andrewhake

[post removed until these are official ]

sillyboybmxer

i have never see those. interested now

andrewhake

I jumped the gun a bit on that post, so please un-see what you saw here I believe these are 1 of 4 sets in existence at the moment, and the people that worked out the deal with the company to make these available want to wait until they have a lead time on the next batch before having it posted up anywhere.

Stay tuned!

MMisencik157

Do you plan on keeping the stock wheels or going with something aftermarket? FWIW I used to run 17x9 with 255s all around on stock suspension using the stock sways and preferred it to the stock stagger. It wasn't optimized but it was balanced for the most part IMO. Obviously the car would oversteer at the limit, but you could adjust your driving style accordingly. Also, since you knew the car would oversteer at the limit you were always anticipating and ready to catch it. Non-stag made the car much more enjoyable in lower speed corners and a monster under braking.

When is the next time you'll be at the track?

andrewhake

I will be on stock wheels until I move onto a different suspension setup. I think of wheels, tires, suspension as a single package, so I have no intention of trying a square setup on stock suspension. I don't doubt the benefits of running a square setup, but I think 225/255 is a great match for the stock springs and dampers.

Honestly I have no intention of doing anything to the car that will make it faster at the moment. I am at the most fun part of driving the car, trying and learning little things I can do to go that tiny bit faster.

FISH22

Spill the beans!

macr88

Learning will never stop, when do you plan on aligning the car?

andrewhake

Discovered a new feature of the cup holder kickstand. Not sure if this was intended or accidental design on Honda's part, but who cares it works perfectly!

andrewhake

I have been curious about trying out Spoon's Rigid Collars (especially on a stock car), so I plan on getting a fresh alignment as part of that install. I plan on keeping the alignment the exact same as what I currently have.

andrewhake

20130417 Bridgestone Potenza RE-11A:











Got a chance to put the RE-11A through their paces over the past week. In short I feel they provide all the great characteristics of the RE-11 plus more overall grip, and a much better price.

Comfort/Noise
General comfort and road noise level is the same as RE-11. Really no surprise as it is just the compound that has changed, not the tread pattern.
The very first thing I noticed is that they definitely make a little more noise at the limit than the RE-11, this could be an effect of the tires still being scrubbed in, but if the compound has changed it would make sense for this to change as well. Nothing crazy, but definitely a bit more squeal. This seems to have gotten less noticeable as the tires have been scrubbed in more.

Grip
These things really came alive after being put through a solid couple of runs! I put my RE-11's through a pretty consistent workout basically every single weekend, so I have a pretty good understanding of what sort of corner speeds I could manage on a few long continuous radius corners on a road I frequently drive. The RE-11A provides enough additional grip for me to notice myself taking these corners quicker and maintaining more speed through to corner exit as well as more traction on corner exit. I specifically noticed a bit more stability in higher speed corners as well. One corner in particular I would normally lift for around the top of 4th I can now take flat out after shifting into 5th. (At uhmm, cruising speeds of course ) I can't wait to see what the car will do through the high speed turn 8 at Thunderhill and turn 4, 6, and 9 at Laguna Seca. I should note, the grip improvement isn't gargantuan, but absolutely noticeable for someone driving the car at the limit. The wet grip should hopefully be the same great level the RE-11 provided, as the tread pattern is the same.

Feel
Same great feel and linearity as the RE-11, but the RE-11A I am a bit more confident with at high speeds. Nothing to complain about here. Great response at low and high speeds. Always very easy to tell what the tires are doing. Feel is probably the most important factor for me in a tire. I don't have a specific style of driving, I tend to just find the limits of the tires, and adjust my driving accordingly to keep the car balanced through a corner. Feel is also what makes driving the most fun, and the RE-11A put a smile on my face rather quickly.

If they have managed to improve the grip, maintain the other good characteristics, and keep the wear rate the same plus the drop in price, this is a damn fine tire. If there is a better all round tire I would be amazed. I still plan on trying out other tires. I hoping the AD08R is priced competitively with the RE-11A, and I would love to burn through a set of ZIIs as well.