Firestone Firehawk AS V2 - 225/55R18 98V Tire

This is going to be a long review and for good reason. These tires have only been out for a few months so there is hardly any reviews out there, so I'm going to be thorough to help fellow RWD car owners that have been in my boat. I own a Mustang GT that I daily drive year round. Some think that's crazy, but even in Omaha there is only snow on the streets for 7-12 days a winter, so why would I not drive the car I love year round? I used to have a separate set of winter and summer tires, but that is expensive so I researched for a better solution. The claims Firestone make on these new V2 tires seemed to good to be true, but I like Firestone so I took a chance. We just got hit with a snow/ice mix and there is packed snow and ice on the streets and these tires performed AS GOOD as my old winter tires. I stopped on a steep hill and was sweating getting started again (the ultimate test), but I got going fine with no traction control kicking in. I'm seriously blown away. I also drove aggressively on dry streets in 29 degree temps and they performed very well, felt firm and very low noise. I can't speak for summer performance yet, but if you have a RWD car and are looking to handle the winter, these tires are for you. Well done Firestone!

I wanted to put a few thousand miles on these tires in order to give an informed review. I researched tires for several months and kept coming back to these due to their hydroplaning resistance ratings and the science behind the tread design made sense. I commute to work about 400 miles per week in the Tampa Bay area where daily heavy downpours are pretty common. I could not be more impressed with the wet traction. Dry traction is excellent as well, noticed an immediate improvement in handling over my previous Firestone All-Seasons, which were a good tire. I have seen some reviews that complained about them being noisy, but I have not found that to be the case at all. If they make a size to fit your vehicle, buy them.