3 Month Progress Report – January 13, 2015
After three months and a little more than 3,000 miles of driving, we are growing more and more appreciative of our Yokohama Geolander H/T G056 all season tires. Although California is still experiencing an extended and severe drought, the first few weeks of December finally featured a change in the weather. A series of large Pacific storms doused the state with much needed rain, and gave us ample opportunity to test how these tires would fare in the wet.
The most severe of the storms, dubbed “Stormpocalypse” on the local news, featured several days of driving rain, causing significant localized flooding. It’s usually not advisable to be out driving in such conditions, but we couldn’t resist and headed out during the worst of it for several hours of testing. Despite some genuinely tense moments involving other motorists who were less well equipped, the Geolander H/T G056 proved unflappable in the wet, even when fording through running water almost a foot deep. The tires were highly resistant to hydroplaning, and provided excellent traction, especially for the gnarly conditions.
Sadly this wet weather proved somewhat short lived, and we’re now back to the typical warm and sunny days that California is known for. After multiple weekend trips throughout the Santa Cruz mountains in our Ford Escape Hybrid test vehicle, the Geolander H/T G056 are really drawing attention to the inadequacies of the chassis and suspension of this small SUV. Compared to the OEM Michelin Latitude tires, there is a simply a lot more grip available, which inspires confidence, but also invites the kind of cornering speed that the rest of the car just can’t quite handle.
As would be expected from a tire that is designed to be reliable and long lasting, there is almost no visible wear on our set of test tires. The rear tires in particular still look like the day they were mounted. We have quite a few more weekend trips planned during the next few months, as well as regularly commuting during the week, and we are looking forward to continue putting these very promising tires to the test.
Click the “continue” button to read our initial report of the Yokohama Geolander all-season light duty/truck tires
