Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 225/45R17 on stock wheels. Boston, MA. No track or autocross, just spirited street driving. 40% highway, 60% city. Bridgestone RE92, Nokian RSi.
6.
Very, very good. These are my first dedicated summer tires. I can't believe how literally sticky they are when warmed up. I actually thought the RE92 (Z-rated) were not too bad in the dry when worn to about 5/32, but these clearly blow those away. The RE92s would often chirp when braking or turning hard. The limit on the F1A is clearly quite a bit higher. Without much effort, they just pulled 0.94G lateral around an off ramp this morning (according to Dynolicious on my iPhone), and that was not at the limit of traction.
Wet traction seems quite good. I would guess that the F1 GSD3 is better in standing water, but these have pretty serious circumferential grooves that can clear the water. I have hydroplaned once in a very serious downpour at 65mph, but I was kind of exploring their hydroplaning limit. In normal driving they haven't let me down. Wet grip is excellent, and I have no doubt their wet limit is higher than the RE92's dry limit. UPDATE: I ran some skidpad-like simulation in a thoroughly wet empty parking lot this weekend and pulled a max of 1.04G one way and 0.97G the other way. There's no way the RE92 could do that in the dry.
Ride comfort and noise are surprisingly good. They are quieter than RE92 (which I found quite quiet) and ride better too. Going from 215/45 to 225/45 gave me 1/4-inch more sidewall height, which I welcome on the lousy Boston area roads. (I run 205/50 on winter tires for the same reason.) The thing that surprises me is that while riding softer than the RE92, the F1A does not at all feel like it is rolling over on the sidewall in hard cornering. The RE92 would flop over and you could see the wear on the sidewall. It sure seems to me that Goodyear really nailed it on the handling/comfort balance.
I'm running about 37/35psi. I could probably go up a little if I wanted to firm them up a bit more, but they don't really feel like they need it. I like the handling/comfort balance at this air pressure.
The one negative is there is some flat spotting on cooler mornings. When it is in the 50s and 60s, I can feel some flat spotting for about 1-3 minutes at 35mph until the tire warms up. Still, I consider this a relatively minor issue compared to everything else this tire offers.
--Lee