Hey folks,
It's been over a year now and 10,000 miles on these tires. Someone asked me to do a review so here it is.
A few specs:
* note these are +1 size width
* ~$384 for a set of 4, shipped
* 22.49 lbs each which is heavy (stock RE050As are 19.0 lbs each)
* sidewall is 86mm (stock RE050As are 82mm)
* tread width is 7.5" (stock are 7.6") - actual contact pad measurement
* section width is 8.7" (stock are 8.4") - thickest part of the tire measurement at center of sidewall
I learned a few things about tires from Rick aka [MENTION=636]RAAMaudio[/MENTION] which were very helpful, mainly concerning the measurements above. Just because a tire is this size or that size doesn't necessarily mean it's smaller or bigger or wider. As you see above even though my tires are +1 width, the stock tires actually have a wider contact patch. Who would have thought. Anyhow that's interesting to know when shopping tires.
Ultimately I went with these because I heard they were super grippy and I wanted something that offered better traction with my turbo upgrade about a year ago. And they were cheap. I rolled the dice and decided to give these a shot, if they weren't any good it wasn't too much of a loss. I've been quite happy with their performance both new and now one year and about 10,000 miles later.
From what I've read these are widely used as track tires and perform superbly. I use them as a daily all season tire though, no tracking and only moderate crazy cornering on city roads which may be why they've held up so well (see below).
Thoughts:
DRY PERFORMANCE/TRACTION
Here these tires shine...I was spinning in 1st and 2nd on 93 octane with the X47 on the stockers (keep in mind though they did have 20,000 miles)...once I installed the Federals I gained instant traction. Depending on the road and weather, sometimes complete traction. I was pleasantly surprised and it really allowed me to enjoy the turbo upgrade all the more as the stock tires were spinning like crazy. With a higher octane tune they do lose grip though. But these tires are so sticky, they grab and toss rocks like no other. Look at the pics below, they pick up everything even a year later. When new they even wicked pieces of tire onto my mudflaps, I'd have to peel chunks off. That's how sticky these are. But as I said traction is outstanding and they offer a good bit of grip. To be fair, any new tires probably feel amazing after riding on a set of old worn out ones.
WET PERFORMANCE
No issues here, and it's been a wet year in Georgia. I've never had a problem. Interesting to note is that if you look at the Federal website these DO have a wet traction rating whereas the RS-RRs do not. Something to consider if you plan on using an high performance summer tire as an all season. Weather doesn't get cold here so it works for me even in the 30 degree winter.
SNOW PERFORMANCE
I can't comment, it rarely snows where I live.
NOISE
They are noticeably more noisy that the stockers but it's not a big deal, after a few weeks I forgot about it.
COMFORT
I have so many suspension mods I can't comment too much on this but I will say they are no less comfortable than the OEM Bridgestones.
TREADWEAR
This is the area I was concerned about since they have no treadwear rating. For reference my stock Bridgestones were nearly dead at 22,000 miles of normal daily driving use. These tires are 10,000 miles in and they have quite a bit of life left. See the pics at the bottom. I have no doubt they'll last 1-2 more years or more. Very nice!
OVERALL
Overall I am quite happy and highly recommend these even as an all-season so long as you don't live in colder temps and/or where it snows regularly. I didn't mention this before but they also look awesome, especially the tread pattern. My little girl calls them "sport tires" because the tread design is so crazy and different from normal tires. Interestingly I cannot get any tire shine product to stick to these; once applied the shine vanishes within a few minutes. No big deal but interesting, I've never had that issue and I'm a fan of tire shine.
![[coolsmile]](/images/smilies/cool.png "Cool Smile [coolsmile]")
Thanks for reading!!!
Pics when new:
Pics after 10,000 miles:
It's been over a year now and 10,000 miles on these tires. Someone asked me to do a review so here it is.
A few specs:
* note these are +1 size width
* ~$384 for a set of 4, shipped
* 22.49 lbs each which is heavy (stock RE050As are 19.0 lbs each)
* sidewall is 86mm (stock RE050As are 82mm)
* tread width is 7.5" (stock are 7.6") - actual contact pad measurement
* section width is 8.7" (stock are 8.4") - thickest part of the tire measurement at center of sidewall
I learned a few things about tires from Rick aka [MENTION=636]RAAMaudio[/MENTION] which were very helpful, mainly concerning the measurements above. Just because a tire is this size or that size doesn't necessarily mean it's smaller or bigger or wider. As you see above even though my tires are +1 width, the stock tires actually have a wider contact patch. Who would have thought. Anyhow that's interesting to know when shopping tires.
Ultimately I went with these because I heard they were super grippy and I wanted something that offered better traction with my turbo upgrade about a year ago. And they were cheap. I rolled the dice and decided to give these a shot, if they weren't any good it wasn't too much of a loss. I've been quite happy with their performance both new and now one year and about 10,000 miles later.
From what I've read these are widely used as track tires and perform superbly. I use them as a daily all season tire though, no tracking and only moderate crazy cornering on city roads which may be why they've held up so well (see below).
Thoughts:
DRY PERFORMANCE/TRACTION
Here these tires shine...I was spinning in 1st and 2nd on 93 octane with the X47 on the stockers (keep in mind though they did have 20,000 miles)...once I installed the Federals I gained instant traction. Depending on the road and weather, sometimes complete traction. I was pleasantly surprised and it really allowed me to enjoy the turbo upgrade all the more as the stock tires were spinning like crazy. With a higher octane tune they do lose grip though. But these tires are so sticky, they grab and toss rocks like no other. Look at the pics below, they pick up everything even a year later. When new they even wicked pieces of tire onto my mudflaps, I'd have to peel chunks off. That's how sticky these are. But as I said traction is outstanding and they offer a good bit of grip. To be fair, any new tires probably feel amazing after riding on a set of old worn out ones.
WET PERFORMANCE
No issues here, and it's been a wet year in Georgia. I've never had a problem. Interesting to note is that if you look at the Federal website these DO have a wet traction rating whereas the RS-RRs do not. Something to consider if you plan on using an high performance summer tire as an all season. Weather doesn't get cold here so it works for me even in the 30 degree winter.
SNOW PERFORMANCE
I can't comment, it rarely snows where I live.
NOISE
They are noticeably more noisy that the stockers but it's not a big deal, after a few weeks I forgot about it.
COMFORT
I have so many suspension mods I can't comment too much on this but I will say they are no less comfortable than the OEM Bridgestones.
TREADWEAR
This is the area I was concerned about since they have no treadwear rating. For reference my stock Bridgestones were nearly dead at 22,000 miles of normal daily driving use. These tires are 10,000 miles in and they have quite a bit of life left. See the pics at the bottom. I have no doubt they'll last 1-2 more years or more. Very nice!
OVERALL
Overall I am quite happy and highly recommend these even as an all-season so long as you don't live in colder temps and/or where it snows regularly. I didn't mention this before but they also look awesome, especially the tread pattern. My little girl calls them "sport tires" because the tread design is so crazy and different from normal tires. Interestingly I cannot get any tire shine product to stick to these; once applied the shine vanishes within a few minutes. No big deal but interesting, I've never had that issue and I'm a fan of tire shine.
Thanks for reading!!!
Pics when new:
Pics after 10,000 miles:
