Toyo Celsius AS2 Detailed Review

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The Toyo Celsius AS2 is a great option in its category of grand touring all season tires, where it notably provides superb tread longevity and fuel economy. But how well its doing in other key areas? Well let’s find out.

Kia Sportage
Celsius AS2’s 225/55R18 XL size installed on Kia Sportage.

Main Takeaway

So the tire is doing great in terms of:

  • Dry Performance: Excellent directional grip and stability, outstanding braking performance due to its densely packed (central) lug structure.
  • Tread Life: Impressive durability and a 65k mile warranty, supported by a robust outer rubber layer and a lightweight design.
  • Fuel Economy: Efficient in fuel usage, with design features that minimize rolling resistance and a special rubber composition.

However, it needs improvements in:

  • Wet Handling and Braking: The tire’s siping is limited, leading to below-average performance in wet conditions.
  • Noise Comfort: The open lug structure results in noticeable tread noise.
  • Road Vibration Comfort: Stiffer rubber compound and rigid internal structure contribute to less effective absorption of road vibrations, impacting ride comfort.

Tread Build

The Toyo Celsius AS2 features a straight forward directional tread pattern.

Toyo Celsius AS2
Toyo Celsius AS2

Its tread is segmented into five distinct sections, separated by longitudinal and slanted grooves, evident on the swooping lugs.

The central most area is relatively more packed up, and here you can see interlocking lugs, with linear sipes, joining up with the notches.

Same is the case with the adjacent blocks, (which are between the shoulders and central most ones).

While the shoulder blocks are characterized by a combination of thicker siping slits, predominately, joining up with the narrower ones, segmenting the lugs in to two.

Internally, the tire is composed of a single ply polyester casing, two steel belts, and a single ply of nylon, contributing to its robustness and durability.

Info on Sizes

The Toyo Celsius AS2 comes in 15 to 20 inches rims, with total of 50 sizes having following specs.

  • Speed ratings: T, H and V.
  • Load ratings: SL and XL.
  • Weight range: 16 to 32 lbs.
  • Tread depth: 10.5 to 11.3/32″.
  • UTQG: 440 A B.
  • Treadwear warranty: 60k miles.

All sizes come with 3 peak and M+S ratings.

Don’t get overwhelmed by all-season tire options, and start your search here.

Dry Performance

Dry performance has two parts, directional grip/stability, and cornering, which checks tire’s lateral traction and steering characteristics.

Let’s see how Toyo performed in each.

Longitudinal Grip

This grip tells you about the tire’s capability to maintain a straight line traction, and its a function which is largely dependent on the design/footprint of the central lugs.

This is because, the lugs here make the most contact with the road, while the tire rolls linearly.

Having said that, the Toyo Celsius AS2, known for its densely packed lug structure in the central tread area, showcase above-average results (as seen by its superior braking performance, which directly measured linear grip).

This packed up middle lugs, basically provide enhance contact patch to meet with the road.

Moreover, these lugs are placed in a way, so they could form zigzag pattern of the middle most groove, and this, combined with the multi-directional notches on these lugs, further add to the tire’s overall longitudinal grip.

Another key aspect is the tire’s rounded contact patch.

While subtle, it plays a critical role in evenly distributing weight across the lugs, thereby reducing the pressure on each individual lug and diminishing the overall momentum force or inertia.

This is crucial because lower momentum translates to easier stopping, and shorter braking distances (on tests).

That’s why the Toyo Celsius AS2 trails by merely 3 feet behind the CrossClimate 2, which is renowned for its braking capabilities. In fact, its the main reason, why I added this Michelin tire in my list of top touring AS tires: https://tiredriver.com/best-grand-touring-all-season-tires/

Dry Cornering

In the realm of tire performance, the dry cornering is judged by analyzing tire’s lateral grip and steering responsiveness.

Let’s start with lateral grip, which primarily gets influenced by the tire’s shoulders, as they get the most weight on them, while the tire is cornering.

The Toyo Celsius AS2 distinguishes itself in this area. Its design features an expansive shoulder contact patch, equipped by robust longitudinal slits and lateral shoulder grooves.

These elements collectively enable the tire to offer outstanding traction during cornering maneuvers.

