General G-Max AS-05 Review & Rating for 2024

Go back a few decades, and you’d find it extremely difficult to locate an ultra-performance tire that worked all seasons. Manufacturers raised their hands accepting defeat after finding it impossible to build an all-year tire with the then available rubber materials.

However, as expert drivers will tell you, the situation has now changed. All-season tires have not only inundated the market with their presence, but they’ve also met the expectations of drivers who want their tires to provide enough grip and traction on 365-days a year.

One such ultra-high-performance tire which is famous for its all-season utility is the General G-Max AS-05. This tire is relatively new – it came into the market only in 2017. Still, as its review is going to show you, it has built (and improved) on every aspect of its predecessor, the G-Max AS-03.

Read on to find out how the General G-Max AS-05 fared in our review.

General G-Max AS-05 Review: Test Drive

A mere glance at its abovementioned features might have made you realize that this tire means business with its performance. Though if you still have any doubts, the performance of these tires during our test ride should dispel them.

Treadwear and Durability

One of the most desirable features any tire can have is longer-lasting tread life. Luckily, the General G-Max AS-05 offers exactly that. Apart from coming with a treadwear warranty of 50,000 miles, it offers the StabiliTread technology to help you achieve that warranty period.

What this technology does, as mentioned above, is to allow the tire to have an enlarged and flat footprint to make sure it can achieve optimal road contact. This arrangement takes the pressure off the tire by allowing it to evenly distribute its weight along the road.

Consequently, when the forces of cornering, braking, and accelerating are equally distributed along the diameter of the tire, the tread elements are stabilized and experience less tread flexing. This successfully prevents the formations of irregular wear, extending the tire’s durability and reducing its treadwear.

Dry Performance

Tires that are designed for on-road conditions need to provide excellent controllability at high speeds. Their structure must be such that as to withstand the pressure which comes with high speeds but not at the cost the optimal tire shape. Also, the tread needs to give superior steering control.

Fortunately, the G-Max AS-05 offers exactly that. It boasts an asymmetric tread pattern which ensures that the tire is in contact with the road at all times. The tread features stabilized shoulder blocks and a continuous, notched center rib that maintain constant connection with the road surface.

Other than that, this tire features polyamide reinforcement and a strengthened steel belt to ensure high-speed performance and driving safety. What both these parts do is help the tire maintain its ideal shape at high-speeds. So you can get the maximum performance out of the tire in various conditions.

Wet Performance and Snow & Ice

In case you need proofs, its tread design and high-silica tread compound are the two reasons why this tire’s performance on wet roads is as good as on dry tarmac. The former makes sure that as the tire is moving in rain, its built-in grooves automatically eliminate the slush and water from beneath it.

Such an arrangement prevents hydroplaning – a potentially dangerous scenario when the tire skids on the road due to its inner slush and water removing its contact with the road surface. The high-silica tread compound, meanwhile, makes its presence felt by increasing the tire’s grip on slippery and damp tracks.

With that being said, the performance of the AS-05 isn’t satisfactory as on other surfaces. That’s because this tire was designed with speed in mind, which is the last thing you need on a snowy surface where speed can be deadly. If you want something that could ride you through a snowstorm, look elsewhere.

Noise and Comfort

Two things might make your ride comfortable: vibrations and noise. On the first count, the AS-05 performs admirably like most other high-speed tires. With the odometer north of 110mph, there won’t be many vibrations disturbing your ride. If you aren’t on the driving seat, you can sleep through the ride.

As for its noise, the AS-05 isn’t ultra-quiet by any stretch of the imagination. That’s the only feature which it shares with other ultra-high-performance tires – most of whom are anything but quiet. Still, if your car has good sound insulation – most those above 1300cc do – you won’t hear much from the outside.

But what about cars with poor sound insulation? Well, then you’d hear a fair amount of noise on the inside. Sure, it won’t be enough to wake up the whole neighborhood as you take the car out of your garage. But it would still be easy to notice (and hate) for the passengers.

Off-road performance

At the cost of sounding too simplistic, we can say that this tire isn’t designed for off-road. It is made to work specifically on dry tarmac (at worst) and on paved roads (at best). You might take the risk of taking it on dusty roads, but even then, you must be extremely careful to avoid any damage to the tires.

In other words, if you don’t want to be on the market looking for a new pair of tires within a few months of buying the AS-05, don’t take this tire for an off-road trip.