The Yokohama C.drive2 is a tyre for extra safety. It suits drivers who want to replace their car’s factory fitted tyres with something one step better. After fitting a set of C.drive2 tyres you can expect low tyre noise, a safe steering feel and lots of grip on wet roads; especially during a downpour. It’s also environmentally friendly.
Yokohama
put 175 retailers from across Australia in the driver’s seat to compare
the Yokohama C drive2 tyre with factory fitted original equipment (OEM)
tyres. Yokohama chose two of Australia’s biggest selling cars for
their drive day demonstration, the Toyota Camry and Hyundai i30.
Australian car buyers are shifting towards small and mid-size front
wheel drive cars like the Camry and i30 as opposed to the large rear
wheel drive such as Holden Commodore.
Retailers
from Bob Jane T-Marts and Tyres & More who participated in the tyre
test made some interesting observations. They noticed the safety
warning chime from the car’s Electronic Stability Program (ESP) cut in
regularly while trying to keep up with the C.drive2 car on the wet skid
pan. The ESP rarely cut in with the C.drive2 demonstrating the extra
margin of safety the tyre provides.
The tyre
retailers also had the opportunity to test the standard tyre against a
plus-fitment with the C.drive2 on a long and challenging dry road
circuit. All the drivers were bowled over by the difference. The effect
of upgrading to 17 inch wheels and fitting C.drive2s is awesome they
said. The most common observation was that “the C.drive2 made the car
handle better, with less body roll”. By comparison they said the factory
fitted tyres “felt floaty” and getting the car around the course was “a
lot of hard work”.
Why does the C.drive2 tyre
perform so well? Firstly, the key to the tyre’s wet performance is the
wide tread grooves which act like big drains to remove water from under
the tyre. Secondly, and it’s a bit hard to explain, the Yokohama factory
puts a lot of effort into the quality of the beads, radial plys and
sidewall construction of the tyres which means there is a strong
connection between the wheel and the road which makes the car feel sharp
and responsive. This is common feedback in Yokohama tyre comparisons.
The
big secret is orange peel oil. Yokohama engineers discovered they can
replace some of the non-renewable mineral oil with renewable orange peel
oil. This adds to Yokohama’s environmental credentials. From a
technical angle the orange peel oil makes the rubber grip the road
better. This has been proven in the local Australian V8 Ute racing
category and the World Touring Car Championship where the Yokohama ADVAN
race tyres use orange peel oil.
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