-Tim-

What's up, everyone. I own a 2006 S2000. Bone-stock and I do not plan on modding it at all. I purchased the car a little over a year ago and it came with some really crappy all season tires. They were brand new, so I figured I would at least use them up, before upgrading to better tires.

I've been reading up a lot on the Bridgestone RE71R tires and everyone seems to love them. I have also seen lots of youtube videos of them being used at the track, and they seem pretty incredible.

My question is- I highly doubt I will be taking my car to a track this year, or even attending an auto-x event. My car will be used for just some weekend fun on the back-roads and driving a little faster than I should be on some mountain roads on my weekend trips to Upstate NY.

So my question is- Would the RE71R's be too much? Would I be better of with just a Max Performace tire instead? And if so, can you guys recommend one? I've read some good things about the Bridgestone Potenza S-04's.

PS- before anyone recommends the Michelin PSS's. I agree that would be my best summer tire, but unfortunately they do not come in the size I want for my rear wheels. Thanks.

TsukubaCody

Why do you want anything bigger than a 245/40/17 for the OEM rear wheels? Just get PSS dawg.

-Tim-

The Michelin PSS tires in the stock rear 245 tire size don't look right to me. They have a stretched-look that makes them look much smaller than the front tires. I thought I could solve that problem by getting them in 255, but Michelin doesn't offer them in that size.

Jpmelfi

The quick answer. Yes they are overkill for street duty. When they are warm, the grip is immense, but if it is cooler out they are pretty hard and the car will push until they warm up. I was in the same boat 2 years ago. I agree with you on the PSS, I cant stand the way the rear looks at 245, so I bought RE-71r's. They have about 5k miles on them and wear has been good. Road noise isn't that bad in my opinion, with the top down the majority of the time you definitely can't notice. All that being said I really like the tire and when I get a new set of wheels I will go with RE-71r's again

V6 Donut

PSS all the way for street duty.

indys2kautocrosser

I autocross regularly with the re71r's and they are amazing. About as close as you can get to a slick as a street tire. With that said for what you are going to be doing I would recommend the continental extremecontact dw. They are quieter much better in the wet and still supply plenty of grip. A great all around tire.

RedCelica

If you're not going to track the car I really dont see the point. I'll vote for PSS's myself too. They will last a lot longer and you'll get better use out of them.

B serious

S04's are available in a 225/255 stagger, IIRC. People are also saying good things about the Firestone Indy...something....or other....help me out if you know.

The 71R being overkill is definitely true. But there are quite a few down sides of using that tire if you don't need it.

ZDan

I ran PSS on my FD for a few years. They were OK/fine (nothing spectacular) initially, but after 1.5 to 2 years, 10k miles (one track day) they lost any semblance of grip on the street, warm or cool weather. To a shocking degree. I wouldn't get them...

I replaced them with RE71R, which were fine for grip, but I managed to destroy the rears in one track day! Whereas I was able to do multiple track days on my old Dunlop Z1 StarSpecs. I don't think they'll last as long as other Extreme Perf tires even for street only usage.

If I'm you, I'd go with Dunlop ZII StarSpecs.

JamesD89

I ran 225/255 Sumitomo's HTR ZIIIs for close to a year on my AP2 and they were perfectly adequate for daily driving and canyon craving. They even stood up to a handful of autocrosses fairly well (as long as you don't have the expectation of being competitive). I bought a square set of wheels that came with PSS, which were substantially better for any sort of aggressive driving, but I could not tell the difference day-to-day. If you want a budget option they might be worth a look.

Also the 245 PSS has a tread width of around 8.5 inches which is a great fit for the OEM rear wheel. It's a bit stretched on a 9in wheel, but still looks fine:



I wonder if this is what's happening with mine right now (3 tracks days, around 7k miles, 7 months); last autocross I ran it felt like I was driving on ice. Tires still have plenty of tread (6/32 and 5/32).