my spine since there isnt much to cushion the blow. I noticed the difference after driving the Vento and Jetta over the same patch doing pretty good speeds. But this is much better than A Drive R1 (tested this on my BIL's car).

But as you had pointed out, the car stays glued to the ground while cornering hard.

Interesting point - I too tested the car on the same curve near Ulsoor Lake couple of years back. Used to stay near that place.

[Surprise]

Originally Posted by Surprise

the first pothole I hit at good speeds, which I thought even the alloys would have bent, but luckily the tyre held up nicely

Not lucky this time.

During my recent highway trip, tyre punctured....air got deflated quickly...tyre got hurt in the process though I stopped it quickly. Have to replace one tyre with just 10K completed. Earlier, ended up in similar fashion couple of times with different brands, but survived with puncture alone...Replaced with a new S drive

[rana_kirti]

looking for some fresh feedback on the s drives. Has the tyre been same since many years or has the composition, noise levels etc changed ?

thanks.