Anyone have experience with the ADVAN A052?

A fellow auto crosser says that they are some sort of super tire, new to the market. Has anyone ran one of these, what can you report back?

Theres a thread started by javelin that talks about them at nats

There's been quite a lot of discussion about them, although no consensus has been reached that I can tell.

There's pretty strong evidence that they're very fast, and break down really quickly.

This tire is on a car that competed at Nationals and had a total of about 30 runs on it. Not 30 events, 30 runs 

^Yes, but wasn't it already mentioned that it was on a heavy, camber limited car?

They're well documented to not be happy on super narrow wheels, without adequate camber, and on super front heavy cars. So if you were to, say, put them on a car that has all of those attributes plus a dose of AWD to add even more heat and slip angle to the equation, bad things might happen. But if you have a reasonable car to put them on, they seem to be great and don't really wear worse than any of the other top tires. If they ever start offering contingency I'd consider a set for the primary autocross car, but until then I'm happy with what we've got, especially since we're the only car in our class that they make sizes for. We have some secondary autocross cars that may end up with them mainly because they're the only tire that exists in the sizes they need.

Well na miata. So fairly balanced and good amounts of camber 

In reply to _ :

All the front runners in STS are running them nationally. But if you're only running locals I'd run the stones because they're cheaper and can be flipped. 

The only people who really need to mess with these are people playing at the pointiest part of the competition at a national level. 

Alex Piehl I tried running these on my FiST. Went 215/40/17.

Compared to the Rival S 1.5 and RE71R, they have better longitudinal grip. You can launch harder and brake later, but they seem to be lacking overall max grip in steady state unless you drop pressures insanely low which our camber limited cars don't like, as well as turning into a transitional mess unless you tweak your suspension setup.

They're a little more precise feeling on turn in than the Rival S 1.5, but less so than the RE71R. However, at the limit they're rather vague, much more than the RE71R and Rival S 1.5. Despite this, they're fairly forgiving when overdriven, even more so than the BFG Rival S 1.5 which is traditionally much better at this than the RE71R.

We did a bunch of testing on my HS FiST before the ProFinale and found them to be able to reach the pace of the Rival S 1.5, but not exceed it and it was harder to consistently put good times down.

I ran these on my STH WRX though, and while pace was identical to the BFGs on that car during testing, we found their upside (powering out of turns with slip angle) to be more relevant/useful for the courses at Nats this year. I'm also running over 4 degrees of camber up front on that car, so YMMV.

I don't think they're the right tire for every car, but if were running an STR ND or an AS Corvette, I'd want these tires for sure.

tl;dr - they need low pressures, adequate wheel width, and camber to work well, while favoring high HP cars to make use of the increased longitudinal grip.

So we finally have a tire that MIGHT, in certain instances, when it doesn’t delaminate (!), disrupt the 2 tire domination that’s been going on for several years. 

Are they crazy expensive like the old AD07s or whatever?

Sounds like my kinda tire!

Worth mentioning that they are available in sizes the BFG's and RE71's ARE NOT.  One of the main reasons I'm using them. 

Patientzero said:

Worth mentioning that they are available in sizes the BFG's and RE71's ARE NOT.  One of the main reasons I'm using them. 

What, the 185/55/14? The 295/30/18 and 295/35/18 seem to be the only other sizes not available as a RE71R or a Rival S 1.5, but you can get those in alternative widths (285, 315, 335).

In reply to Javelin :

Both tires don't come in all those sizes.  For example: in a 315 the Rival was your only option, now you have the A052.  

CyberEric said:

Are they crazy expensive like the old AD07s or whatever?

For my ES Miata, a set in 205/50R15 is $641.56 from the tire rack. And, they're back ordered.

I bought a set of RE-71r for $517.36, minus both the $70 Bridgestone rebate and the SCCA member $70 rebate. $377.36, delivered. I had them in two days.

Since I'm a just a mid pack competitor locally, it wasn't a hard decision. 

Floating Doc said:

For my ES Miata, a set in 205/50R15 is $641.56 from the tire rack. And, they're back ordered.

I bought a set of RE-71r for $517.36, minus both the $70 Bridgestone rebate and the SCCA member $70 rebate. $377.36, delivered. I had them in two days.

Since I'm a just a mid pack competitor locally, it wasn't a hard decision. 

This is the right decision for anyone who wasn't in Lincoln, NE last week IMO.  The Yokos are another top competitor, and may be better on some cars - but they're not earth shattering, especially not on asphalt where most people run.

CyberEric said:

So we finally have a tire that MIGHT, in certain instances, when it doesn’t delaminate (!), disrupt the 2 tire domination that’s been going on for several years. 

Are they crazy expensive like the old AD07s or whatever?

Sounds like my kinda tire!

The 225/50R15s are the same price as 245/40R15 BFGs. So, they are definitely not the cheapest option.

NickD said:

CyberEric said:

So we finally have a tire that MIGHT, in certain instances, when it doesn’t delaminate (!), disrupt the 2 tire domination that’s been going on for several years. 

Are they crazy expensive like the old AD07s or whatever?

Sounds like my kinda tire!

The 225/50R15s are the same price as 245/40R15 BFGs. So, they are definitely not the cheapest option.

Small sizes are expensive for sure. But once you get into adult sizes (17/18/19" diameters) the prices are pretty much right in line with rivals. So still not cheap, but not pushing into new territory. Actually most of the sizes I looked at they were a few dollars less than rivals.

After my last bridgestone experience I really want to avoid them at least for the rear of my next autocross car. I want to try the yokos but they don't really make the rear size that will work, so I'll probably end up back on rivals or some kind of split setup to see if the yokos are better than the rivals on the front end. Or I'll talk someone into letting me test drive their car on bridgestones and hopefully learn that those tires are only hateful on rear engine cars, and mid engine is fine.

In reply to dps214 :

I've been extremely happy with my Bridgestone's on the Boxster.

Floating Doc said:

CyberEric said:

Are they crazy expensive like the old AD07s or whatever?

For my ES Miata, a set in 205/50R15 is $641.56 from the tire rack. And, they're back ordered.

I bought a set of RE-71r for $517.36, minus both the $70 Bridgestone rebate and the SCCA member $70 rebate. $377.36, delivered. I had them in two days.

Since I'm a just a mid pack competitor locally, it wasn't a hard decision. 

I didn't realize there was an SCCA rebate for the Bridgestones. Dammit. Guess I'll order those 17's before the other rebate expires assuming you are allowed to use multiples. Can you confirm they accept both totaling $140?

In reply to captainawesome :

Last I looked at the fine print they're not stackable. But that was 12 months ago. May have changed. 

In reply to captainawesome :

The website let me do both of them. I have two confirmation numbers.

Floating Doc said:

In reply to captainawesome :

The website let me do both of them. I have two confirmation numbers.

 

Heck, i forgot about the scca one until TR sent me the freakin rebate claim form right along with the bridgestone corporate one!  Yes they appear stackable, one is thru bridgestone and one is thru scca/TR.

Looks like the other $70 rebate plus $30 for using the CNFA card is officially done as of the 9th. Missed opportunity. Dammit.

Edit: spoke too soon. Just visited the local Firestone and there's still time on the $70 + $30 through Bridgestone and the SCCA $70 can be stacked with it.