Spring had finally sprung here in the Northeast, and despite some mid-April flurries I decided it was time to finally swap out my Hakkapeliitta snow tires and start enjoying turning in once again.
Not that sliding the understeering Hakka 1s, a budget rallyist tire of choice and quite remarkable in the snow, around a twisty bit wasn't enjoyable, but I missed having real grip. So I wasted no time, mounting up a set of Toyo's new ultra-high-performance all-season Proxes 4 tires the day the man in brown dropped them off. The automotive version of cabin fever had so fogged my brain, I didn't even stop to take a few pretty pictures. In retrospect, Ed. Brown might have appreciated that. Oh, well.
Yep, all-season. Not all of us live in SoCal, and despite Ed. Brown's mumbling something about "soccer dads," wet-weather performance is important where I live. Even though the Proxes 4's Mud + Snow rating is more a measure of void ratio than design parameters, the "Generation S" silica-reinforced compound and computer-designed unidirectional tread worked exceptionally well during a recent rainstorm. Mother Nature dumped 2 in. in the 2 hours I spent picking kids up, dropping them off and heading to FedEx. (Can you say "soccer dad?"-Ed. Brown.) Try as I might to spin a tire during the deluge, my enthusiasm tempered only slightly knowing the kids were in the back seat, the Toyos never let go. Wet braking was excellent.
My last set of "high-performance" tires turned to rocks once the temperature dropped below 45. Thankfully, it wasn't so with the Proxes 4. With the salt and cinders washed away by recent rains, I played some more. The past week had been chilly, with near-freezing highs, but the V-rated Proxes 4s, internally very similar to the T1-S, didn't seem to mind displaying quick turn-in and excellent grip-and none of the ice-cube-like behavior of my old tires. Freeway cruising is also quite pleasant: good directional stability and very little tire noise. Toyo's literature states the five variable-pitch-block tread pattern reduces harmonics. I say the tires are quiet.
The Proxes 4 are also headturners. Appearance is important in today's market, and the Toyos have earned some admiring looks. The W-shaped tread and curving center rib are certainly eye-catching, but the logic of the seven tiny "4" logos hidden on the inner tread blocks escapes me.
Consumer reviews on www.vwvortex.com and www.1010tires.com have been positive, and you can read Dan Barnes' impression in the March 2004 issue of european car.