Re-71Rs end of life / autocross

[kivnul]

These tires are getting thin on the ground since they are no longer made. Does anyone have a scoop on if the new RS model will be coming to the USA in time for autocross season in a few months? I’d get the Advan A052’s but they are very spendy. Discount tire direct still has some of last years 71R in stock and I am debating on just buying them now.

 

[CSM]

Talk amongst local folk here is that the RE71RS is not coming to US anytime soon. In fact, since RE71R is discontinued also talk that it will not be eligible for SCCA events due to their phase out as well.

Looks like RT660 is a good replacement

 

[Pablo Pistoffo]

My guess is they are about to release something new in time for the summer season

 

[kivnul]

My local club won’t care about them being no longer made so I’ll be ok there. The RT660s are also promising.

 

[Pablo Pistoffo]

My local club won’t care about them being no longer made so I’ll be ok there. The RT660s are also promising.

REs weren't available in my size, so I used RT660s last season- I love them, despite the weird wear issues. It was concerning at first, but stabilized after a bit. I'd like to have my next set properly heat cycled, see if that helps.

 

[kivnul]

Do the later runs of the 660’s still have that wear issue? It’s been forever since I last looked at them.

 

[Pablo Pistoffo]

Do the later runs of the 660’s still have that wear issue? It’s been forever since I last looked at them.

I haven't really been following too close, THB

 

[CSM]

Do the later runs of the 660’s still have that wear issue? It’s been forever since I last looked at them.

FWIW, I ran them last year on my scion. Did about 6 events with no center rib wearing excessively. Though I had ran them for about 1500 miles before any autocrosses.

Got a fresh set for this season that are a newer build date.

 

[Sixtfivestang]

Just adding my experience with the RT660’s. Ran a set from middle of last year until December without any abnormal wear to speak of and got about 90+ runs out of them with no issues other than loss of grip which is to be expected. I replaced them with another set after being very happy with them and experienced center rib issues on 3 out of 4 tires. One failure occurred after about 6 runs, the other two failed the next day during competition after being swapped front to back. Approximately 14 runs before I have 3 tires that look like they’re falling apart and one that’s wearing normally.

I am running the same pressures as I did with the previous set and cooling them in between runs, the only major change I can speak of is the addition of camber. I have a friend running an almost identical setup and he isn’t having any issues with the RT660’s.

All that being said it’s not the first time I’ve seen them fail and I’m hoping I was just unlucky. I’ll probably run some Rivals at the next event. I don’t want to have to worry about having a ruined set of tires after 1-2 events.

 

[Baddie]

lucky for me I got some not long ago and even got a good customer discount mounted and balanced all four $388 us
but I do prefer the unbeatable grip of the toyo r888r's even though they're loud

 

[kivnul]

Thanks for the updates guys. I'll just buy a set of the RE's for this year and see what comes out before mid next year (I get about 1.4 seasons out of a set) I am too chicken to roll the dice with a set of 660's. SCCA rules specifically state that a tire has to be within 2 years of production as listed in some proprietary paywalled book, so unless they want to change their own rules I should have no official problem running these. It is not like folks will have an advantage by stocking up on them as 2-3 other tires run similar if not better times in the category.

 

[Plainrt]

Just adding my experience with the RT660’s. Ran a set from middle of last year until December without any abnormal wear to speak of and got about 90+ runs out of them with no issues other than loss of grip which is to be expected. I replaced them with another set after being very happy with them and experienced center rib issues on 3 out of 4 tires. One failure occurred after about 6 runs, the other two failed the next day during competition after being swapped front to back. Approximately 14 runs before I have 3 tires that look like they’re falling apart and one that’s wearing normally.

I am running the same pressures as I did with the previous set and cooling them in between runs, the only major change I can speak of is the addition of camber. I have a friend running an almost identical setup and he isn’t having any issues with the RT660’s.

All that being said it’s not the first time I’ve seen them fail and I’m hoping I was just unlucky. I’ll probably run some Rivals at the next event. I don’t want to have to worry about having a ruined set of tires after 1-2 events.

I had horrible experience with mine last year. Tirerack wanted to
Buy them back so falken could look at them but I already sold the wheels with tires on them. I’d never buy them Again.

 

[CSM]

I had horrible experience with mine last year. Tirerack wanted to
Buy them back so falken could look at them but I already sold the wheels with tires on them. I’d never buy them Again.

I ran through a set last year on my scion and had no issues, but I do recall Tire rack telling folks that the "delamination" of the center rib wasn't something to be concerned with. Pretty ridiculous if you ask me.

I've got a fresh set for my scion and will be running 225/45/15 on my FiST this season. My fingers are crossed that I have similar good luck with these sets.