scotthldr

Hi all,

Read over the last few weeks about Bridgestone RE040 tyres being well basically crap ie: aquaplaning, loss of traction on corners etc. I have RE050's on my 05 WRX(they came as standard) and i think they are absolutely rubbish as well with the same problems as above, does anyone else have/feel the same? What tyres are other people running on out there, looking at changing to Toyo T 1R, Goodyear F1 GSD 3 or Preilli p zero a would be grateful for any feedback. Cheers

Normski

I have to disagree.

I have a set of RE050's (215/40-17) on my classic STi Ra and I think they are excellent. Both in the wet or the dry. On the road or track.

Have you had your suspension geometry set up recently?

NXG

Had Toyo T1S on my WRX03 and whilst very good I MUCH prefer the GSD3 I have on now.

mk type R

I agree, i own a 05 spec c with slightly wider versions, they are not good in the wet at all and will be changing before the car ends up in a wall or something.

Just dont feel confident with them, The geometry is set up wit AST coilovers form Powerstation (Litchfield imports) so set up is not the issue.

The tires ure unbeateable in the complete dry once warmed up, but lets face it how often is it dry in this country..

B0DSKI

iTrader: (17)

Have to agree with the RE040's i've got them on my STi and had them before on my CTR and they are ****e, totally uninspring in anything but bone dry roads, even let go the other day on the exit to a roundabout at nothing more than quarter throttle, if they were'nt on th ecar when i bought it i'd never of gone there, especially after similiar problems in my CTR, i remember trying to enter a corner in the wet in the CTR at the same speed as a Toyota Starlet and having no grip at all and ending up on the other side of the road.......BTW the Starlet made it round with no trouble whatsoever!

Normski

I think you are mixing up your tyres, You have RE070's do you not?

deano555

Got re050's on my my03 , this is my second set and they perform absolutely spot on, don't forget that most roads are very slippery this time of year after all the road salt that has been down !!

Deano.

swtmerce

I have 050's on my 03 WRX and I've only had the car for two weeks. In the wet I don't have the confidence I would expect to have with a WRX. I will be changing them soon, probably for F1 GSD3 since the place I usually get my tyres from is offering them cheaper than Toyos.

Just a point, even though I think the tyres are pretty rubbish, the car and tyre combination still give me at least twice the confidence I had with my old car (big heavy Merc C class) running on ContiSportContacts!!!!

abc

I agree too. I have a PPPd MY05 WRX and have been shocked by the understeer and how poor RE050s are in the wet. I had a set of GSD3s on my Leon Cupra and found them confidence inspiring in the wet or dry and they cut down understeer very well too, so I'm thinking of getting a set put on the WRX once I've had a track day on the RE050s.

One other thing I've found is that the WRX is very sensitive to tyre pressures. Get that wrong and it will seriously affect handling -- as I found out on an unexpected oversteer moment in the wet when I'd let the rears get a bit low!

ninjacost

Have reo70's on my spec c must say they are the worst tyre i have ever had on any car ,they tramline like crazy, they are very noisy and grip in anything but dry condition is pretty poor too, thats why i wil be changing on sat to vredestein ultrac has they seem to get good reviews ,obviously time will tell ,delivered today from My tyres and i must say they look the dogs,designed by Giugario even says on side wall ,will keep you posted

jasonius

iTrader: (1)

A couple of things:

Standard WRX's understeer (badly) regardless of the tyres, can be neutralised (sp?) very effectively and quite cheaply by stiffening up the rear end with uprated ARB and droplinks.

Which brings me to the second point, having lower pressure in the rear actually helps reduce the inherrant understeer (unless very under pressure..!). ie stiffer front end = more U/S where as stiffer rear + less..!

Having run re050's on my 05WRX with above mods, my scoob handles very neutral.

mk type R

Cheers normski, I shouldent have assumed your quite right
they are still shocking never the less.


Any recomendations on replacements, think wil go up to 18" whees at same time

swtmerce

Jasonius, thanks for the interesting post. What has been the drawback of stiffening the rear? Is it noticeably harder, uncomfortable? And what was the cost (inc labour if possible)?

stilover

Best thing I ever did when I got my 05 STi PPP was to change the crap RE070's to Michelin Pilot Sport 2's. Transformed the handling completly. The worst times with the RE070's was in the wet, rear end would step out under not exactly full power. I used the A-DCCD to try and compensate. It made a difference, but since putting on the Michelin's I just keep in in Auto mode, and under full power it just grips. Best tyre I've ever had. Standard fit on Porsche's and the new Audi RS4 has them as well. A few other expensice quick cars have them as standard too (can't think of them now).
Had them on my last car (Focus RS) as standard. From now on I won't use another tyre.

PPPsteveo

Had the re40s on my sti-ppp mate and they were shocking....changed on saturday for a full set of Eagle f1's and the car is completely different....no more holding on for grim death at low speed on bumpy roads and superb grip wet or dry......would recomend them to anyone

53

iTrader: (41)

I have a 53 plate wrx PPP, full prodrive geo settings with prodrive springs. Running 17x7 215/45 Bridge REO50's.

Tyres OK in the dry not very good everywhere else. Understeer like a ******* in the wet or cold until they are significantly warmed up! Previously had bridge potzas SO3's which were excellent but on a car with much less power and front wheel drive. Would not recomend Reo50's to anyone with a modified WRX.

