RE71 vs BFG R1s

[trackm4]

Originally Posted by redpriest

I've driven on both. The R1S is another league up in terms of grip.

However... it has all the properties of a slick, meaning, you MUST religiously warm them up, and you need to have decent enough car control skills to be able to catch a slide. They also have really soft sidewalls that tend to roll over, which also tends to throw the car into a slide if you're not prepared. This is one of the only tires that has "scared me" when driving on them.

This is what happens when you try to take a turn too hard without warming up the tires. Note I was going slow here, just not slow enough for a cold lap. Notice how there is no sound of squealing?



Scary:



The grip is not even throughout the life of the tire. You will get probably up to 6 heat cycles of amazing grip which falls off from there. If you have rotated your tires properly, and made sure you warmed up the tires and didn't drive like an idiot on them, you might get to 18 or so heat cycles, but by then the grip will be worse than NT01.

Did I mention you need to make sure you rotated properly? I have 3 BFG R1S that are sitting in my garage useless at 9 or so heat cycles. Why? Because I got lazy and one of my tires corded from being on a front corner tire too long. The tires are basically useless because they won't have even grip even if I were to get a "replacement".

If you run this tire you need to be committed to using several sets, because like I said above, you are going to probably cord one long before the others. So that means you need to be able to "assemble" sets from different sets - cord 1, save 3 .... another set, once you get to same # of heat cycles if you haven't corded, start mixing and matching, etc.

Cost - these tires are more expensive than RE-71R, and run way wider than RE-71R. I had to run a 5 mm spacer up front on 265/35-18 on my E92 with ET25 tire offset. 275/35-18 RE-71R fits just fine on ET25.

Eventually I've moved on to Pirelli slick cast offs, which are another league up from R1S, and IMO, have more forgiving driving properties. More predictable IMO than R1S and at the price I'm getting them at, will give me more heat cycles of max grip.

R1S behave better in cold than Pirellis, and if it's too hot outside, you will overheat them IMO - the regular R1 I'm told is better for hotter temps.

holy schnitzels redpriest !! That was scary in the second instagram post!! I bet you had to take a moment or two to calm down after that one!!

[Longboarder]

Originally Posted by lutfy

R888R is improved over NT01 in that it does not split in the center. I dont have much data to say its quicker than NT01 but has the tried and true Toyo longevity, consistent (dont over heat) and I did like them for DE. BUT i was not competitive in TT. It has the worst howl of any tire I have ever used (like you blew the s**t out of the wheel bearing) so driving to and from was off and I too sold my half used set. Not to say it was bad but I needed a different use.

RE71R is MUCH better. Firstly it didnt sound bad when driving lol kidding. But the grip is amazing. It does overheat after 15-20 mins but for TT it was fine. It was faster than Maxis (utter rubbish) and a few tenths faster than the Toyo RR I got. Pretty good in the rain and best tire to drive to and from and if it rains.... RE is fast to the wear bars.

I now strictly use Hoosier R7 and find them to be plenty good for up to 20~ cycles. After that its very hairy to drive. The R1 I had were slower than R7 but that was because it was 255/40/17 vs 225/40/17R7 (much shorter and very sensitive on a stock ratio Scion), both with 5 HC on them. If I had to drive back to back with feel, I couldnt (being honest).

For DE/Track day, RE71R is king. I tried 4 sets of tires experimenting/data collecting and nothing even comes close (yet).

Lutfy

Some more feedback on the RE71R.

I just did 2 track days at Thermal with two sets of wheels tires both 255 35 19 F and 275 35 19 R stock suspension e92 ZCP with ST380/355 brakes camber plates and -3 front camber

Was warm - 70's to 90's.

The car was driven by both myself and a very competent driver who can match the times posted by professional drivers.

Day 1 was RE71Rs, which were sitting in a garage for 2 years. Front tires new and rear tires had one track day.

Day 2 was new Cup2's no track days and maybe 1,000 street miles.

Both myself and my friend were 2 seconds faster (on a 3 min lap) day 2 on the Cup2's, however that might have been all from being more familiar with the configuration, which was new to us. For example, I was 7 seconds faster day 2 in my GT3 (no changes from day 1 to day 2). So in fact we may have gained even more than 2 seconds keeping on the RE71Rs.

Cup2's as well all know are amazing but very pricey and so considering everything I am going to agree that the RE71R is the better track tire than the Cup2....which is itself one of the best street legal track tires.

