The all-season passenger touring category has always been crowded. It represents the most common use of car tires in the world — practical daily driving. A lesser-known tire brand like Radar would obviously have to accomplish something special to make its place in such a category. They understand that, and they’ve given it their best shot with the Radar Dimax AS-8.
With this tire, they’ve aimed for a well-balanced touring product that wears an extremely attractive price tag. The tire combines decent levels of durability, luxury, and all-season performance — and tops it all up with a generous 50,000 – 60,000 mile tread guarantee to sweeten the deal for buyers. In this review, we’ll look at its features and specialties, and see how it performs in different real-world conditions. Let’s begin!
Radar Dimax AS-8 — Overview and Features
The Dimax AS-8 is a premium all-season touring tire from Radar. Available in many different sizes, it’s built for performance cars, SUVs, and crossover vehicles.
The tire has nailed the basics of a desirable touring tire. Thanks to a well-optimized asymmetric tread pattern, it offers precise handling, strong traction, and lasting tread life. The lateral sipes are also highly effective at dealing with slushy, snowy, and wet conditions to ensure all-season practicality.
Depending on the tire size you buy, the brand offers a 50,000 to 60,000 miles manufacture tread life warranty. The brand trusts the durability of this tire as its composed of an impressive silica-based tread compound.
Dry Road Performance
Passenger touring tires aren’t known for a sporty drive on dry roads. However, well-balanced tires like the Dimax AS-8 don’t follow that norm. Despite being tuned for optimal comfort levels, there’s still enough steering feel for the driving experience to feel alive.
Handling feels precise and there’s always ample traction to work with whether you’re accelerating, cornering, or simply switching lanes at high speeds. Braking performance is also satisfactory! Overall, the Radar Dimax AS-8 gets clear approval from us on dry roads.
Wet Performance
The rain doesn’t bother these tires too much either. Sure, pricier alternatives handle wet conditions more gracefully than this tire, but there’s really not much to complain about. The tire handles well, offers just enough cornering grip at moderate speeds, and feels controllable and precise even as you cruise through water puddles.
The lateral grooves do a great job at keeping water out of the tire’s contact patch, and the result is uncompromised practicality even in the rain!
Snow Performance
Being an all-season tire, the Radar Dimax AS-8 doesn’t give up in snowy conditions either. However, we’ll say that no matter how balanced it is, it’s not a winter tire. You won’t have a safe driving experience with these tires installed if you get brutally harsh winters where you live. But for light snow, this tire provides more than enough traction and directional stability to get you through the city reliably. But if the weather gets worse, you should either have winter tires installed or stay at home for your safety!
Off-Road Capabilities
The Radar Dimax AS-8 can do many things, but unfortunately, off-roading isn’t one of them. Even though some of its sizes fit CUVs and SUVs, nothing about its tread compound or tread design is suitable for hardpacked surfaces or muddy terrain. Not only would you be desperately struggling for traction in those conditions, but your tread health will also severely suffer. Unless necessary, we’d recommend staying away from off-road patches.
Ride Quality
The Radar Dimax AS-8 might be a budget-friendly tire in comparison to offerings from premium brands. However, it’s still a premium touring tire of the Radar brand — which means it’s one of the best tires the brand has to offer in the category. Keeping that in mind, it’s no surprise that it’s incredibly quiet and comfortable for your passengers. After all, that’s what touring tires do best!
Conclusion
Radar seems to have outdone themselves with the Dimax AS-8. It’s truly a complete package within the all-season passenger tire category, and that too at such an attractive price point. The tire doesn’t disappoint in dry, wet, and (light) snowy conditions, and it’s super comfortable to ride on! Plus, Radar offers a generous tread life warranty, making it a pretty compelling deal for your next upgrade.
