Aus spec Bridgestone re001's

bensale · Postby **bensale** » Mon Jan 12, 2009 2:56 pm

Got the re001's today, $105 a corner with many thanks to Cent (Daniel) and the Kmart tyre and auto crew at Rowville. Awesome looking tyre and seems well constructed

I've just had the car aligned by Phil Hughes at 'Hughes supercar services' in Braeside for $70. Phil aligns Ferrari race cars among other exotic things and had a very, very nice alignment machine. We did it with me in the car. I highly recommend his services.

I haven't pushed the tyres too hard yet as I've only done 40k's on them. Although I briskly went through a few corners after the alignment and it feels a lot grippier already, with great feedback. The tyres were made in the 47th week of 2008, thanks again to Daniel for getting me such fresh rubber

Thanks again for all of your advice guys, hopefully I won't have any issues with these and a I dooubt very much I will.

gobsmax · Postby **gobsmax** » Tue Jan 13, 2009 2:54 pm

I've been ringing around Syd trying to get the best price for the RE001's in 185/60/14.

This is what I found. Prices quoted are without NRMA discount ($5 per tyre), fitted and balanced.

I didn't bother calling other tyre places cause I figured that buying "direct" from Bridgestone would be cheaper.

Cars been booked in at Bridgestone/Jobsons(WTF?) Atarmon for this Thursday.

When I spoke to the guy from Bridgestone Hornsby, he told me that there was a price increase due in Feb 2009. I don't know how much truth is in that, but I rekon $104 (with NRMA discount) is a pretty good price for a "performace" tyre.

Hope this helped some of yous out. Will keep you posted on how they perform after Putty :lol:

Oh yeah, forgot to add that these tyres are all Australian made.

Alan

cshaks · Postby **cshaks** » Tue Jan 13, 2009 6:13 pm

Hi guys
I just stumbled on this thread.
I spoke with bridgestone today and I am getting a couple of Jap spec RE001's fitted on Saturday.
According to the guys there, there is also a slight difference in the tread depth, the Jap spec ones having about another millimetre or so of tread.
My local b/stone guys know the kind of driving that I do ( lots of track days when I can) and understand the abuse that they will be getting.
The boss there recommended the Jap ones hands down over the Aus ones.
Price difference was $5 per corner.( I'm paying $140 each fitted and finger balanced).

Just my 2c worth.......

Cheers
Chris

bensale · Postby **bensale** » Tue Jan 13, 2009 6:32 pm

There are definetly two differing schools of opinion on the Aus spec re001's, some people say they are fine, others say they aren't. So far mine seem great, time will tell. If I could have I would have paid the extra for the Japanese tyres.

I assume you are fitting them to your 15's as sadly there is no way I could find of getting jap made 14's short of importing them myself (I'm not even sure if they make 14's in Japan)

I can tell you that the rubber on my aus spec re001's is softer than the rubber on Jap spec g3's with similar k's to mine, just a year older. This was meausred with a device (forgot its name) the guy who did my alignment had.

Alan, great prices... Shows how it pays to ring around.

cshaks · Postby **cshaks** » Tue Jan 13, 2009 7:01 pm

bensale wrote:There are definetly two differing schools of opinion on the Aus spec re001's, some people say they are fine, others say they aren't. So far mine seem great, time will tell. If I could have I would have paid the extra for the Japanese tyres.

I assume you are fitting them to your 15's as sadly there is no way I could find of getting jap made 14's short of importing them myself (I'm not even sure if they make 14's in Japan)

I can tell you that the rubber on my aus spec re001's is softer than the rubber on Jap spec g3's with similar k's to mine, just a year older. This was meausred with a device (forgot its name) the guy who did my alignment had.

Yeah Ben, they are for my 15's, although I do have a mates set of 14's in the shed.......... mmmm maybe one day...
Interesting that you say that about the softness of the rubber, as the Bridgestone guys informed me that the Jap spec compound is softer again than the Oz spec!

So are you racing at Winton this time??

