The Yokohama Avid Ascend GT stands out as a grand touring all-season tire, known for its exceptional comfort and durability over long distances. In contrast, the Yokohama Advan Sport A/S+ is an ultra-high performance all-season tire, designed for superior grip and handling in a variety of driving conditions. Let’s find the main difference between the two.
Table of Contents
Important Insights
My professional testing indicates that the Yokohama Advan Sport A/S+ (review) has a competitive edge in:
- Superior grip and handling in dry conditions.
- Enhanced water dispersion and reduced hydroplaning in wet conditions.
- Responsive steering with quicker directional changes.
However, the Yokohama Avid Ascend GT (review) excels notably in these areas:
- Better performance in winter conditions, especially on snow and ice.
- Quieter ride with reduced road noise.
- Smoother handling of road irregularities for increased ride comfort.
- Longer tread life due to less rolling friction and deeper tread depth.
Sizes Info
| Specs | Avid Ascend GT | Advan Sport A/S+ |
|---|---|---|
| Rim Sizes | 15 to 20 inches | 16 to 21 inches |
| Speed Ratings | H and V | W and Y |
| Load Ratings | SL and XL | SL and XL |
| Tread Depth | 12/32″ | 11/32″ |
| Weight Range | 17 to 30 lbs | 21 to 33 lbs |
| Warranty | 65,000 miles | 55,000 miles |
| UTQG Rating | 740 A A | 440 AA A |
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Wet Performance
To figure out the overall wet performance, I examined both tires specifically for their performance in wet grip, handling, and hydroplaning resistance. Let’s break down each of these aspects.
Wet Grip and Handling
In wet conditions, it’s crucial for tires to efficiently displace water from their path. And this is achieved through the integration of grooves and sipes in the tire design.
Grooves are the larger channels that remove the bulk of the water, while sipes act as miniature water reservoirs.
They basically compress (letting air out) to absorb residual moisture and eject it as the tire rolls, ensuring the tire maintains contact with the wet road by drying the contact patch to some extent.
Now out of both tires here, the Yokohama Advan Sport A/S+ demonstrates superior performance, particularly in wet braking and handling, as evidenced by my tests.
And this superior performance is attributed to its more effective groove structure, which initially displaces a greater volume of water, thereby reducing the workload on the sipes.
Plus with a more flexible rubber, the Advan prevents its sipes from becoming too rigid, allowing them to flex more efficiently. This means its sipes take out more water on their own too, unlike the GT counterpart.
Speaking of which, the Yokohama Avid Ascend GT is not bad at all, and in fact its one of the best tires in its grand touring all season category, but it just can’t match the traction levels offered by the ultra-high performance Advan Sport.
Hydroplaning
Hydroplaning resistance is defined by the tire’s ability to channel water away effectively through its primary grooves. And it’s assessed based on float speeds, which indicate the specific speed at which a tire begins to hydroplane (or float) over a thin layer of water.
In my comparative analysis, both Yokohama tires show excellent capabilities in resisting hydroplaning, as evidenced by their impressive performances in both curved and straight aquaplaning scenarios.
Nevertheless, the Yokohama Advan Sport A/S+ still has a slight upper hand in this area. And its advantage can be attributed to the design of its interconnected circumferential grooves.
Its grooves are basically more adept at displacing a larger volume of water more efficiently, enhancing the tire’s ability to maintain contact with wet surfaces and thereby reducing the risk of hydro or aquaplaning.
Snow and Ice Performance
In winter conditions, the Yokohama Advan although isn’t bad at all, it still doesn’t quite match up to its competitor, which is basically more tailored for particularly snowy terrains.
I mean although the Advan Sport A/S+ provides sufficient traction, its handling responsiveness falls short, especially with a tendency towards understeering (in powdery snowy environments, especially).
Here the thing about this tire. Even though it’s got a bunch of sipes and edges for grip, it’s missing those special polymers that kick in when it gets really cold, like under 10°C (50°F).
So, it’s not quite as sharp in that frosty weather, even with its softer rubber. Plus, it doesn’t have as much of a tread depth as the Avid GT, which further compromises its grip (by taking away its scooping abilities).
In contrast, the Yokohama Ascend GT excels with its design optimized for winter where it features better biting edges and interconnected grooves, which significantly enhance its grip on snow and softer surfaces.
A standout attribute of this tire is its ability to maintain higher speeds during turns, a testament to its superior lateral traction and steering responsiveness. This efficiency is largely due to the tire’s design, which captures and retains snow particles, promoting snow-on-snow contact for improved traction and stability in winter conditions.
Ride Quality
Two elements make up ride quality: the reduction of road noise by the tires and their efficiency in softening road irregularities. I’ll get to each one by one.
Noise Comfort
Road noise is influenced by factors such as rolling resistance, groove resonance, and tread design. And in this aspect, the Avid Ascend GT stands out with its relatively more sealed-up shoulder design and advanced tread compound.
How they work and why they matter? Well to get that first you need to know that noise in tires mainly comes from air particles impacting the tread walls, entering through gaps in the shoulders.
This collision of air with the tire’s rubber creates noise. And the Yokohama GT, with its well engineered compact structure, acts as an effective “sonic barrier,” significantly reducing rolling noise (at the source).
