The three year old Advan A052 tires I've been running on Kay are getting a bit tired but I've been holding off getting new tires until I could find the tire and size I wanted. When the Bridgestone RE-71RS tire was announced, I knew I wanted to give it a try since I liked the old RE-71R before. Unfortunately they didn't offer the sizes I wanted up until a few weeks ago when I was surprised to see a lot more 18 inch options so I had to jump on them.
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| Fatty Rear - RE-71RS |
I knew I wanted to run a wider front tire than the 235s I'd been running until now. The 255/35R18 seemed to be perfect for the 18x8.5 wheels I have up front. At 25" in diameter, these are about 0.4" shorter than the 235/40R18 I was running before but 20mm wider. For the rear I decided to jump from a 265/35R18 A052 to a 295/30/R18 RE71RS which is probably the limit of what I'd attempt to mount onto to 10" wide wheel. These are also 25" in diameter and also 0.4" shorter than the 265/35R18 I was running before which will help with the gearing and when mounted on a tire is about a full inch wider.
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| 265/35R18 A052 (left) vs 295/30R18 RE-71RS (right) |
The front was a bit of a pinch on a 8.5" wheel making them pretty hard to mount. Steve ended up using almost 100psi and some muscle to get them to bead right.
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| Front tires mounted - 255/35R18 |
The sidewalls are much stiffer than the A052. This, combined with the lower profile sidewalls offer greater responsiveness. I'm also finally glad to have the little lip on the tire for rim protection. Not that I really need it since I don't generally park it next to a curb but I've never really liked how the A052 looked mounted onto nice wheels.
These bad boys are crazy sticky new. I did a little test run and for starters, they fit perfectly, no rubbing or other fitment related issues. So far I'm liking how they feel. There's a hair more road noise with the lower profile but nothing that was bothersome. The steering response definitely feels better. I can't wait to really try these in a performance situation.
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| Looking real good with the new setup |
I'm heading out to my favorite track on the east coast, Watkins Glen, next month and while I had originally planned to take Bumblestook, I think I might take Kay for this instead. I made some major changes since my last track day with the Cayman including GT3 brake master cylinder, now new wider tires and of course the Bilstein B16 Damptronic with DSC sport controller. I'm curious how they handle on track but before I head out there, I definitely want some fresh brake fluid and gear oil.
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| Fresh gear oil and brake fluid |
I realized the last time I changed the gear oil was before I want to SCCA Solo Nationals, now almost 3 years ago and the diff has started to whine a bit more than usual so it was clear it needed a change. The gear oil actually came out fairly clean which was a nice surprise. Yes, that's blue in color because that's how Motul 75W140 comes. If you're only reading my blog post for the first time and wondering why I'm using this kind of gear oil and not the factory Porsche oil it's because I've got an OSGiken diff in there and this is one of the recommended fluids to ensure that it operates properly.
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| Bye old fluid |
It's also been two years since I last changed the brake fluid and considering I boiled my brakes the last time I went to The Glen, I didn't want to chance it this time around. We went through about 2.5 500ml bottles to make sure we'd thoroughly gotten the old fluid out.
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| Fresh Motul RBF660 brake fluid |
Finally, since I'm adding an extra 10mm tire width in the rear, I decided to soften up the front sway bar one hole to maintain the balance of the car (was previously set to full stiff).
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| Front sway bar set to 1 hole softer than full stiff |
Big thanks to Steve and Jenna for spending Saturday afternoon on Labor Day weekend to get Kay sorted.
Maintenance Update:
Mileage: 47,602
- 3 quarts Motul 75W140 Gear Oil
- 1.25L Motul RBF660 Brake fluid
- 4 new tires (265/295 Bridgestone RE-71RS)
