CosmosMpower

I'm looking at replacing the dying tires on my AP1 and currently run 225/50/15 front and 245/45/16 rear Hankook RS2's on the stock wheels. I heard many good things about the Bridgestone RE01R for autocross but they only make them in the smaller sizing for the AP1 wheels (205 front, 225 rear). Has anyone tried the bridgestones in those sizes and how did they work out for autocross and street driving? There seems to be considerably more tire contact patch with the RS2's but some say the sidewalls are too soft and the compound/pattern is inferior to the Azenis, RE01R etc.

Orthonormal

Have you checked the published dimensions? The Hankooks may not run as wide as the Bridgestones.

Suspension

I have the 205/225 RE01Rs on my stock AP1. The tires are great for autocrossing, I put down some good times and the grip is great. It may have a little oversteer at the limit but it's very controllable and gives you some audible warning at the limit. They are also good street tires. I've only put 3,000 miles or so on them and the tread is still good. I've been very happy with them and they are on sale at the Tire Rack right now so jump on them. And if you're an SCCA or BMWCCA member you can get $100 rebate from Bridgestone.

CosmosMpower

The 100 dollar rebate brought them into a very reasonable price range. As far as published widths the 225 RE01R's are larger than the 225 RS2's however the 245 RS2's are wider than the 225 bridgestones. Basically 205/225 RE01R is putting down less rubber than then 225/245 setup overall even though the bridgestones are larger in 225 (but used as a REAR tire).

I should also note we're using a larger front sway and have noticed oversteer in the car. It is aligned very aggressively at -1.75 front -2.25 rear with a decent bit of rear toe in.

CosmosMpower

Any other input from someone that has used either/both tires? I did the math on tread widths and the 225/245 RS2's are OVERALL 1.6 inches wider between the 4 tires (.4 at each corner). Just wondering if the tire compound/tread pattern will make up for all the less theoretical surface grip.

rlaifatt

The only valid comparison is performance measurements under the conditions you intrend to use them, otherwise futile.

BTW, I just got the RS2's on my AP1 wheels for street, but the car has been parked since I installled them. For street I buy for the looks .

Suspension

I had the Hankooks (205/50-16 all around) on my 1991 BMW 318is with stiff springs, Koni SAs and lots of other bolt ons. They were great tires, pretty good grip and very controllable at the limit. I have the REO1Rs in stock AP1 sizes on my s2000 and I think the RE01Rs are the better tire. The Hankooks have a lot of void area and thus have tested poorly in braking performance.

I'd be willing to bet if you ran these two tires on the same car back to back the RE01R would just edge out the Hankooks, but not by any significant margin. It'd be close. I think you'd be good with either one.

I personally don't like the idea of putting oversize tires on wheels...I think they work much better with proper tire sizes.

CosmosMpower

[QUOTE=Suspension,May 18 2007, 12:37 PM] I had the Hankooks (205/50-16 all around) on my 1991 BMW 318is with stiff springs, Koni SAs and lots of other bolt ons.

Orthonormal

I just looked at the specs for the RE-01R and the RS2.

205/55-16 Bridgestone has 7.6" tread width on a 6.5" wide wheel.
225/50-16 Hankook has 7.6" tread width on a 7" wide wheel.

225/50-16 Bridgestone has 8.3" tread width on 7" wide wheel
245/45-16 Hankook has 8.7" tread width on 8" wide wheel.

Not much width difference, especially if you consider that the Hankooks were mounted on wider wheels for the measurements.

CosmosMpower

According to your info the rear RE-01R's seem to be over 2 inches skinnier between the 2 compared to the rear RS2's, I'd say that's a significant amount of rubber. Anyone run A stock tire class successfully on the RE-01R in the 205/225 sizes?