Founded in 1917 and headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, Yokohama manufactures a wide range of tires for passenger cars, CUVs, SUVs, light trucks, performance cars, minivans, vans, and competition vehicles. The tire manufacturer’s portfolio comprises all-season, summer, winter, off-road, commercial grade, and eco-conscious types of tires.

The Yokohama BluEarth-Van All Season RY61 is the brand’s first dedicated commercial van tire that provides year-round traction and is suitable for use on light commercial vehicles, transporters, cargo vans, and modern vans. As this tire belongs to the eco-conscious “BluEarth” family, it flags the brand’s concern about protecting the environment. Yokohama claims that this tire is optimized for fuel efficiency, durability, longevity, and reliable performance.

Let’s go through this Yokohama BluEarth-Van All Season RY61 tire review and understand if these claims really make some sense.

Features and Benefits

All-season tires are known for their ability to perform in dry, wet, and light winter weather conditions and the BluEarth-Van All Season RY61 is no different. Yokohama has blessed it with an array of cutting-edge technologies and new-gen features to offer a perfect balance of durability and performance to its customers. Here’re the features and benefits of this tire:

• Reliable year-round performance – This tire features large center tread blocks that establish improved contact with the road and enhance tread rigidity for an excellent dry performance. The 3D snow sipes present on the tread blocks boost performance in light snow and create multiple biting edges to provide better performance in winter conditions.
• Longer tread life – The optimized tread pattern of the BluEarth-Van All Season RY61 that features large center blocks and squared shoulder blocks offers a stable footprint to increase tread life and reduce the chances of irregular wear.
• Enhanced durability – The bead protector on the sidewall prevents wear of the bead and carcass when the tire is used on high load application, thus providing additional protection from bead unsetting. Additionally, the geometric cute design present on the sidewall of this tire prevents cracks from forming, thus increasing the overall service life of the tire.
• Excellent fuel-efficiency – The triple polymer compound of the BluEarth-Van All Season RY61 provides a perfect balance of polymers, silica, and carbon to reduce the rolling resistance and improve fuel economy.

The BluEarth-Van All Season RY61 is available in 15- and 16-inch rim sizes and is covered by the manufacturer’s standard limited warranty, which valid for 60 months from the date of purchase if there are any defects in materials or workmanship. That being said, the tire is not backed by a limited manufacturer tread life warranty.

Pros and Cons

Now that you know the features and benefits of the BluEarth-Van All Season RY61, let us know the pros and cons of this tire. Here’re the positives of this tire:

• The tire ensures reduced rolling resistance for improved fuel efficiency.
• Impressive traction in light snow conditions.
• Optimized tread design prevents irregular wear.
• Durable sidewalls and reinforced internal structure boost load-carrying capacity.
• Variable pitch sequencing minimizes tread noise levels.

Unfortunately, no tire is perfect, and the same is the case with the BluEarth-Van All Season RY61. While it does a great job on various fronts, it may not delight the purchasers due to the negatives mentioned below:

• Sluggish braking performance in dry and wet conditions.
• Some competitors score better in terms of longevity.
• No tread life warranty is offered by the manufacturer.
• Limited rim sizes are available.

SimpleTire’s view on Yokohama BluEarth Van All Season RY61 tires

The Yokohama BluEarth-Van All Season RY61 is made for those who look for a value-for-money commercial van tire with a good year-round performance. This tire is optimized for increased fuel efficiency, making it an ideal choice for fleet owners. Although the tire is not Three Peak Mountain Snowflake certified, it features unique tread elements that provide better traction in light winter conditions. The innovative tread design of this tire prevents irregular wear, whereas its durable sidewalls and reinforced internal structure increase the load-carrying capacity. Thanks to the pitch sequencing, the tread noise levels of this tire remain very low.

However, various test results and customer reviews indicate that the braking performance of this tire in dry and wet conditions isn’t as responsive as some of its competitors. Similarly, the longevity too isn’t that great. The purchasers also might not like the fact that any tread life warranty coverage doesn’t back this tire.

In the US region, this tire competes against the Continental Vancontact A/S, Toyo Celcius Cargo, Hankook Vantra LT (RA18), and Nexen Roadian CT8 HL, and Firestone Transforce CV.

Vehicles the Yokohama BluEarth Van All Season RY61 is a good replacement tire for

Commonly used on light commercial vehicles, cargo vans, transporters, and modern vans, the Yokohama BluEarth-Van All Season RY61 can be a good replacement tire for cars like RAM ProMaster, Chevrolet Express, Ford Transit, and Mercedes-Benz Sprinter.