Too capable for public roads

[Will BRZ]

There’s this tight curve I have to take when leaving work that I love lol. I look forward to taking more than I do leaving work there are a few more that I take on my way to school and stuff but man I’ve never felt so much confidence taking a turn at a high speed in any car ever. It makes me so happy to just throw this little thing around and rev it out when coming out of a curve. It’s more than I could’ve ever asked for when I was looking for a new car.

However I do on occasion slip. It’s annoying and pretty dangerous too so I’m looking to upgrade tires here soon. Just got it a few months ago so it’s still stock. Interesting to hear other people’s experience with upgraded tires. Happy driving

[N1rve]

Originally Posted by ermax

2013 FR-S here. I have 615K+ on mine now and sometimes I miss the ability to slide around without much effort but at the same time I enjoy the grip.

One thing that is surprising is how the TC is still over bearing even with the extra grip of good tires. It's a bit ridiculous when you downshift to 4th on the interstate and hit the TC brick wall.

Is that 615k miles...?

[Leonardo]

Originally Posted by N1rve

Is that 615k miles...?

They are 200UTQG tires. Falken Azenis RT-615K+

[Ultramaroon]

I love the stock tires so much that I'm toying with the idea of buying a third set of someone's hand-me-downs. The stock first-year frs is just plain silly. Of course it could stick way more but I love its personality as-is. I've driven a bunch of others' with all different tire/suspension combinations and, although they all stick more, they also feel numb.

Hell, I can still tell when my tire pressure drops by only a couple psi.

[guybo]

The OP soon will discover that the car's grip is more limited by the patch of sand he didn't see than by the tires he bought. Good luck!

[Will BRZ]

Originally Posted by N1rve

Is that 615k miles...?

Lol I thought the same thing

[Spuds]

Originally Posted by Will BRZ

There’s this tight curve I have to take when leaving work that I love lol. I look forward to taking more than I do leaving work there are a few more that I take on my way to school and stuff but man I’ve never felt so much confidence taking a turn at a high speed in any car ever. It makes me so happy to just throw this little thing around and rev it out when coming out of a curve. It’s more than I could’ve ever asked for when I was looking for a new car.

However I do on occasion slip. It’s annoying and pretty dangerous too so I’m looking to upgrade tires here soon. Just got it a few months ago so it’s still stock. Interesting to hear other people’s experience with upgraded tires. Happy driving

Stickier tires are likely to get you into more trouble a lot quicker when they break free.

[ZDan]

Originally Posted by Spuds

Stickier tires are likely to get you into more trouble a lot quicker when they break free.

Not really. One of my students last year had done a skidpad school on the OEM Primacies and says he spun like 50 times (OK maybe 20...)! He didn't want to turn off stability control at the track for fear of spinning on 215 RE71R tires. But the fact is the RE71R has a TON more grip while sliding than the OEM Primacies. So we at least got to run "track mode", though I think he would have been totally fine with the "5 second hold" on TC button or with the "pedal dance".

The car is way easier to control at and beyond the limit on good sticky tires than the OEM tires. Yes, you will be going faster when you start to slide, but the residual grip is SO much greater that control is easier to maintain.

[Sapphireho]

When you increase the power 94%, better tires are a must.

[Stang70Fastback]

Originally Posted by ZDan

Not really. One of my students last year had done a skidpad school on the OEM Primacies and says he spun like 50 times (OK maybe 20...)! He didn't want to turn off stability control at the track for fear of spinning on 215 RE71R tires. But the fact is the RE71R has a TON more grip while sliding than the OEM Primacies. So we at least got to run "track mode", though I think he would have been totally fine with the "5 second hold" on TC button or with the "pedal dance".

The car is way easier to control at and beyond the limit on good sticky tires than the OEM tires. Yes, you will be going faster when you start to slide, but the residual grip is SO much greater that control is easier to maintain.

