IWatkins

A little bird tells me a certain tuning place in Gloucestershire now has a stock of Bridgestone RE070 in 225/45ZR17 fit.

Seems they are also doing a special price on them to SN members for mail order. I won't put the prices or contact details. Those who need them will know what to do.

<No doubt this post will be vaped shortly>

ROSSCNEW

I am desperate need of two tyres , do you have a contact number or web site?

Cheers

Nathan L

I wouldn't have a clue who he could mean!

AndyC_772

iTrader: (2)

Are they actually any good? In my brief experience (a test drive of a JDM STI) they let go in the wet rather earlier than I would have expected or liked, and when I spoke to the guys at TSL yesterday they didn't have any good words to say about them either.

JohnS

iTrader: (1)

I tried a set on my car at Knockhill on Saturday, and I've been running them on the road. I must admit I'm impressed so far:

Positives:

They do grip a bit better in the dry, and are progressive near the limits.

They don't squeal like normal road tyres (guess it's the big tread blocks ?)

Despite some hard cornering, they hardly seemed to wear at all (in comparison to Goodyear Eagle F1s under similar circumstances), despite them getting hot and sticky!

You get better feedback through the wheel about what the tyres is doing, probably due to the bigger tread blocks, and stiffer sidewalls.

Downsides:

They are noisier than Goodyear Eagle F1s, but only marginally louder than the RE-040s which came as standard

With the firmer sidewalls, they do tend to tramline a bit more on uneven road surfaces.

I'm guessing they'll be useless in the snow!

They won't be anywhere near as good in the wet as the Goodyears, but limited use in the wet over the weekend showed that they aren't that bad, not scary, and reasonably progressive. Just not as much cornering grip.

They are in limited supply, and hence quite expensive.

Overall - they are superb for dry track events. Good levels of grip, low wear compared to normal road tyres, not as grippy as proper moulded slicks, but then you are using a harder compound and have 8mm of tread, compared to about 3 - 4 for track specific tyres. You could use them quite happily during the summer months on the road, but I wouldn't say they were the best if 99% of your driving is on motorways - best keep them for the twisties

I'm planning to keep mine on during the summer months, and then swap back to my normal F1s around September. Jan/Feb/early March I'll probably have winter/snow tyres on (work better in cold damp conditions as well than normal road tyres), F1s from March - May, and then the RE-070s from May/June - Sep again.

All tyres are a compromise - you can have them fantastic in some conditions, useless in others (e.g. slicks on ice!), good in some, poor in others. You can't get one tyres that is fantastic in all conditions.

For years I've struggled with certain tyres in certain conditions (ie mostly snow and ice), but this year I've bitten the bullet and gone for 3 sets of tyres (two sets of wheels helps!). A set for hot dry weather/track events, one set for normal/damp road conditions, and one set for winter use.

As each set will only be used in their "ideal" conditions, and only for a few thousand miles, then wear should be reasonable across all 3 sets, and in most cases I'll be driving on the tyres most appropriate to the conditions. OK I may get caught out by monsoon conditions during August, but I'm unlikely to want to push the car that hard then anyway!

John

AndyC_772

iTrader: (2)

Thanks John - looks like I'll keep them for a while but maybe swap to something more suitable in winter. What do you use when it's really wet?

JohnS

iTrader: (1)

Eagle F1s for the wet months.