Cheers
Chris

bensale · Postby **bensale** » Tue Jan 13, 2009 7:15 pm

Interesting that it's even softer, I've heard that too. As for Winton.... I'm a definite for the driver training day. As for the sprint day I'm still tossing up the dangers of something going wrong either mechanically or through putting the car in the wall as well as the additional wear on the car. Despite really wanting to I don't think I'm going to race.

wun911 · Postby **wun911** » Tue Jan 13, 2009 7:25 pm

Your alignment dude has a durometer??? We have one at uni, I love sticking bubble gum to it...

What were your alignement specs? More corner grip with more negative camber or feels better with more rear toe in?

Did you also notice the rubber is comparativly heavy, mine were like 9.5225 kg,

I should have weighed the 14" rubber before you put them just for my curiosity...

d-mag · Postby **d-mag** » Tue Jan 13, 2009 7:47 pm

bensale wrote: As for Winton.... I'm a definite for the driver training day. As for the sprint day I'm still tossing up the dangers of something going wrong either mechanically or through putting the car in the wall as well as the additional wear on the car. Despite really wanting to I don't think I'm going to race.

It's not swapping paint and door rubbing, it's you and the stopwatch. How fast you go is up to you. :wink:

From what I saw on the GOR your a good driver Ben. Driving skills aside, most importantly you seem to have a good head on your shoulders.
Back your skills and your judgment.

Fatty · Postby **Fatty** » Tue Jan 13, 2009 7:50 pm

d-mag wrote:From what I saw on the GOR your a good driver Ben. Driving skills aside, most importantly you seem to have a good head on your shoulders.
Back your skills and your judgment.

+1

bensale · Postby **bensale** » Tue Jan 13, 2009 7:58 pm

Damm you guys and your tempting... I want to, and I may do. I guess I have to consider that if something goes wrong am I happy to go back to riding my pushie every day...

Wun,

So thats what its called... The alignment place is called Hughes supercar services, he sets up ferrari race cars and has a lot of nice toys.

Bring your scales next time we meet and we can take one of the wheels off and weight them to see the difference, I would be interested to know. If we find the weight of the 14's we could also figure out the rubber weight.

My Specs were as follows. We had to compromise at the front as the FR maxed out at slightly under -1 deg despite the FL getting -1.5 (need to lower the car lol as we could then easily go -1.5 ish deg camber and around 5 deg caster which is what I wanted) So basically we got the camber/caster at the front to the best possible with the stock suspension. I went resonably aggressive with the toe and it feels great, follows the road a little if its a particularly bad stetch but isn't too bad and turns in very nicely.

FRONT
0.9mm total toe
-0.96 degree camber each side
4.55 degrees caster

REAR
1.7mm total toe
-1.85mm camber each side

Have you had yours aligned yet? If so what did you go for.

cshaks · Postby **cshaks** » Tue Jan 13, 2009 8:14 pm

bensale wrote:Interesting that it's even softer, I've heard that too. As for Winton.... I'm a definite for the driver training day. As for the sprint day I'm still tossing up the dangers of something going wrong either mechanically or through putting the car in the wall as well as the additional wear on the car. Despite really wanting to I don't think I'm going to race.

Ben, if you are thinking of going to the track, there is NO better place to start than Winton. It was my first track, and I am glad of it. The runoff areas are great, and there are only one or two places that you could get into trouble and hit anything hard. That being said, those one or two places are the more challenging corners that you would slow for until you were more confident in yourself and the car.
I cannot think of a track that I would prefer as a starting point.
It does help to get someone who know the track well to sit in with your for the familiarization laps, as it can take quite a while to get the lines and braking points right. That, in itself, is a big confidence boost.
Unfortunately I wont' be racing on the day, but I will be there....
Anyways, its your choice......!!

Cheers
Chris

wun911 · Postby **wun911** » Tue Jan 13, 2009 8:15 pm

I've seen you drive on go cart day and on GOR, I think you would really enjoy the track and get a lot out of it both learning at fun. I think the risk is minimal rolling start with a gap between cars, and lots of run off + you will know the track from driver training...

Mines a pretty ordinary alignment its not as agressive as yours.

bensale · Postby **bensale** » Tue Jan 13, 2009 8:32 pm

Thanks for that Chris.. Hmmm, a lot to think about. I'll just have to check a few things. I'll make my mind up in a few days.

That still sounds like a good set up Wun. The original values seem horrible, are they right. That should have made a fair difference.