Am looking at Eagle F1s or Mich PS2's but having trouble deciding which as no real performance conclusions are ever drawn on here - the PS2's are ususally dismissed on grounds of cost.

mgcvk

These Bridgestone tyres are pants and I wonder how many accidents and near misses they have caused. I had my share of frights, particularly in the wet before changing to Eagles. Tramlining in the dry is no fun and clearly they are not the best suited tyre for the wrx. Subaru must have some sort of corporate stitch up with Bridgestone.

GrollySTI

I agree with the posts above - the RE070's are noisy and tramline like you wouldn't believe!

I changed mine before the weather got too bad to Pirelli P-Zero Rosso's - SO much better (wanted the PS2's but coudn't get anywhere near the pirelli price - maybe next time).

Mad Scientist

I don't agree!!!

Had 4 sets of RE050s in the last year. A bit of understeer in the wet, which you can compensate for with driving technique. In the dry, they give the most grip i've ever had. Car is an MY04 ppp. On my previous classic I had Pirrelli P zeros (crap), Toyos (pretty good) and Eagle GSD3's (best I had on the classic). I'm not even going to try anything else on the WRX because they suit my driving style perfectly.

Spanner in the works!

abc

Yes, but that will affect the warranty. Fitting Prodrive springs helps neutralise the understeer and doesn't affect the warranty, albeit at greater cost!

They were; lesson learned!

Cheers.

53

iTrader: (41)

Prodrive springs are worth every penny its a crime they aren't standard -
but you still get scary understeer with RE050's tyres in the wet and cold.

Jerry B

Running GSD3 F1s (mostly, some Nokian WRs at the mo') on a my'03 PPP'd WRX wagon, with Prodrive springs, whiteline ARB and drops on rear.
Agree that the car feels more neutral now, better still by quite some way with the ARB etc which I added after much deliberation a year after the springs.
I find the F1s superb, and before fitting the winter tyres had found that keeping to standard pressures works well in colder temperatures than going +2psi (35/32) as I used to in summer to add some feel and response from the softer tyre structure.
Reason is I set them to my usual slightly higher pressure on a cold morning and after 15 minutes could feel something wasn't right...by the time I'd got on the motorway I couldn't cope with the bouncing around....checked the pressures and they'd shot way way up....air had warmed a bit outside from 2c to 10c but the running must've warmed the air inside the tyres significantly, perhaps not that far off summer temps, raising them a lot further pressure-wise from the cold temperature I'd set them at - if that makes sense.

scotthldr

4 sets of tyres in a year? What you doing eating them Anyway thanks for all the fed back very intresting still confused as to which set to buy. The Goodyears seem to come out top but have heard that they wear very quick is this so, not much fed back on the Pirelli P Zeros yet Prodrive recommend them I beleive God knows might just spend my money on high wing spoiler instead

HowardG

I've got to agree with the masses on this one.

I changed to 050's when I uprated my brakes to Brembos - I needed Sti wheels to clear the calipers and the new wheels had 050's on them. From the moment they were fitted the car tramlined like mad. When you are not used to it it could be described as very dangerous. In fact the other day I was on a small lane in the Cotswolds and my father-in-law pulled away from me in his 15 yr old BMW, I couldn't get above 40mph as the car was all over the place.

As for the grip, most of my driving since fitting the wheels/ tyres has been around town, and no, I'm not that impressed with the grip. I only hope they redeem themselves on the track.

Seriously, how do Subaru supply cars this dangerous and not end up in court - or are the STi's set up differently.

Before the change of wheels I had A620 Yoko's 205/50/16 which were the standard fit for my JDM bugeye. Excellent on the road -grip-noise-wear rate etc. Side walls a bit tall and soft for heavy track use, but not bad. How come nobody uses Yoko's on Subarus, on this site. I thought they were great!

Mad Scientist

4 sets in a year, but I have done over 30k miles!

Don't get the tramlining thing. Mine doesn't suffer........................STI tyres are wider so maybe thats it?

Jerry B

Personally I found the OE Bridgestones fitted to my classic had their own benefits - they were good in the dry, not very good in the wet, but what they did offer was excellent feedback - hence the tramlining!
I didn't like the tramlining or crap wet grip, so I went S02s until they stopped making them, then F1s, which are superb all-round but lack feedback, presumably as the sidewall/structure is more pliant and forgiving ie softer.
F1s wear pretty well surprisingly.

The RE050s I took off as they were shagged on the front when I got the car so I can't really comment much.

NorthDownsScooby

050s on the WRX 300. So far I haven't felt them slip/skid/spin once so f**k knows what speed you people are doing !! Sooooooo much grip on tight roundabouts it scares passengers till they scream !! Mind you, I probably don't need to go round them three times

53

iTrader: (41)

NorthDownScooby, Are they 050 or 050A as it makes a difference. 050 can't cope with a PPP'd wrx in my opinion and you don't have to be going fast at all to feel how inferior they are.

NorthDownsScooby

No reference on the tyre to 050A anywhere.

Maybe you guys are just too used to driving racing cars as your other vehicles, or maybe I'm too used to driving a boring old S500 Mercedes

abc

Not me! Boot the car in 2nd off a roundabout onto a clear(!) dual carriageway and if it doesn't understeer, your suspension must have been modified!