Writing about the
Accelera Alpha given
80% (235-45-17-W)
Driving on
mostly town for 50000
spirited miles
I drive a taxi full-time at night. I had read about these tires in a magazine called Wheels, which is published here in Australia. If you Google search then you'll find the review on the CarPoint.com.au web site.
My taxi had a dry weight of around 1,7000kg. Summers here are long and dry, so when it does start raining the roads get extremely slippery due to the oil build-up from the dry months.
I was extremely impressed with the traction that I got in wet conditions with these tires. I went through two complete sets from June 2010 until February 2011 and would love to continue using them. I was using 235/45R17 97W tires, so maybe the higher load rating made a difference.
Unfortunately, they are not available in a suitable 18" size that will fit the rims that I am about to start using, so now I have to find another option. I would stick with the Alpha tires if they had a suitable size.
I have spent years riding and racing motorbikes, so I'm well familiar with throwing a vehicle around. I used to push my taxi extremely hard on certain roads with these tires and never lost control.
I don't know why there are so many negative reviews of these tires. Maybe there was some change in the manufacturing process? Don't know... just wish they were available in a 235/40ZR18 size so that I could stick with them. At this stage I'll be trying out some Neuton NT5000 tires (which are made by the same company).