Topic: Reviews: continental extremecontact force or Yoko advan neova ad09?

Looking at tire options for this coming season.  We have always used RS4's but they don't come in the preferred size for our new Solstice build.  If anyone has raced the Extreme Contact Forces or the "new, released in 2022" Neova AD09's please comment below. 

Race reviews that I can find on the Contact Forces are very mixed.  I can't find any racing reviews of the new AD09s.

Our car should be right around 3,000 lbs, decent power, and decent camber gain.

Thanks

Re: Reviews: continental extremecontact force or Yoko advan neova ad09?

I wish I could give direct feedback on these compounds but I've experimented with a lot of different compounds and the predecessors to what your looking at (for whatever it's worth).

The ECF's we're supposed to dethrone the RS4 in the budget endurance market and from what I've seen seems to be accepted as a better RS4... similar wear rate, drivability, a hair faster, and a significant improvement in wet performance. However, it hasn't gained much popularity because of their price. The marginal improvements from RS4 to ECF's don't justify the huge price gap, which is why they haven't gained popularity IMO.

This is going to get a lot of hate, especially from the time attack folks who love the cheaty A052's, but I've never been impressed with anything made by Yokohama. The AD08R's IME were one of the worst tires I've ever run, the A052's were fast but poor feedback and wore faster than a hoosier R7 and any other super 200/100TW tire. IMO yoko can't make a tire that's fast, fun to drive, and can last long while the other half of the tire field figured it out over two years ago.

Have you looked into Falkens offerings? The RT615k is a pretty close rival to the RS4 for a budget fast and long lasting tire. The RT660 doesn't last very long, but about twice as long as an A052 and comparable in pace. V730's also bridge the gap between time attack and endurance tires and are cheap.

tl;dr: ECF won't be the wrong choice, stay away from Yoko IMO, and see if there's anyone else out there in your size.

Full Ass Racing
#455 Piñata Miata - 1990 Miata
#735 BMDollhÜr 7Turdy5i - 1990 735i

Re: Reviews: continental extremecontact force or Yoko advan neova ad09?

duthehustle93 wrote:

The ECF's we're supposed to dethrone the RS4 in the budget endurance market and from what I've seen seems to be accepted as a better RS4... similar wear rate, drivability, a hair faster, and a significant improvement in wet performance. However, it hasn't gained much popularity because of their price. The marginal improvements from RS4 to ECF's don't justify the huge price gap, which is why they haven't gained popularity IMO.

This is exactly my understanding too.  The latest GRM has their massive tire test results chart which also backs up this assertion from actual testing.   Our team religiously runs the RS4 and has been quite successful doing so.  Much of the time we end up heat cycling the tires out before they are actually worn out, like 3-4 races.  I bought a set of ECF for the Mazda3  with a black Friday sale with my NASA discount code from trackdaytire.com and it ended up being about the same price as the RS4 so I thought it was worth a try.  Once I run them I am happy to give my opinion, likely on the podcast first (everyone racers).

Chris from 3 Pedal Mafia

4 (edited by bigamonsta 2023-01-21 09:45 PM)

Re: Reviews: continental extremecontact force or Yoko advan neova ad09?

<deleted>

El Capitan of Team Corky
94 Miata transitioning to BRG because she now identifies as a Lotus previously covered in cork as Mazda/Toyo Kogyo tribute then painted like the Queen's coffin
4 time tire raffle winner. (So I got that goin for me which is nice)

Re: Reviews: continental extremecontact force or Yoko advan neova ad09?

The continentals are more popular in non-lemons racing series. The AER race we did at Mid Ohio had the big continental semi there (we used them to mount some azenis for us). EG: the less the series cares about money, the more popular conti's are.

For us, the Azeni 615+ is the best bang for the buck. It comes in more weird sizes than other tires and holds up very well for our car.

I considered other tires, including the RS4 (especially if we raced in Luckydog), but we just haven't found a better value tire for endurance than the azenis.

1989 Merkur XR4Ti: Project Merkur Space Program - Wins: Class C - Colonel and the Sinkhole 2023 | "Heroic Fix" The Pitt Maneuver 2023 | "Halloween Meets Gasoline" The Pitt Maneuver 2022
1980 Dodge Challenger: Most Extreme eLemonAtion Challenger (Rust Belt Ramble 2021 Dishonorable Mention)

Re: Reviews: continental extremecontact force or Yoko advan neova ad09?

I run Neovas on my Lotus Elise. They're not great until they're warm.

Re: Reviews: continental extremecontact force or Yoko advan neova ad09?

