Rolling Impressions. Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 3 tires First Drive!

Having reviewed many cars over the past few years and owned a few along the way, I have probably gone through quite a few sets of factory-fitted tires and also replacement tires for my own car. Throughout the years, I have fitted my car with ultra high performance tires from Pirelli, Michelin and Bridgestone which were rather costly, and unfortunately some didn’t even withstand the test of time.

When the opportunity arises to replace my current worn-out Bridgestone RE050 rubbers with Goodyear’s Eagle F1 Asymmetric 3 tires, I jumped on the chance as I would love to find out how the Goodyears compare to any of the three brands I had previously fitted on my car.

Fitted to a 2014 Mercedes-Benz A180 with the dimensions of 225/40 R18, first impressions were good as soon as I drove away from the tire shop where I got them installed. They immediately felt rather plush & quiet as compared to the other ultra high performance tires that I’ve used, which were noticeably stiffer and noisier. Already I suspect that the Eagle F1 Asymmetric 3 (EF1A3) is designed with daily driving in mind.

So you must be wondering if the plushier ride translates to less connection to the road. I must say that these tires offer very good surface feedback for the comfort it offers. One of the tire were just ever so slightly 2 psi under inflated which is negligible to most and yet, I could feel the steering’s slight pull to one side of the road which initially made me think that I had an issue with wheel alignments.

I filled the tire back to normal pressure and it’s all good. I don’t think I would have felt the air pressure difference in other tires, the Goodyear’s added “sensitivity” is much appreciated especially in spirited driving where surface and steering feedback are very welcomed.

Wet performance was also impressive during my initial test on a rainy day. I hit a substantial water puddle at speeds which would normally thug the steering wheel in my car, with these EF1A3 the thug was rather minimal and controlled compared to two other brands that I used on my car previously. Puddles are always a great way to dictate a tire’s limit in the wet by testing how they dissipate huge amounts of water in a very short time.

Without a race track to test them on, there is no way anyone could safely put tires to their absolute limit in the dry. Nevertheless, the grip in spirited driving is as great as one would expect from an ultra high-performance summer tire.

In fact, I find these perform similarly to Michelin’s Pilot Sport 3 I tested in a different car very recently. I understand that a different tire on a different car is not a very scientific comparison, but I’m just writing what I felt.

Besides ultimate performance, value is another key deciding factor when purchasing tires. I personally find the Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 3 tire offers decent bang for the buck as they start from an estimated RM482 for the smallest available size of 205/45R17, and are offered in sizes up to 19 inches. The price is less than what you would find in the closest European competitors.

Goodyear Malaysia is also excited to share that the successor to the outgoing Eagle F1 Asymmetric 3 will be arriving on our shores by the end of 2019 which I’m seriously looking forward to.

As we patiently wait for that to arrive, do look forward to a future article where we will provide you with a more thorough 6-month update with the Eagle F1 Asymmetric 3 tires!

Words & Photos by Jonathan Ho