Review: Sailun Atrezzo SVA2
TOOELE, Utah – It’s axiomatic that if you want to see how an ultra-high-performance tire really stacks up, you need to take it to a track.
A closed course, where one need not worry about pedestrians, slower cars, and law enforcement, provides an ideal test environment for evaluating a product meant to be driven hard. Really hard. If the tire survives harsh conditions track driving dishes out, then it should be more than capable of handling anything one might encounter on public roads. That’s the rationale, anyway.
Recently, AutoGuide was afforded an opportunity to participate in an on-track evaluation of the Sailun Atrezzo SVA2, which is the Chinese tire maker’s newest ultra-high-performance tire.
Not only did we test the tire on a fun, yet challenging, natural terrain road course at Burt Brothers Motorpark (formerly Utah Motorsports Campus) near Salt Lake City, but we also did so during the peak of August summer heat. Our track time was on a hot, sunny day with the mercury sitting at about 96°F (35.5 °C) at an elevation of 5,043 feet (1,537 meters).
Here’s what we learned.
Design
The Atrezzo SVA2 is Sailun’s newest ultra-high-performance or UHP tire, and it’s designed for both performance and durability.
The tire features what Sailun calls a “modern tread design” that has an optimized void arrangement in the tread design, which increases the number of groove edges. The benefit is enhanced wet grip and improved overall stability.
On the traction front, Sailun engineers have created a contact patch for the Atrezzo SVA2 that distributes ground pressure evenly, which aids traction and control. For ride comfort, the tire’s tread pattern has additional blocks designed to minimize noise and absorb road impacts. Sailun claims these features provide a quieter and more comfortable ride.
Sizes and Warranty
The Sailun Atrezzo SVA2 is available across North America in 54 sizes, ranging from 16 to 20 inches. All sizes come with a 50,000-mile (80,000 km) or 60-month limited life protection warranty. The tire is also eligible for Sailun’s two-year road hazard replacement program. This program covers free replacement due to irreparable damage caused by road hazards such as potholes, glass, or other debris. The program is limited to the first two years or 3/32” of original treadwear, or whichever comes first.
Not a Summer Tire
Before moving on to our track evaluations, we’re going to note that the Atrezzo SVA2 is an all-season, not a summer tire. We mention this for context, as comparisons to other UHP tires may not be exact, as many of those are summer tires. Also of note, we did not test any competitor tires.
Track Setup
Sailun chose to mount Atrezzo SVA2s on a fleet of Ford Mustang GTs. All cars are current seventh-gen models equipped with 10-speed automatic transmissions. The Mustang GT tester we drove sat on 19-inch wheels wrapped in 255/40R19 SVA2s.
Pluses and minuses
Autoguide, along with a few other outlets, had two-track sessions. We were granted a second opportunity, as the first group in the lead-follow exercise didn’t push the tires hard enough. Many took unusual racing lines, drove too slowly, and seemed to lack overall track experience. We mentioned this to Sailun and were able to go out again in a smaller group, with much better results.
On the plus side, the Atrezzo SVA2 is a confident-handling, high-grip tire. The track at Burt Brothers Motorpark is quite flat, but the layout we drove on had a series of sweeping and tight radius turns, two cone chicane sections, and a long front straight before hard braking into a sweeping left-hander.
In short, the track had a bit of everything. And in each circumstance, the Atreezo SVA2 gripped up well, especially during hard braking maneuvers. We also noted the tires were mostly quiet during the exercise and delivered a reasonably comfortable ride.
As for minuses, we detected some tire squeal and squirminess during our faster second session, where we were able to push the tire harder as speeds increased. The noisiness occurred during hard braking and accelerating zones in corners with tighter radiuses. It wasn’t too loud but could be heard over the V8 roar in the cabin.
Other nitpicks were of the omission variety. Sailun’s press materials mention the wet performance capability of the Atrezzo SVA2 (which Sailun ranks 10 out of 10), but they didn’t wet a portion of the track for us to test it out. Another minus for us was the lack of any competitor tires to benchmark the Atrezzo SVA2 against during our evaluations.
Verdict: Sailun Arezzo SVA2
Overall, the Sailun Atrezzo impresses as an ultra-high-performance tire that delivers excellent dry grip, low noise, and a high degree of road comfort. Sailun claims it also has excellent wet grip, but we can’t vouch for that as we didn’t test it. We’re also not sure how it stacks up against competitors as we weren’t able to test any.
However, given its all-season status, and Sailun’s value proposition as a non-tier one brand, we expect the Atrezzo SVA2 to have strong appeal. For buyers seeking a versatile UHP tire that looks good, with solid performance credentials at a reasonable price, the Atrezzo SVA2 is worthy of consideration.
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With more than 20 years of industry experience, which includes automotive retail, motorsports PR, and writing and editing for various automotive publications, Lee is an AutoGuide freelancer, and car guy to the core. For nearly a decade and a half, he has married his two consuming passions together – journalism and the automotive industry. Whether it’s providing coverage on debuts from an auto show floor, writing road test reviews, or previewing a new model coming soon, Lee is eager to share his passion for the automotive industry with his readers. He is a long-standing member of the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC) and won a feature writing award in 2018.
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