I 100% disagree with what you are saying. Stickier tires are absolutely not easier to control once you cross the limit. The stickier a tire is, generally speaking, the less warning you have as you approach the limit. Also that increased lateral grip means that when the tire does let go it is much more violent. Conversely, when the tire hooks up again, that transition is ALSO more violent, and makes snap oversteer much more likely to occur. And when the car is sliding, the added grip potential of those stickier tires means you need much more power to control them and "maintain the slide," or in the case of a low-power car with the BRZ, it requires much more aggressive throttle inputs.

This is the reason why (with all the driver aids off on both vehicles) a stock BRZ is easy to drive at the limit, but a stock supercar is not. Not just because you have to be going much faster in the Lambo or Ferrari, but because those cars have ginormous, sticky tires, that will happily bring you right up to the limits of their enormous grip, and then suddenly let go with little warning. It's a much larger transition to no grip when you have a lot more grip to begin with. And when those tires hook up suddenly, it will be violent AF!

[nico_rsx]

Originally Posted by ZDan

Not really. One of my students last year had done a skidpad school on the OEM Primacies and says he spun like 50 times (OK maybe 20...)! He didn't want to turn off stability control at the track for fear of spinning on 215 RE71R tires. But the fact is the RE71R has a TON more grip while sliding than the OEM Primacies. So we at least got to run "track mode", though I think he would have been totally fine with the "5 second hold" on TC button or with the "pedal dance".

The car is way easier to control at and beyond the limit on good sticky tires than the OEM tires. Yes, you will be going faster when you start to slide, but the residual grip is SO much greater that control is easier to maintain.

I respectfully disagree. I have driven both (Primacy and RE71).
And while it's true that the RE71 have a lot more grip while sliding than the OEM that doesn't make them easier to control. That's because the difference in grip between "not sliding and sliding" is higher with the RE71 than the OEM. So when you start sliding you need to react much quicker with the grippier tire. That's why it's so easy to control a slide in snow or rain, in general the less grip you have, the more time you have to react, and the less violent is the change in lateral accelaration from grip/slide/grip.
The reason a beginner would slide/spin a lot more in the OEM than grippier tire is easy to figure out. It's probably because he overdrove the OEM and underdrove the RE71.

[ZDan]

Originally Posted by Stang70Fastback

I 100% disagree with what you are saying.

Well, I 1000% disagree with you :P

I can tell that my student was extremely relieved to find the car much more *driveable* at and just beyond the limit on RE71Rs vs. OEM Primacies.

You can't generalize about tires, characteristics at the limit are going to vary from specific model to specific model. For sure there are plenty of very sticky tires out there that are very progressive and linear when losing and regaining grip. I'm a big fan of RE71Rs and Nitto NT01s. You can hang the back end out all day and gather it back up smooove as silk, no problemo.

[ZDan]

Originally Posted by nico_rsx

I respectfully disagree. I have driven both (Primacy and RE71).
And while it's true that the RE71 have a lot more grip while sliding than the OEM that doesn't make them easier to control. That's because the difference in grip between "not sliding and sliding" is higher with the RE71 than the OEM.

Have to say this is the opposite of my experience, and my student's experience with these tires. My impression is that the RE71R retains a goodly %age of its grip while sliding. Particularly in the wet. I've found them to be very forgiving tires overall. Drawbacks being: inability to put gobs of power down (not an issue in stockish-power FT86) and short life.

That said I don't have any experience at the track on OEM tires. But my friend/student's assessment was that it was easier to spin the car with them.

[Stang70Fastback]

Originally Posted by ZDan

Well, I 1000% disagree with you :P

I can tell that my student was extremely relieved to find the car much more *driveable* at and just beyond the limit on RE71Rs vs. OEM Primacies.

You can't generalize about tires, characteristics at the limit are going to vary from specific model to specific model. For sure there are plenty of very sticky tires out there that are very progressive and linear when losing and regaining grip. I'm a big fan of RE71Rs and Nitto NT01s. You can hang the back end out all day and gather it back up smooove as silk, no problemo.

Hmm. Well I still 1,000,000% disagree with you! My autocross tires are 245 section RE71Rs, and I can't see how you could possibly consider them anywhere near as "user friendly" at the limit!