However, traction is just one piece of the handling puzzle. And steering responsiveness is equally crucial.

And the Toyo is this regard is again is pretty good enough. It’s design allows for immediate feedback with every turn of the wheel, translating into a lively and engaging driving experience.

This remarkable steering capability, combined with the tire’s excellent lateral grip, contributes to its leading handling performance, as seen by lap times (on averaged tests).

But what exactly underpins these steering characteristics? Well three main points do.

  • Lightweight Structure: The tire’s construction features a single-ply polyester casing and a single-ply nylon cap ply, keep the weight low, and so tires don’t face a lot of momentum during cornering, which disrupts the overall steering feedback.
  • Stiff Tread: The tread of the Celsius AS2 is relatively stiffer compared to other tires, and that keeps the lugs from deformation, (explained below in “FYI”).
  • Reinforced Lug Foundations: The lugs of the tire have reinforced foundations, which limits their flexing even further.

For Your Info: The flexing or bending of lugs waste time as they need to return to their original shape after deformation. And that directly translates in to a delay in steering outputs.

Tread Life

Tread wear in tires is affected by several factors, including the tire’s internal and external construction, as well as its rolling resistance values. In this context, the Toyo Celsius AS2 demonstrates pretty decent performance in terms of treadwear.

This tire features a robust outer rubber layer, designed to enhance durability, which is complemented by stability-enhancing cap plies within its internal structure.

Both of these together provide increased “resistance” to rapid wear.

Moreover, the tire with less density of biters through out its tread also keeps the grip low, and with that speed ratings as well (speed rating is inversely proportional to tread life).

And this combined with the tire’s lightweight design, which is in-fact, one of the lightest in the grand touring category, you get an above average tread longevity.

And that is backed by it’s confidence inspiring 65k miles warranty.

Learn how to increase these tires’ tread life further: https://tiredriver.com/how-to-increase-tread-life-on-tires/

Wet Performance

In wet conditions, hydroplaning or aquaplaning, combined with tire’s overall wet traction is what encompasses the overall performance.

Let’s check both of them, one by one.

Wet Traction

Wet traction in tires is significantly influenced by siping.

And the effectiveness of siping is determined by:

  • The amount of water that is already expelled through the tire’s grooves. The more water that is channeled away by the grooves, the less water remains for the sipes to manage.
  • How well these sipes can flex (which creates suction), and absorb water particles in their tread.
  • How well their structure is, like are they full depth, 3D interlocking, and so on.

Now in case of Toyo Celsius AS2, since it offers good enough grooves, providing excellent dispersion properties, there’s less reliance on sipes.

Which is good, because it’s sipes aren’t too effective. I mean, the tire only comes with linear sipes, which aren’t a lot to begin with.

These linear sipes are prone to stiffness, which hinders their ability to effectively absorb and disperse water, and here tire’s already stiffer rubber composition, isn’t aiding to the effectiveness of the already less abundant siping anyways.

The result, you get below-average wet handling and braking, compared to its direct competitors.

Hydroplaning Resistance

Hydroplaning resistance is a crucial aspect of a tire’s wet performance, as it measures a tire’s ability to maintain contact with the road by efficiently clearing water from its surface, by grooves.

Now as already mentioned, these grooves are actually pretty efficient at diapering off water in time.

Not only the tire employs V shaped lateral grooves, throwing out the water sideways, but you also get longitudinal water evacuation as well, as these V shaped lugs are segmented in to 5 parts, forming 4 circumferential channels as well.

So with vertical and horizontal throwing away of water, you get superior curved and straight float speeds with this tire.

Moreover, the tire’s rounded patch is also helping here. It exerts more pressure in the center, effectively pushing water out through the channels towards the edges of the tire. It basically acts as a catalyst in the whole process, adding to the speed at which water goes out.

Side Note: If you’re interested in learning more about all-season tires’ performance in wet conditions, you should check this out: https://tiredriver.com/are-all-season-tires-good-in-rain/

Noise Comfort

Noise in tires is primarily produced by air interaction.

Air particles typically enter through the gaps in the tire’s shoulder area, where they vibrate against the tread blocks, creating what is known as tread noise.

