Volkswagen New Beetle Wheels And Tires

"Turn off the traction control, step on it and throw it sideways in the middle of the turn," Les ordered, in his quest for the ultimate action shot. Photos of a car crossed up or being tossed sideways might show driving prowess, but that's not the best way around a corner. In fact, a corner well executed is photographically boring. One thing was clear to me as I sat behind the wheel. With lots of rubber on the road, a highly competent suspension and a solid chassis, I really didn't want to be around when the car let go-which would have been in a big way.

That thought occurred to me again as my brain squashed to one side of my skull while I negotiated an outside pass on a tight cloverleaf in my New Beetle. Recently shod with Yokohama's Spec-2 Parada performance radials, the car was on the ragged edge, and though it wouldn't have made Bidrawn pick up his camera, from my vantage point it was quite a dramatic moment. And the best part was the Yokes didn't let go.

The Spec-2 Parada takes square aim at the tuner car market and will be available in most applicable sizes. At face value, this might seem to be a simple task, what with CAD, computers and electronic magic, except that the Spec-2 was designed from the ground up as an ultra-low-aspect-ratio tire.

European car readers might remember Kevin Clemens' tome on tire technology and the notion that it isn't air that supports the weight of the car but the casing of the tire, which acts in a spoke-like manner from the top down. For this reason, Yokohama engineers worked on strengthening the sidewalls to offer higher load capacity in low-profile sizes and also to improve steering response.

I suspect that none of this matters to a typical kid playing around with his rice rocket, but what does matter is appearance, and the Spec-2 Parada offers a singular looking chunk of rubber. The defining characteristics are the large diagonal blocks that lay more rubber on the road in a race-slick fashion, but not, of course, to that extreme.

Now back to the practical. Those who drive in Southern California can't help but notice that many of the concrete roadways have surprisingly deep grooves, not to mention the numerous fractures, expansion joints and bad repairs. This array of surface irregularities will grab certain tires and even wrest the wheel from someone driving light-handed. I used to think that Editor Brown was crazy for his incessant bitching about performance tires and grooves, until I started suffering the same commute. The point of this is this new Parada's large diagonal blocks do not readily fall into the grooves and are relatively unruffled by rough pavement of any sort.

Wet-weather performance? There's not a drop of rain in sight as I write this, nor has there been any in months. Given a chance, I'd like to try the Spec-2 in the rain, where its new silica compound and S-shaped grooves are said to offer grip and braking abilities superior to its competition. The dry handling, however, rocks.