Tire Review: Advan Fleva are shyte

495 Views 14 Replies 13 Participants Last post by DeuceFatty, 9 d ago

LV2PLA

Discussion Starter · 10 d ago

Raw observations here but I hope they might help other members. We had the Yokohama S-Line on the car before and found them stellar. Wore them all the way down so had to replace. Yokohama discontinued that model and replaced with the Advan Fleva. I made sure I bought the exact same specs (dimensions, offset, speed and treadwear ratings) because of how much I loved the S-Lines. I figured logically the Flevas would perform like their predecessor. Nope.

* My first clue was seeing them on the car: the S-Line had slimmer sidewalls and squared corners. The Flevas are rounded and look like normal everyday econo-shoes. WTF?

* As soon as I left the parking lot I noticed the ride was softer: the curbing of the street threshold gave no jolt. I have an SUV for plush riding, thanks.

* I can absolutely feel the additional sidewall when cornering with even moderate enthusiasm. You can instantly feel the sheering of that sidewall causing a delay and inconsistency in the car's rotation.

* This sheering has completely changed the car because of this inconsistent response time. The tires don't convey confidence, responsiveness nor grip.

Synopsis / Opinion: these things are weak-sauce Shyte and should only be purchased if they are free or if you drive your Spyder like an 80 year-old grandmother in a Corolla.

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dev

· #2 · 10 d ago

I always wondered if the sidewalls were mush based on some anacdotal reviews I have seen for other cars. The reports from some others who probably wouldn't know the difference said they were similar to the S.Drives. I felt the S.Drives on various owners cars and felt they were well balanced but even then the sidewalls were not stiff compared to OEM but still acceptable.
This is a current trend with many tire manufactures that are making the sidewalls soft for plus sizing. Some people like the plush ride I certainly don't.
The Firestone Indy 500s that I have now have nice stiff sidewalls and they also have a lot of grip for a street tire in the same category as the Fleva.

lightgyi7

· #3 · 10 d ago

Pfft... and some people argue whether Robertson or Riise have been the best Liverpool left back in the modern era?!

Reactions: 1

dev

· #4 · 10 d ago

lightgyi7 said:
Pfft... and some people argue whether Robertson or Riise have been the best Liverpool left back in the modern era?!

Ramesh when you are not trying to scam old people using debit cards are all you call center guys still using tubed tires.

amefuto

· #5 · 10 d ago

so what tires would you recommend instead?

beachbum

· #6 · 10 d ago

Having gone from S-Drives to Fleva, if stiff sidewalls are your "thing", neither tire is for you. If traction and predictability on any road surface is important, the Fleva work very well. The rounded profile seems to make the tire less sensitive to road imperfections than the much flatter, square shouldered S-Drive

They do have a different feel than the S-Drives, but a back to back test on 2 different Spyders, we found very little difference in the responsiveness, and almost no difference in traction. We prefer the Fleva over the S-Drive, even when being pushed pretty hard.

But not everyone likes the same thing.

Reactions: 2

dev

· #7 · 10 d ago

amefuto said:
so what tires would you recommend instead?

Very hard thing to know because everyone thinks their tire choice is the best so they double down on their bad choices or they just don't know the difference. Also professional reviews from the likes of tire rack are in the business of selling tires where they publish numbers that are close to each other but nothing to say one tire feels better like for more responsive attributes for street driving.
I read some reviews before buying a set of Goodyear tires which were terrible on feel like the OP only to find out later on they gained the nickname novacanes by the autoX community.
Once you buy a lousy set of tires you are stuck with them and it doesn't get any better by trying to get use to them no matter how much grip they have.

I am not advising anything extreme for looking for a tire with stiff sidewalls. The car came with stiff sidewall tires both the original Yokohama and Bridgestone. What they put out today are tires with soft sidewalls that are disconnected and boring especially for this car that is lively. They do this for the plus size wheels so it's more comfortable over bumps.

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pwnzor

· #8 · 10 d ago

I've run S drives, Fleva/S Drive combo, all Fleva...

They all worked well. Proper inflation and suspension settings important and should be changed if you have a passenger or not, spare tire or not, a lunch box on the damn floor board or not..