On the other hand, the Advan Sport A/S+ leads to higher noise levels with its more voided up design, as confirmed by its increased decibel readings in my tests.
But I guess, this is somewhat expected, considering the Advan A/S+ is an ultra-high-performance tire, and increased noise is a common compromise for its enhanced performance.
Ride Smoothness
The smoothness of a ride is largely determined by a tire’s ability to absorb road imperfections, which in turn depends on the tire’s design and tread material composition.
And here, the Yokohama Avid Ascend GT, with its more flexible structure, offers superior ride comfort. This particularly goes for its better ability to neutralize minor surface irregularities (which largely stems from its softer internal construction).
And besides that the tire also features extra layer of polyester internally and more rubber (with greater tread depth) on the outside. This gives road imperfections more “room” to settle down before they reach the car’s cabin.
Though keep in mind, that both tires aren’t great with larger bumps.
Side Note: If you’re interested in reading more about it, you may want to check out – https://tiredriver.com/are-all-season-tires-comfortable-and-quiet-enough/
Wear Rate
Tread life longevity is determined by a range of factors, such as the tire’s weight, the materials it’s made from, and the depth of the tread.
The Yokohama Avid Ascend GT really stands out in this regard. Thanks to its unique rubber composition, it’s exceptionally resistant to high temperatures and maintains its structural integrity well.
Being a touring tire, it’s engineered to produce less rolling friction than the Advan Sport A/S+, which is a big plus for its longevity.
Another advantage is its deeper tread depth. This means it takes longer for the tire to wear down to the 2/32″ legal tread depth limit, thereby extending its useful life.
In contrast, the Advan Sport A/S+ being an ultra-high-performance all-season tire with a speed rating of up to Y prioritizes aggressive lug interaction with the road. And that leads to greater rolling resistance.
And while this is great for grip, it also burns down the tire’s rubber faster.
Typically, you might get up to 40k miles out of the Advan Sport A/S+, while the Avid Ascend GT could last up to 60,000 miles under right conditions. And by that I mean doing everything by the book, like I mentioned here: How To Increase Tread Life?
Dry Performance
For tires, their overall dry performance is dictated by two factors: longitudinal grip and handling. Let’s take an in-depth look at each of these factors.
Longitudinal Grip
Directional grip refers to a tire’s ability to maintain longitudinal stability and traction. And its primarily assessed through tire’s braking effectiveness.
Now, this aspect of grip is significantly influenced by the central section of the tire tread (for the most part).
And in this context, the Yokohama Advan Sport A/S+ takes the lead, offering marginally superior performance. This is beacuse the tire’s design incorporates three distinct biting ribs.
These ribs maintain consistent contact with the road due to their unbroken structure, which is crucial for reliable grip.
Additionally, the tire’s sleeker design, complemented by multi-directional, angled notches within the grooves, further amplifies its braking capabilities.
In contrast, the Avid Ascend GT falls slightly short in this area, likely due to its less sticky rubber composition. But this is somewhat expected, considering it is a grand touring tire compared to the Yokohama’s ultra-high performance all-season classification.
Handling Grip
The Yokohama ADVAN Sport A/S+ demonstrates exceptional handling capabilities, particularly in navigating “sharper” turns thanks to its more robust grip, comparatively.
When compared to its grand touring counterpart, the Avid Ascend GT, the Yokohama provides 0.2 g greater traction (measured in lateral g-force).
A key factor in superior lateral grip is the design of the tire’s shoulders. I mean the Yokohama tire features smartly designed shoulder lugs, which are interconnected longitudinally. And this design facilitates extensive rubber-to-road contact, thereby ensuring significant lateral grip.
Moreover, despite the presence of lateral grooves that might appear to segment the lugs, they do not impede the overall contact patch. This is because all the shoulder blocks are supported by a secondary rubber layer and are linked by ridges.
Though overall handling is never complete without the tire’s steering responsiveness, which is the final piece of this puzzle.
Steering Characteristics
Regarding steering, its performance depends on the firmness of the contact the tire makes while cornering, and here again the Yokohama Advan Sport A/S+ takes the lead, showcasing superior responsiveness (as seen by its faster slalom times on tests).
The tire reacts swiftly and effectively to all kinds of aggressive steering inputs, facilitating quick “enough” and precise enough directional changes with minimal lag. Though it showcase a little bit of understeering, where the vehicle’s front end resists turning as intended.
So it does lack in providing a crispy clear sense of grip or precise wheel positioning. But hey its always better than oversteering right?
And yes comparatively, Advan AS+ is still better than Avid Ascend GT which has a more vague or should I say, indistinct steering feedback, especially when it comes to post cornering.
I mean its harder to straighten up the Yokohama GT back when it comes out of the turn. In the tire industry we call it sluggish on-center feel.
Verdict?
Wrapping up, its clear that selecting the right tire here is about understanding the trade-offs. I mean both tires excel in different areas, so there’s no definitive best choice.
The Yokohama Advan Sport A/S+ excels in dry conditions with superior grip and handling but shows some understeering.
Moreover, it also leads in wet conditions too where it outperforms with better water dispersion and reduced hydroplaning risks.
However, in winter conditions, it falls short, especially on snow and ice, compared to the more winter-optimized Ascend GT which, on the other hand, offers a quieter and smoother ride, with better noise reduction and a more comfortable response to road irregularities.
