Tyre Review: Federal 595EVO

 Words & snaps by Ben

After a rather long 2 years and 4 months driving about with my Federal 595EVO, it was finally time to let them go to the Elysian Fields of tyres. This is the best time to give them a post-mortem review and to share with you my experience using these tyres.

These are mid-range summer performance tyres, which cost me around SGD140 a piece. Since I got them, I've driven them on normal roads, at high speeds on the Malaysian highway, and on the Sepang International Circuit for one track day, clocking a total of 58,585km.

Right off the bat, the dry grip is very good. Using my 980kg Toyota Vios pushing around 100bhp as a test mule, I have not run out of grip with them, even when going around the Sepang International Circuit. 

Wet grip, tho, is rather pathetic. Take it easy as soon as it rains or you're likely to experience understeer and aquaplaning, especially with the tropical showers we have in Singapore.

Road feedback is decent in corner, yet it gets spoiled by the too soft tyre walls that give a floaty feeling when initiating turns or when doing slight course corrections.

They are definitely not the quietest tyres around. And it gets quickly worse as the thread reaches 50% and less. It's not as bad as semi-slicks, but you'll have to get used to hearing the hum of the tyres, even when cruising at average speeds of 80km/h.

The wear is pretty good for tyres in this price range. It took me almost 60,000km to use up the thread on the front wheels with minimum tyre rotations.

Finally, for those of you who go for looks, the thread pattern looks good, and they won't make your car looks like you're running on all-terrain tyres. Plus there are flames on the side walls. That's +5bhp right there!

Overall, I would recommend these tyres for track days for their bang for buck, but also for everyday use, as long as you remember to keep it easy on the wet!