Yokohama Parada Spec-2

[MINIMENC]

All,

Got my tirerack.com sourced Parada's mounted this weekend. What a difference!! Much smoother ride, the tires absorb much more of the rougher road surfaces I encounter on my daily drive. They replaced the stock Pirelli Euphoria p.o.s.'s that came with the car. I'm no expert on tires but I can say that this is how the S should have ridden before. It will be a while until I release the hounds on these tires but so far I am impressed.

One worrying doubt I had was that the pattern on the Parada's looks like the tires should be directional and asymetrical. Nothing on Tirerack or the tires themselves indicated that they are directional but if you look at the pattern, your brain is telling you otherwise. I had a long discussion with my installer and wasn't particulary satisfied with their response. So, I called Yokohama today (great customer service) and they confirmed that they are NOT directional and that they get a lot of calls about this. Just to confirm, if you look at the back of the car, the pattern in the tyres, or the "swoop" starts from the top left to bottom right, on both sides of the car. They do need to be mounted correctly with the large circumference groove on the outside of the wheel.

Finally, FYI - it took the installer over an hour just to remove the original Euphorias and about the same time to mount the Parada's - they complained about the very stiff sidewalls on both sets.

So that's my 2 cents worth. Thought I would pass the info along.

G

[MINIAC]

Thanks for including the tire information in your MINI Profile and voting in the approriate tire poll

[red03miniS]

dont know why it took your wheel shop an hour to install the yoko

my tire shop did the install in like 25 min..i got yoko es 100s.

the parada are good tires, but i know of 2 other mini owners who will never get them..because how loud they get when they start wearing down...

good luck nonetheless

[Romhog]

Its a price you pay for more rubber to the pavement. Its just like the Magnaflow debate about performance over noise. You dont get something for nothing. More rubber to the road = more noise but also = better grip.
I still plan to get these tyres.

[minhi]

make sure you rotate the paradas often, they easily develop heel/toe wear. very often this is the cause of the excessive noise people complain about.

personally i think they're over-rated, i'm halfway through a set now and i think the grip is just average even compared to the dunlops.

ride is much better then the dunlops though.