Sonic wrote:
duthehustle93 wrote:

The ECF's we're supposed to dethrone the RS4 in the budget endurance market and from what I've seen seems to be accepted as a better RS4... similar wear rate, drivability, a hair faster, and a significant improvement in wet performance. However, it hasn't gained much popularity because of their price. The marginal improvements from RS4 to ECF's don't justify the huge price gap, which is why they haven't gained popularity IMO.

This is exactly my understanding too.  The latest GRM has their massive tire test results chart which also backs up this assertion from actual testing.   Our team religiously runs the RS4 and has been quite successful doing so.  Much of the time we end up heat cycling the tires out before they are actually worn out, like 3-4 races.  I bought a set of ECF for the Mazda3  with a black Friday sale with my NASA discount code from trackdaytire.com and it ended up being about the same price as the RS4 so I thought it was worth a try.  Once I run them I am happy to give my opinion, likely on the podcast first (everyone racers).

 

Our RS4s now give us 2 full weekends, including test days, on a truck.  We were burning through them in 3 race days, but we finally got it aligned and its made a huge difference.  Tires are heat cycled by the second Sunday, but still have lots of tread.  We also properly prepare the tire, which I'm not sure if that has an effect or not.  We've chewn through other brands in less than 2 days.

Re: Reviews: continental extremecontact force or Yoko advan neova ad09?

I've often thought that if Yokohama was going to be the 'Official Tire of Lemons', they might want to make some that we actually want/can afford to run.

As for our team. every time we've tried a different tire, we always end up back with the RS4s.  Some may be better, but they usually don't last longer, or are they are more expensive.

As always, YMMV.

Captain
Team Super Westerfield Bros.
'93 Acura Integra - No VTEC Yo!

Re: Reviews: continental extremecontact force or Yoko advan neova ad09?

VKZ24 wrote:

I've often thought that if Yokohama was going to be the 'Official Tire of Lemons', they might want to make some that we actually want/can afford to run.

There are certainly a lot of moving parts involved in such things; someday in the future, I'll be able to talk about these things over beers.

Eric Rood
Everything Bagel, 24 Hours of Lemons
eric@24hoursoflemons.com

10 (edited by bspeed 2023-01-26 07:38 PM)

Re: Reviews: continental extremecontact force or Yoko advan neova ad09?

So it’s settled.

RS4’s if you want a sure thing when going to prom, Falkens if you can only afford to go to fast food first, Conti’s if you want to risk an expensive penicillin shot but maybe have the time of your life, yokos when she grows up.

(above response written by Chat GPT, not the author)

Re: Reviews: continental extremecontact force or Yoko advan neova ad09?

Yoko's? Oh, no

(above response written by Chat GT)

Re: Reviews: continental extremecontact force or Yoko advan neova ad09?

therood wrote:
VKZ24 wrote:

I've often thought that if Yokohama was going to be the 'Official Tire of Lemons', they might want to make some that we actually want/can afford to run.

There are certainly a lot of moving parts involved in such things; someday in the future, I'll be able to talk about these things over beers.

Back in 2008 while we were building our first Lemon, Yokohama invited our car club to a tire PR thing. They did not have any good 200 treadwear tires back then, maybe some 180 treadwear options. I remember one of the Yokohama guys stressing their tires were blacker like than somehow made them better. Sixteen years, various connections to budget endurance racing later and still no great  200 treadwear Yokohama.

Treadwear ratings seem a bit arbitrary too, it's not like SFI or FIA creates a standard, tests and certifies the tires. Which tire/s are the "cheaty" 140s rebranded as 200s?

Troy

#35 LRE
1973 Datsun 240Z

Re: Reviews: continental extremecontact force or Yoko advan neova ad09?

The Yoko A008 165/70R10s are good.  No RS4s in a 10"

Team whatever_racecar #745 Volvo wagon

14 (edited by bspeed 2023-01-27 08:06 AM)

Re: Reviews: continental extremecontact force or Yoko advan neova ad09?

Deleted

Re: Reviews: continental extremecontact force or Yoko advan neova ad09?

Wanted to resurrect this thread now that rs4 prices went up.

Went to price shop tires and found rs4s up by 120 a set in our size sad

Now pricing on the rs4, force, and ad09 are much closer.  Is the rs4 still king?  Anyone know how long the ad09 lasts?

Re: Reviews: continental extremecontact force or Yoko advan neova ad09?

Unfortunately I think RS4's are still king, even with their price increase. I haven't seen many people compare the AD09 vs. RS4 apples to apples, but I doubt yokohama is going to be the one to dethrone the RS4.

Full Ass Racing
#455 Piñata Miata - 1990 Miata
#735 BMDollhÜr 7Turdy5i - 1990 735i