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As was discussed here Hanchey and I just switched to the RE01R after running for the past 18 months on Yokohama AD07s. When we started running STU 3 years ago it was generally a group running on Falken 215 or Falken 615 tires. The 615s were cheap, had too much tread void/depth, and hated heat... but we learned how to make them work and in '05 had a pretty competitive set-up. Nationals Day 1 was Hanchey 1st, me 3rd... and we threw it away on day 2 with cones. 
The Falkens had to be kept cool at any cost, and this meant spraying them with water between every run (esp. with 2 drivers), even when it was relatively cool. If you ever spun a tire the run was over, as the tire was cooked. Keeping them cool was a challenge, but if you kept that bottle spraying and your foot out of the throttle once they broke loose, it worked and they were "quick". Then the Yokohama AD07 came out...
This tire was a big improvement, both in feel and heat resistance. They didn't grow in pressure or in surface heat nearly as quickly as the Falkens. Minimal tread void and molded with less tread depth. Sure, they still needed a bath when it was hot, but in most instances the water bottle went unused. The pressure growth was minimal between runs and they worked in a fairly wide range of pressures. One big advantage was they were oversized - they always seemed to run 8-10mm larger than their markings or their competitors. In classes with real tire width limits (STU) they were the hot ticket to an extra 10mm of tire. Cost was considerably more than the Falkens, though, and we tended to run them shaved to 4 or 6/32". We ran 2 sets in '06 and into '07 with lots of runs on each set. In '06 it was 2nd in STU and 1st in STU-L on these tires.
I was running the same set we had run since July of '06 up until this last weekend. At a LaGrave BMW event 2 weeks ago I ran the old 255/40/17s on 17x9s in front and 265/35/18s on 18x10s in rear. They still worked fairly well, but a terrible course design and huge crashing dip caused us to back off in the M3 and not really try for the fastest time (was causing damage to the car from the massive dip). The course was so bad that it was hard to tell if the tires were off, but they were all pretty old.
This last week we switched to the RE01R in the M3, on new 18x10s all around. Hanchey has a set of 245s on his STi running 17x8.5" wheels. We ordered both sets full tread depth, based on recommendations of others - a big mistake. They are 11/32" deep and have lots of void. Hmm... we hoped for the best and ran them again at the site run at 2 weeks ago (LaGrave).
It was pretty gross. Lots of tread squirm and at this hot event (saw 108°F track side) they got boiling hot. Didn't cool them enough and the performance went away pretty quickly, with Hanchey not getting within a second of his first run, even with what felt to be better driving thereafter. We had the same result in the M3. Transitions were terrible due to the squirm and steady state cornering was poor due to... heat? Pressures? Wouldn't take a set and performance was 2+ seconds off our typical competitor metric. I couldn't put power down any better than with the old/dead Yokohamas, which was part of the reason to switch to the wider wheels/tires and newer Bridgestone "gumballs".
So now we're frantically trying to get these tires dismounted and shaved before a Divisional event in 2 weeks, at the same site. It promises to be as hot or hotter and we are out of ideas. Dropping pressures might help, and we'll try that too.
Anyone else with experiences running on the AD07 and then RE01R, feel free to chime in! Hoping this discussion can help us all get a better handle on the new Bridgestones...
The Falkens had to be kept cool at any cost, and this meant spraying them with water between every run (esp. with 2 drivers), even when it was relatively cool. If you ever spun a tire the run was over, as the tire was cooked. Keeping them cool was a challenge, but if you kept that bottle spraying and your foot out of the throttle once they broke loose, it worked and they were "quick". Then the Yokohama AD07 came out...
This tire was a big improvement, both in feel and heat resistance. They didn't grow in pressure or in surface heat nearly as quickly as the Falkens. Minimal tread void and molded with less tread depth. Sure, they still needed a bath when it was hot, but in most instances the water bottle went unused. The pressure growth was minimal between runs and they worked in a fairly wide range of pressures. One big advantage was they were oversized - they always seemed to run 8-10mm larger than their markings or their competitors. In classes with real tire width limits (STU) they were the hot ticket to an extra 10mm of tire. Cost was considerably more than the Falkens, though, and we tended to run them shaved to 4 or 6/32". We ran 2 sets in '06 and into '07 with lots of runs on each set. In '06 it was 2nd in STU and 1st in STU-L on these tires.
I was running the same set we had run since July of '06 up until this last weekend. At a LaGrave BMW event 2 weeks ago I ran the old 255/40/17s on 17x9s in front and 265/35/18s on 18x10s in rear. They still worked fairly well, but a terrible course design and huge crashing dip caused us to back off in the M3 and not really try for the fastest time (was causing damage to the car from the massive dip). The course was so bad that it was hard to tell if the tires were off, but they were all pretty old.
This last week we switched to the RE01R in the M3, on new 18x10s all around. Hanchey has a set of 245s on his STi running 17x8.5" wheels. We ordered both sets full tread depth, based on recommendations of others - a big mistake. They are 11/32" deep and have lots of void. Hmm... we hoped for the best and ran them again at the site run at 2 weeks ago (LaGrave).
It was pretty gross. Lots of tread squirm and at this hot event (saw 108°F track side) they got boiling hot. Didn't cool them enough and the performance went away pretty quickly, with Hanchey not getting within a second of his first run, even with what felt to be better driving thereafter. We had the same result in the M3. Transitions were terrible due to the squirm and steady state cornering was poor due to... heat? Pressures? Wouldn't take a set and performance was 2+ seconds off our typical competitor metric. I couldn't put power down any better than with the old/dead Yokohamas, which was part of the reason to switch to the wider wheels/tires and newer Bridgestone "gumballs".
So now we're frantically trying to get these tires dismounted and shaved before a Divisional event in 2 weeks, at the same site. It promises to be as hot or hotter and we are out of ideas. Dropping pressures might help, and we'll try that too.
Anyone else with experiences running on the AD07 and then RE01R, feel free to chime in! Hoping this discussion can help us all get a better handle on the new Bridgestones...
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