MrMobley

Was curious on everyone's thoughts on the new 305/30/19 RE-71R as compared to the 335/30/18 Rivals. I've been primarily ax'ing an STS mists but have recently decided it's time to start running the vette too. Before I pick a set of either or, figured I would ask for the general consensus of one versus the other. I've heard from a lot of people that the RE71R's have a much better turn in, and that a few people locally are having success running them in a 275 out front and a 335 Rival in the rear. Anyone seen, experienced, or heard of similar results?

conemark

While I don't have a lot of time on the A Street tires being an SSR holdout, my impressions are that the RE-71 turn better but the Rivals put down power better. I felt the Rivals drove a bit like the older V710's with a bit more slip angle than what I'm used to on Hoosiers.

I think the days of mixing brands has pretty much passed with the top A Street drivers ultimately going on the Rivals all around.

talon95

I suspect the Rival will continue to be the tire for the dry, although for the cold and/or wet, the 71R is definitely the better choice. I actually just mounted a set of 275/305's on my C6Z wheels so we'll see how they work. By next year hopefully I'll have a set of Rival's to run back to back with.

dhowdy

When it started to rain day 2 at nats, the Unser/Speedway CAM-T car was having a set of RE71R put on. They switched back because it dried up by the time we ran.

DigitalWidgets

I just got a call from TireRack....I've had a two month old back order for a pair of P335/30ZR-18 BFGoodrich g-Force Rival S. The word is....BFG has no planned date for further production on that size. Ugh!

Fast Cars & Horses

I'm in the same boat. I'm autoXing my C5 this year on Rival S, but I'm bumping up to AS in my C6Z next year and I've already decided to get the 275/305 RE71's on my spare set of wheels because of the non-existence of the BFG 335 that I was also holding out for. I hope I like them.

talon95

Some pics,

MrMobley

We're about to trash our current set of 71R's on the Miata. We've currently got 110+/- runs in them and the tread is in decent shape but they've long since hear cycled out. Probably around the 70 run mark. I doubt we'll have that issue on the these cars though given how much heavier they are.

Talon try to keep us posted on how the tires do!

Pinski 1

I was thinking of this combo in the spring. But, I didn't think the 305 would fit on our back wheels... Guess you answered that question. Can't wait to get your report on them!!

talon95

I did run the 275/305 71R's last weekend at your local event. They worked great at that site. It's an old runway with fairly high grip concrete. I'd say I did as well or better than I ever did in the C5Z on BFG's based on times compared to other people that are there regularly.

The car was really stable on them in higher speed transitions. More so than in C5Z for some reason. Power down was similar. Overall I'd say I like the 71R better. It just has better feel and turn-in than the BFG. I really really wish they would make a 325/19. Then it would be a no-brainer as far as which tire to run.

Probably the one caveat is that the runway site is mostly transitional, so the 71R really shines there due to it's stiffer sidewall. I really liked them a lot better on that site. The real test is to see how they work on a sweeper heavy course like at Lincoln. I won't find that out until next year unfortunately.

Corvette_D

Awesome report! So you used OEM C6 Z06 wheels, right? I read somewhere that the OEM 19x12 rears wouldn't work with the 305s and that we would need something like a 19x11, but it would be great if you used the stock OEM rims.

talon95

Yea I'm running A-street with the car, so it has to be the stock 12" width.