Ramo7769

It seems like 285s are rolling out slowly. I found 285/30-18 available in Japan here: http://global.rakuten.com/en/store/a...re71r-2853018/

I'm certain the FS national champ will be happy to find 285/35-19s available for the 1LE as well right on Tire Rack. These may be too tall for an STU Corvette at nearly 27", hurting the gearing even more and potentially causing clearance issues up front. Or maybe they're the tire to have with some 19s if 285/30-18s don't come to our shores... Thoughts? http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....150714172016:s

jesup16

I'm still baffled to why we don't get the 285 18" options here. Let's face it, this is an autocross tire... Why wouldn't they bring us a tire that fits a class - STU. I'm hoping bridgestone will start making sizes larger than 275. I'm sure there are some other vette autocrossers who would be looking at re71r's if they came in sizes that fit the rear. I know some people have put the re71r's on the front and rival2's on the rear.

chetly

Some of the fastest drivers in the country are running 275 bridgestones front and rear with no problem. It seems like it runs on the wide side anyway.

jesup16

I'm running the 275's, but STU class allows 285's. I (and many others) use 10.5 wheels. There's lots more room on the wheel for more tire.

Yes, it's been proven that the 275 re71r is faster than the comparable tires in 285. But why do we even have to make this comparison? If there's room on the wheel and the class allows more tire, then it would make sense.

Also, considering the C5Z comes with a 295/35/18, I'm sure that market could be captured, along with many others. Who really wants to downsize the rear tire?

A 285/30/18 would be nice. We could keep the diameter smaller and get better gearing. It would be a tough choice if they offered both 285/35/18 and 285/30/18.

The only thing that deter's me from the 285/30/18 is it might not be possible to "flip" the tire and get more life. I had 30 series tires before and 2 shops were not able to dismount and remount the tires without damaging the bead.

Ramo7769

Everyone has been competitive with 275s because Bridgestone doesn't make 285s. Also the need for larger sizes is shown by the largest size (275) being on backorder for 2 months.

chetly

No, that just shows they need to make more 275's. Any who, they make a 305 in Japan, they need to import those as well.

Xian

Yep, that ^^^. If they had the 305 available here, I'd likely have ordered those for the rear vs a full set of Rival-S...

Ramo7769

That too, but a lot of people who bought 275s would have bought 285s instead. Me for example. Everyone running STU ish. That would lessen demand of 275s.

chetly

That might be true. What I don't understand is: there is more of a demand for 305's in Japan vs the U.S.?

Ramo7769

Very good point. And to answer your question, I sure as hell don't think so lol.

ltborg

It might be a good tire for autocross, but it is not an autocross tire. They are looking at the sizes used for autocross, track days, road racing, drifting, OE fitments, sales volumes, etc. not just in the US market, but all major markets across the globe. As much as people don't want to admit it, autocross is a very, VERY small fish in a very big pond in the tire world. On top of that, if the Bridgestone 275 is faster than everyone else's 285, there is no business case in invest the money in new molds, new machine algorithms, etc. to make an additional size.