MidwestManiac

· #9 · 10 d ago

My spring/summer tires are rt615's simply because finding matching tires with 15" up front and 16" rear there's only snow tires or 200tw tires available.

They work very well for me and don't have any complaints

Funnyman

· #10 · 10 d ago

LV2PLA : are you 100% sure you've bought the same dimensions tires? Fronts tires size are stock or did you uppgraded to 195/50/15? If size are exactly the same, drive to let the wax falling off.

From your writing, it look like you've bought the fronts tires sidewall 1 "point" taller. Your feelling is the same when I'did accidentally bought a new pair of fronts tires in 195/55/15 instead of 195/50/15. Fronts tires felt like chewing gum with far less confidence than the 195/50/15.

2001spyderct

· #11 · 10 d ago

Im currently running flevas on my spyder and I like them. Given all I have to compare them to is the junk off brand tires that can on my car when I bought it. The flevas are predictable and give a comfortable ride for a performance summer tire. I’ve driven my car very hard on more than one occasion on back roads and I never felt the tires loosing traction or overheating. Im sure Toyo proxies would give better performance, especially for a car that sees some time at the track or auto cross, but would probably be a bit too extreme for they way most of us on here drive.

carlbecker

· #12 · 9 d ago

dev said:
Very hard thing to know because everyone thinks their tire choice is the best so they double down on their bad choices or they just don't know the difference. Also professional reviews from the likes of tire rack are in the business of selling tires where they publish numbers that are close to each other but nothing to say one tire feels better like for more responsive attributes for street driving.
I read some reviews before buying a set of Goodyear tires which were terrible on feel like the OP only to find out later on they gained the nickname novacanes by the autoX community.
Once you buy a lousy set of tires you are stuck with them and it doesn't get any better by trying to get use to them no matter how much grip they have.

I am not advising anything extreme for looking for a tire with stiff sidewalls. The car came with stiff sidewall tires both the original Yokohama and Bridgestone. What they put out today are tires with soft sidewalls that are disconnected and boring especially for this car that is lively. They do this for the plus size wheels so it's more comfortable over bumps.

I hope you include yourself in everyone. You are/where also involved in sales and product promotion. As far as Tirerack testing is concerned I would hope the numerical values of the selected tires are close. That suggests competition amongst the manufactures is high. TR reviewers do give comments of their opinion on the characteristics between the tires, possibly not what you are looking for. If I recall correctly you expressed very similar thoughts on a Falken tire awhile back to what was in a TR review.

Best is really not a question that can be answered. Each of us has different tastes, expectations and usage. I have never found best, only satisfactory. I have gone through several different sets of tires on my spyder, it had RE-040 on it when purchased. I would not use RE -040 tires in any wet condition regardless of feel. I have used several other mediocre tires as well. I stay as close to OEM size as possible for street usage. I have enjoyed RE-11 and currently ZIII tires. I have driven a spyder with S Drives and think highly of them and would consider using them. 052 tires are just to expensive for me to justify purchasing regardless of performance or feel.

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MerryFrankster

· #13 · 9 d ago

Check the inflation pressure.

Reactions: 1

cyclehead

· #14 · 9 d ago

Are you certain the difference in performance isn’t due to new (tall) tread and mold release compound? One time I mounted a pair of new tires in the back of my spyder. Holy crap, the car was almost undriveable! The tall squirmy tread in the back made the rear of the car very unstable. I learned my lesson, never mix new with old tires. Even with a complete set of new tires (same size and brand) the new tires are very squirmy and sloppy until about 1/3 of the tread is worn away. Then finally the car starts handling correctly again. One time I replaced a single tire due to broken internal belts. I had them cut 1/2 the tread off before sending it to me. The new tire worked perfectly with the rest of the worn set.

DeuceFatty

· #15 · 9 d ago

Have Flevas (205 50 square) and they're great for comfort as a daily. I swear they improved the ride comfort quality for a daily. The only con I have would be in rain. While I miss my previous tires Continential Extreme Contact Sports which were great in the rain they weren't great comfort wise for a daily. With all this said... I only daily and from my understanding the Continentals were more for daily and part autox/track tire. I got them on sale and were about $92 a tire... Non-existent at this point so... settled on Fleva's.

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