In light of this, it’s not surprising that the Toyo Celsius AS2 shows a higher level of pattern noise in comparative tests. This noise is characterized by a mix of harmonic tones and varying pitches.

And sure its not excessively loud, it is still noticeable, particularly when compared to its direct competitors.

So what’s causing this?

Well the tire, featuring such a open blocky lug stricture allows air particles to move more freely and collide with the tread walls with greater force, leading to pronounced in-groove resonance.

As a result, while the tire offers various performance benefits, noise reduction is not one of its strong points, especially in comparison to quieter alternatives in the market.

Winter Performance

The Toyo AS2 presents a varied performance in winter conditions.

To simplify, while the tire excels in lateral traction and provides excellent steering feedback, it falls short in terms of braking capabilities, (compared to other tires in its category, with 3 peak ratings, I mean).

This results in the tire achieving only slightly above-average lap times in handling tests.

Now, its performance could have been top-tier if not for its deficient braking efficiency.

That’s because effective braking is crucial before entering a corner to prevent slipping, and this is where the tire takes extra time, impacting its overall winter performance.

Moving towards the tire’s steering, the Celsius AS2 offers a robust on-center feel, delivering sharp responses to various steering inputs. And sure it understeers a little at times, when pushed to its limits, it still outperforms many of its competitors in this area.

Furthermore, another great point for this tire is its acceleration abilities on soft snowy terrains, where the tire’s directional design helps a lot.

I mean its design with sweeping lugs are designed in a way, so they could efficiently displaces snow backwards. This action effectively generates forward momentum, contributing to its leading acceleration performance.

So overall, the overall winter performance with this tire is better than one would expect.

And you can even improve its traction further considering these points.

Road Vibrations Comfort

The Toyo Celsius AS2 could benefit from improvements in impact comfort. I mean, while the ride is generally smooth, the tire’s stiffer rubber compound does not effectively absorb road vibrations, impacting the comfort level.

And this goes for both, significant impacts and smaller bumps.

The primary reason for this is the tire’s rigid internal structure.

The nylon caps used here are particularly more rigid and extend slightly towards the sidewalls. While this design contributes to handling stability, it also results in a less forgiving ride, making it feel jittery, especially over rougher terrains, like cracked roads for example.

Additionally, the tire’s deeper tread depth, which theoretically should provide more cushioning for bumps, is somewhat counteracted by its lower silica content.

This formulation, aimed at extending tread life, inadvertently reduces the tire’s ability to absorb and dampen road imperfections effectively.

So the Toyo tire here tends to rank lower in impact comfort performance compared to other tires in its category.

Fuel Economy

Fuel efficiency in vehicles is significantly influenced by the rolling resistance of tires, which in turn is determined by various other aspects.

But for the sake of simplicity, lets just consider the two main ones here, tire’s weigh, and tread composition.

And considering both, I have to say, I’m actually really impressed with the Celsius AS2 here.

I mean, while the tire having slightly greater tread depth could potentially increase fuel consumption (as tread depth is directly proportional to rolling resistance), the tire counters this with several design features.

One key aspect is the tire’s reinforced foundational supports.

These supports ensure that the lugs undergo minimal flexing during driving maneuvers, which is beneficial for maintaining a low rolling resistance.

Additionally, the tire is constructed with a special rubber composition, which, when combined with its relatively lightweight structure (especially notable among other grand touring tires), reduces the pressure exerted on the lugs.

And this reduced pressure prevents excessive bending of the lugs, thereby conserving fuel energy.

So overall the Toyo offers an attractive option for those seeking a tire that supports fuel economy without compromising on other key performance attributes.

Ending Note

In conclusion, the Toyo Celsius AS2 demonstrates a strong performance across various parameters.

It offers superb directional grip and stability, and its rounded contact patch also provides decent steering responsiveness.

Moreover, the tire offers good hydroplaning resistance, though could use some wet traction.

And in a similar manner, its winter performance is also varied, excelling in lateral traction and acceleration on snow, but falling short in braking efficiency.

Moreover, noise comfort is another area where tire can be improved. Though it makes up for it in the tread life and fuel economy department.

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