Just got them, very unhappy so far. About 100 miles on them, they are squishy and do not stick. Maybe they will get stickier with a little more breaking in, but there is a significant difference between them and the OE Yokos in both grip and stiffness. Even the poke-sidewall-with-finger test shows they are soft, even with more pressure than I ran on the Yokos. Evo now rides softer than my DD. I will update with any changes, if I do not swap them out.

EDIT: Anyone who has used these tires have any suggestions for what pressure to use?

 

Update at about 300 miles:

I gave up on trying to get them to feel stiff like the OE Yokos, and lowered the pressure down to what I was using with the Yokos. Very squishy feel. Several observations with the lowered pressure:

Very strong self-centering affect.

Wheel does not get jerked around on rough pavement like it did with the Yokos.

Tires are very quiet. They make no noise until they are actually slipping. When they do, it is very quiet and hard to hear over engine noise with the windows up.

Increased understeer. Feels significantly more.

Get grippier when they are nice and warm, but it takes too long to heat them up.

Balancing the car while sliding is a totally different feel than the Yokos. With the Yokos, it felt like it wanted to push all four wheels evenly. Now, I have to make more adjustments to keep her going where I want her to go. Also, I tried going through the same couple corners repeatedly to see how different speeds and level of aggression affect it. What I observed is that if you are going at the speed that the tires are just starting to slide, then it is all wonky and needs a lot of adjusting. If you turn up the speed just a bit and the tires are nice and warm, then they just even out and it slides pretty nice. Unfortunately, this increased level of speed is more than I am really comfortable with on the street. As a result, I now tend to go slower to stay under the slip threshold to prevent the wonky slide. On the track, it might be different because you do not have to worry about deer and old people jumping out in front of you.

Overall impression at this point: Once warmed up, the grip is OK, they slide alright when you are going fast enough, but they feel like you are riding on a squid. The perma-grin I used to have every time I drove the Evo is gone. However, I have decided to use this as a learning experience. If I can learn to drive with these tires, then I will just be that much better when they wear out and I get something better.

I am going to try to make it out to the track so that I can give an update on how they perform there.

 

 

What pressures are you using? You may want to try and up the pressure a bit to get the sidewalls stiffer.

After these tires wear out you should give the Bridgestone RE-01R a hard look, I currently run these and couldn't be more satisfied. Initial turn in is very sharp and cornering precise throughout the entire turn. The sidewalls are ridiculously thick, virtually the same thickness as the R-compound V710 tires my friend runs on his 350Z.

 

What size tire are you running? I would think the bridgestone's would be very stiff. I figured the RE050A would be as stiff as the STI's Bridgestone Potenza RE070 tires which are probably the stiffest sidewall out there.

BTW.. The Advan sport has great grip at street temps, but is probably even a softer sidewall. For a street car I prefer the softer sidewall as long as the tire still has adequate grip. For an old guy like me a little comfort goes a long way.

 

Neal told me the same thing, that is mostly why I ended up getting them. For the price they are pretty good, but had I known I would have paid the extra $200 and got the RE01R's. I was under the impression that the 050 Pole Positions were a little more aggressive than they are. I ended up getting them for less than most places have RT615's, so I guess I should not complain. As I said, for the price they are actually pretty good tires. I did not get the RT615's because I did not want to go 255 on the stock rims.

I might be going to Sears Point Saturday, and if I do I will update. However, it will be my first time on a road course, so I will have nothing really to compare them to.

As for tire pressure, I tried up to 42/40 PSI and they still felt soft but also had no grip and were less stable. I used to run the Yokos at about 35/32, and that is now what I have the 050s at and they seem to be working better. I may try dropping them down to 32/29 or whatever the suggested pressure is.

Also, I went down to this place and tried going a certain speed and at that certain speed the Evo felt pretty floaty. I will probably exceed that speed at the track, so that will be updated as well.

 

I run mine at 33f/30-31r cold. Once I go to 34psi in the front, it does not hook up as much in street driving...

 

Thanks Bosshog, I will try dropping the pressures

 

Update: Took the Evo to the track (Sears Point), the tires seemed to work pretty well once they were really warm. Note though that I was running in the Level 1/2 class because it was my first time at the track.

It was a pretty hot day, and people were complaining the track got slippery, but the RE050A PP's did not seem to be affected much by the heat.

I noticed major body roll in the S shaped turns, but that is probably due to the stock suspension and not the tires. My guess is I never noticed it before on the OE Yoko's just because I never ran the car that hard on the street.

I did notice some understeer. On bald Yoko's, there was not much that I noticed on the street. However, again I may have just not noticed it because I never ran it that hard on the street.

The tires still look pretty much brand new, except for some boogering. They picked up a lot of rubber nuggets on the track, but they fell off during the drive home.

I will be taking them to Thunderhill in a couple weeks, which is rumored to be a much faster track. If there is any change, I will update.

Final Analysis: Great budget tire, considering I spent less than I would have on Falken 615's. Seemed to work nice on the track. They do not seem to have quite the stiffness or grip of the OE Yoko's, but they are 1/2-1/3 the price and looks like they will last a lot longer. I would prefer a bit crisper steering turn in, but at least it is a little more comfortable for the daily commute.

 

geat budget tire yes, very good in snow, and wet yes... for racing no i had these tires the have amazing tread life as well.

 

What tire pressure did you run at sears point? 32 / 31?

 

i had these tires on my s2000 and the only thing i did not like was the quick break away when the limit was reached. def a good tire if not looking for all out performance.

c

 

still got mine with about 15000 miles on them and I freakin love these tires.

 

Hard to touch the stock Advans unless you go R compound.

 

The RE050 is a step down in grip, step up in tread life compared to the RE01Rs. I only have 75% worn stock Yokos as a reference, but the RE01Rs have more grip. They also have a softer sidewall and ride quieter. The turn-in of the RE01R is just a bit slower than the stock Yokos, probably do to the softer sidewall. More ultimate grip though and it's nice having a little softer ride on the crappy streets of LA.

I have three track days and 5k miles total on the RE01Rs and I'm a little bit above the tread wear indicator. Oh yeah, I've found that 40f/38r cold is a good starting point for track days. I was getting some roll over the tire shoulder with less pressure.