[ricardofors68]

That second slide made me stop breathing and I'm just a couch potato!

[admranger]

Poo came out just from watching that slide at AC. Yeeeesh.

[SYT_Shadow]

Spent a track day this week with back to back R1 vs RE71.

I maintain what i said earlier. The R1 seems like an incredibly friendly tire to drive fast, it's communicative, does not bite and is easy to catch when you are overly enthusiastic.

[Dreamer99]

Originally Posted by Longboarder

Some more feedback on the RE71R.

I just did 2 track days at Thermal with two sets of wheels tires both 255 35 19 F and 275 35 19 R stock suspension e92 ZCP with ST380/355 brakes camber plates and -3 front camber

Was warm - 70's to 90's.

The car was driven by both myself and a very competent driver who can match the times posted by professional drivers.

Day 1 was RE71Rs, which were sitting in a garage for 2 years. Front tires new and rear tires had one track day.

Day 2 was new Cup2's no track days and maybe 1,000 street miles.

Both myself and my friend were 2 seconds faster (on a 3 min lap) day 2 on the Cup2's, however that might have been all from being more familiar with the configuration, which was new to us. For example, I was 7 seconds faster day 2 in my GT3 (no changes from day 1 to day 2). So in fact we may have gained even more than 2 seconds keeping on the RE71Rs.

Cup2's as well all know are amazing but very pricey and so considering everything I am going to agree that the RE71R is the better track tire than the Cup2....which is itself one of the best street legal track tires.

We’re the Cup2 rear’s the Mercedes version?

[Longboarder]

Originally Posted by Dreamer99

We’re the Cup2 rear’s the Mercedes version?

Yes.

[kyrix1st]

RE71R, ZIII, R-S4 are within 0.01 second at Tsukuba Circuit.

[redpriest]

Originally Posted by kyrix1st

RE71R, ZIII, R-S4 are within 0.01 second at Tsukuba Circuit.

Do you know how well the new ZIII are wearing compared to RE-71R?

[CSBM5]

Originally Posted by kyrix1st

RE71R, ZIII, R-S4 are within 0.01 second at Tsukuba Circuit.

GRM just tested RE71R, ZIII, ZII Star Spec, and the Rival S1.5 at Harris Hill Raceway. The ZIII was the slowest tire, and significantly slower than the RE71R and Rival S. They also tested them on a skidpad and autocross course using national champion drivers. The ZIII was the slowest tire. It was essentially a toss-up between the RE71R and Rival S.

This test is in the June issue of GRM. Note that in one of the summary tables on p.89, they made a mistake in the summary table, but you can see the actual data above it to see the correct values.

[kyrix1st]

Originally Posted by redpriest

Do you know how well the new ZIII are wearing compared to RE-71R?

ZIII from fresh is used for 9-hour endurance racing at Central Circuit and still has some life left for a full track day. RE71Rs on the other hand typically need to be changed after 3 race days (15 laps per day including time attack.)

[kyrix1st]

Originally Posted by CSBM5

GRM just tested RE71R, ZIII, ZII Star Spec, and the Rival S1.5 at Harris Hill Raceway. The ZIII was the slowest tire, and significantly slower than the RE71R and Rival S. They also tested them on a skidpad and autocross course using national champion drivers. The ZIII was the slowest tire. It was essentially a toss-up between the RE71R and Rival S.

This test is in the June issue of GRM. Note that in one of the summary tables on p.89, they made a mistake in the summary table, but you can see the actual data above it to see the correct values.

Wait for ZIII star spec. I am using Ventus R-S4 until then.

[CSBM5]

Originally Posted by redpriest

This is what happens when you try to take a turn too hard without warming up the tires. Note I was going slow here, just not slow enough for a cold lap. Notice how there is no sound of squealing?



Scary:

So, this is how you warm up your tires!

I'm guessing those had some heat cycles on them too? In general, fresh tires have a much broader temperature range of grip, and that range compresses with thermo-oxidative aging in addition to peak grip reducing (I realize you know all this and I'm preaching to the choir with most here). Outstanding job at looking and thinking where you want to go on that oval and not even breaking a sweat! Unless of course every lap you do there is like that.

Regards,
Chuck

[VicS5]

The answer is 3 seconds at WGI. Advantage BFG.

[SYT_Shadow]

Originally Posted by VicS5

The answer is 3 seconds at WGI. Advantage BFG.

Exactly. Significant difference