Well with the amount of people on here that want Yokohama Parada Spec-2 tires, I thought I might as well write a review on them.
DO NOT BUY THESE TIRES FOR A DAILY DRIVEN VEHICLE FOR SAFETY REASONS
Now that I’ve said that and everyone’s read it, I can move on to the review.
I bought these tires in a 205/45/16 size, and I was upgrading from 195/60/14 all-season Tires. My first impression was that they absolutely kicked ass. They were good in the wet, and better in the dry. So then I drove on them, for a year or so then decided to get into autocross. I autocrossed on them for two events before switching to Falken Azenis in 195/60/14. Then, I realized by comparison actually how loud the Paradas were. I would post pictures, but I have no place to host them. But basically, when your tire gets to about 4/32nds, those big long grooves turn into not-so big long grooves. Here’s a pic that might work though…
You see, the far left of the tire turns into a few huge tread blocks, and so does the outside blocks along with the blocks next to that big vertical slot in the tire. So any water-evacuation capabilities the tire had, are now completely gone. I learned the hard way and almost got in an accident on the freeway in the rain. Simply put, these tires are a safety hazard in standing water.
For the highlights of this tire, the only thing I can really commend it on is it’s dry weather handling. It’s great handling, but not really excellent.
Pros:
Dry Grip is awesome
Great handling response
Cons:
Blow-out-your-eardrums loud
Safety Hazard in standing water
Verdict:
Buy this tire if you fit one (or more) of these profiles,
The car is never driven in the rain
You don’t mind being deaf after driving
You feel like blowing 400-500 on these tires because you don’t know crap about tires.
I hope that can steer a few people away from buying these tires, but who knows. I’ll post more tire reviews later, one of a Fuzion ZRi, the Falken Azenis RT-215, the Bridgestone Potenza G009, and hopefully the Hankook Z212.
Scott, I’m currently on my third set of 215/40-17 Spec-2’s and the only time I’ve had problems with them in the rain or standing water is when they’re nearly bald or when I’m driving too fast.
I don’t know man. Maybe my definition of standing water is different than yours. Here in Washington we get a lot of rain. The biggest problem I had was in the ruts on the freeway where the rain piles up. I don’t have that problem at all with my Fuzions on there.
I’d be interested in what the general consensus is regarding the quietest tires. Right now I have Kuhmo 712’s and they seem awfully loud to me. But since I generally have the stereo cranked, it is not really a problem for me. I just turn the volume down once in awhile to listen for new disturbing noises that might be cropping up.
I live in vancouver washington (south west WA) and i worked at America’s Tire Co. for 2.5 years. We prettymuch were the Yokohama main supplier here.
I sold hundreds of spec 2’s and they were always getting complaints for various reasons. We were always switching them out with other tires to make the costomer happy 50% of the time with ES100’s and the other half with Kumho 712’s. We never heard any complaints with those two brands.
I had Spec 2’s (205/45/16) on my car, and they sucked, I’ve since replaced them with Yokohama ES100’s, MUCH MUCH better tire but they just don’t last, it’s a bummer cause they are Awesome when the have tread on them.
so i’ll agree with chsscott becasue of sales and personal experiance.
I live in central NY, and I can safely say I will never pick these tires up again. They came with my wheels, that i picked up off a buddy, 2 looks brand new, and 2 were good for the back. I drove on them all summer, which were incredibly noisy and weared faster then my buddies azeni’s. The thing that really scared me was the wet traction. Holy crap, like drivin on ice, would never never ever driver if it was wet out, tires struggled. In the dry though they did god, took plenty of auto x abuse. They also look pretty badass, but I think thats it. They are a show tire
odd, I’ve owned two sets of paradas spec II, 205.40.17, and never noticed had an issue with loud noise. I loved them and they handled well, you just have to understand they wont handle the same in wet conditions as in dry, so with that I’ve never had issues with the paradas. :shrug: I recommend them.
1st off, it has nothing to do with how I drive on the Parada in the rain. When it’s moist, the tires are mediocre at best.
You obviously don’t know what standing water is, or what a Goodyear Eagle F1 GS is.
Drive on a F1 GS in the rain and then tell me the Parada is good in the rain.
if the parada specII is anything like the parada spec I, then i completely agree with the review. I’ve never actually tried the SpecII, but i had the SpecI and I hated them.
i’ve had the old spec 2’s and the brand new spec 2’s i never had a problem with them in any kind of rain, and they wern’t that much louder then stock. the only thing bad about them was that they sucked in the snow, but there not all season so what do u exspect. besides that they were great on dry and wet pavement.
i have these tires now and they are loud for me, i thought it was just me. i had kumho ecstas before, falken ziex, pirellis and these are virtually non existant in terms of noise compared to the parada spec 2’s.
in dry weather these tires do kick ass and handle turns well, but i had the same problems as the thread starter, when it was raining in socal the last 2-3 mos, it was really dangerous for me and i had to drive 40-45 max or i would start sliding all over. the tires are relatively new so i know it’s not the treadwear ( 2mos tops ). i can’t wait for these tires to wear down so i can buy something quieter.
man you guys make it sound like these are worse than azenis in dry AND wet even at 4/32"? i used to run azenis down to 0-1/32" and still managed ~45-50mph in the rain with slight oversteer (danger will robinson). i cant imagine lots of standing water.
not that it matters, but i had a parada in the garage for a while and i noticed that its texture felt more slippery and plastic-like compared to the 20 other kinds of tires i had. kumho 712 was similar, but a little rougher. azenis are like sticky sandpaper heh.
They ARE worse than the Azenis in the wet and dry. That’s 1st-hand experience. I raced on the Paradas at auto-x, and mid-season switched to the Azenis. The Azenis were DEFINITELY stickier in the dry and wet. Both tires suck at standing water though.
are your sure? Me and a friend got our tires at the same time, his azenis and mines parada spec 1’s both daily driven and used constantly in canyons, the azenis wore out faster and were more dangerous in the rain, he drove my car in the rain and had no problems
In all fairness yes they aren’t as good in the rain, and the past few months have been the worst rain season l.a. as ever seen and i was able to drive the car fine, i’ve had these tires for well over…20-25 thousand miles or more and their still plenty of life in them, compared to the azenis my friends have which are not compeletly bald.
Any tire will have trouble in the rain if it’s raining hard enough. I’ve driven in the rain around 70-80, just driven back home to see how they held up, and they were fine, a bit of slipping but nothing major, i even hit puddled area’s at that speed, dragged for about a second but nothing to go “oh my g*d” over. But i do agree on the noise factor, sounds like a UFO in my car but i’ve gotten used to it and i can only hear it driven 10-40 miles per hour, on the freeway i have no issues
