What modern tire is the closest to the A046 in replicating how the 8-9 drove new with those tires. Nothing too sticky that flings stuff everywhere , but something that is a close match for a street / weekend driven car. Advan Fleva?

 

In it's day. the OE tire was a fairly sticky tire with very stiff sidewalls for good steering response. To get something with that type of stiff sidewall these days in the OE size, you should look at things like the AD09, Azenis RT660, etc I have no experience with the Fleva, but looking at it on Tirerack, it seems like a much less aggressive tire and will have a softer sidewall and slower steering response.

I have the AD09s on another car and love them. They ride great, the steering is razor sharp, and they are even farily quiet. I have Flaken 615K+s on my 2014 Evo X and they are excellent, too.

 

I guess it makes sense the AD09 would be a modern equivalent, but this car is a 20k mile stock collector grade IX MR. So at the same time i don't want to have the tires flinging stuff up all over the car either. Continental Extreme contact 02s are suppose to be the best tire available that can do it all, some say the Eagle f1 a6 is as well, but i'd like to stick w/yokohoma since these all came with them new here. I also don't want something too modern and crazy that is overkill for the platform or too stiff on the car

 

• Yok Fleva V701
• Continental ECS 02
• Good year Eagle f1 Asymmetric 6
• Yok AD09
• Yok A052

Torn between these, I know the Fleva is the softest of them. My brain says the A052 or AD09 are the true modern equivalents but probably a little bit of overkill i wish the advan sport was available in oem sizes still. The Continental is probably going to match the feel of the OE tire these cars came with the most - maybe the eagle f1 as well - but i like to keep the tire brand the cars where intended to have on these. I just got those continentals for my other car recently too.

Any chance the ad09 will be too much for the street and fling road debris all over the place? I don't want something too sticky which is why i almost got the flevas

 

Any issue with flat spots on the AD09s, any issue with it sticking and kicking up gravel and debris too much?

 

Zero issues with what you are concerned about. I have the AD09s on my 2020 GT350R and they are maybe the best overall tires I've ever used (and I have used a lot of high performance tires over the years).

However, if all you are doing is driving to car shows or other non-aggressive driving, other tires will probably be fine. I would not be happy to take away the incredible steering sharpness of an Evo with a less aggressive tire but that's just me. The ECS02 is an excellent tire from what I have heard but it's basically a competitor for the PS4S which I have experience with on several cars. They are great tires but once you go to an Azenis or AD09 type tire, you realize how compromised they are for all-out performance driving. It just depends on what your priorities are.