sydneyACE

Hey guys!

I finally had enough coin to get new tires all around. I was wanting to get Continental Extreme Contacts and the price on TireRack was good, but when you factor in shipping, mounting, etc they weren't all that cheap after all.

Costco was running a special on the RE760s so I decided to go for it. From what I can tell the tires are comparable to each other.

I have been running C5, stock-sized, all seasons (Kumho ASX in front and Michelin Pilot A/S in the rear).

I've been wanting to up the grip level on this car for a while now so I decided to go wider as well. I went with 265/40-17s up front and 295/35-18s on the rear (I think these are the stock sizes for C5z's).

I've only got a few miles on them so far, but the initial impression is as follows;

Noise:
I was surprised here, they are quieter than the all seasons I was running before (could be just cause they're new) I though they would be louder because of the larger tread-blocks.

Grip:
Great here (keep in mind I'm comparing them to all seasons). You have to really try to get it sideways now, where as before I could get it sideways with the just a little too much throttle. Now you have to load-up the G forces quite a bit then give her the gas to get the rear-end to step-out. I haven't had a chance to run them in the rain yet, so I can't comment on wet traction.

Feel:
The ride quality is better than I expected as well. They put 30psi in all-around which is a little bit lower than I typically run. This def helps with the ride quality smoother over the sharp bumps, pavement seems, etc. I can feel more sidewall flex than before as well (again the pressure def effects this), which is probably better for over-all grip. I usually like stiffer sidewalls because the feedback is better and the car feels more "planted" in high speed corners (less "swaying"). I can probably get more stiffness if I increase PSI but there is probably more grip this way so I'm gonna try it. I thought with the wider fronts I would get more pulling but these tires track pretty straight considering how wide they are.

I'll give you guys more feedback as I use these tires, and I'm taking it to a HPDE this weekend, so I'll give some feedback on track manners too.

uberC5

I've got over 20k miles on my RE760's. They still act like your review Best for the price, IMHO.

VTME13

I have a set in the same sizes, and I don't particularly care for them. Good DD tire, but not such a great track tire.

Ran them in a couple events at Summit Main last month, and the extra side wall flex you describe makes them noticably vague under lateral load.

Have targeted them for destruction by sliding!

uberC5

I forgot to mention in my reply above that I have NO track miles on the tires. Once you track a street tire, all bets are off. I will be getting a second set of wheels/tires for any track duty.

As a DD tire, I could not be more impressed. Rear tread depth started .3125(10/32), and I just measured it at .2125(7/32ish). Not bad for 20K+ miles. I can easily see another 20K on these, especially if my driving style doesn't change. For comparison, my Z had OEM Goodyears on it when I purchased it at 7yo/31K miles. The fronts were showing cord(probably the original tires), and the rears must have been replaced once already, as they had a little meat left, but were just at the wear bars. These RE760's are wearing pretty evenly, with the rears slightly more worn then the fronts.

sydneyACE

Yeah, the sidewall flex is a little disappointing, but I will play with the PSI a little to see if I can minimize it some. It's supposed to rain all weekend so I will probably be tracking them in the wet.

Just spent a few hours last night installing my track rotors and Carbotechs, and changing the oil. I'm excited to hit the track, I'm bummed that it's probably gonna be raining, but it's still better than work.

I'll let you all know how it goes!

sydneyACE

Ok, so I got back from my HPDE yesterday, and here's how it went.

On Saturday it rained all day (fairly heavily for a while).
As far as wet track duty this tire didn't perform very well overall. There are some pretty large grooves in the tires but the large treadblocks have no small "siping" grooves for water dispersment. The tires gripped ok at lower speeds but as the speeds went up the water started to cause a slight hydroplaning. I actually had difficulty getting it to hook-up in the straights in 4th gear. Basically, the faster you go, the less traction you have.

On Sunday, it started-off rainy again but not as hard. The tires were better in what I would desribe as "damp" conditions. I checked my PSI and realized I was at 27psi cold. I upped the PSI to 32 front and 34 rear in hopes of reducing the sidewall flexing.

After lunch the track dried out (YAY!!!) and the sun even made an appearance. So I got to evaluate the dry performance as well.

In the dry, the tires have LOTS of grip (at least way more than I'm used to). The sidewalls still flex a LOT though adding the extra PSI helped a little. Once you get used to the flex and anticipate it it's not too bad, and I was able to turn-in some very good lap-times. (Many personal bests.) Feedback is pretty good once you get them settled. On the quick left-right transitions (especially the high-speed ones) they're not great because of the soft sidewalls. Once again, after a few laps, I was able to anticipate it and I don't think it actually slowed me down any. There was a little more grip on the rears then on the fronts (I wanted to run 285's on the rear but they're not available) so there is a little bit of understear mid-corner. As soon as you get on the gas some, the car is very nuetral. I had to try pretty hard to induce overstear (gassing agressively and early). There's so much grip in the rear that I actually started going to full-throttle almost imediately after turn-in.
It was a really fun feeling knowning that you could peg-it and the rear was gonna stick, also made for some fast lap times as I could get a really early run out of the corners.

Ok enough babbling. Overall impressions...

Pros:
This is a great tire for the price.
Lots of dry grip.
Quiet.
Comfortable. (Smooth over bumps.)

Cons:
Not very good in the rain. (I waved by a slightly modified Civic on street tires! On the flip-side, I also went by him like he was standing-still once it dried-out.)
Too much sidewall flex. (Others have said it, and I agree.)

VTME13

Good write up. I definitely agree with your wet observations. Between the sidewall flex and poor wet characteristics, my few wet sessions in April were not very confidence inspiring....

I do think the dry grip is there, and I agree that once you know to adjust they drive fine - just boils down to feel and confidence.

uberC5

I haven't had any issue with wet traction on the street, and I drive through quite a bit of rain here in Ohio. If I waited for a day without rain, I wouldn't have driven her yet this year

VTME13

No real problems on the street... it's a decent street tire.

On the track, in the rain, not so much... that's all we're saying.