RE71RS Impression! 23' BRZ D-Street Autocross P4 Finish

Class Finish: 4th /6th (P1-3 are two FK8 Type Rs and a Focus RS)
PAX: 11/96
RAW: 13/96

Impressions of the RE71RS tires vs OEM PS4 tires

I've posted my thoughts to several social media sites and without trying to make this a copypasta let me rewrite my throughts from scratch...please note this is my 2nd time on a 200tw tire as my first time was on RS-4 tires on my Kswapped MR-S build. So although my opinion is beyond "professional" grade, it offers a beginners or new comers insight into how much 200tw unlocks the potential of a car.

Some notes about the new setup before reading the essay below...
OEM PS4 tires: 215/40/18
RE71RS setup: 235/45/17
Wheels: Enkei PX10
Tire Pressures: Front seemed to favor 35psi from reading the roll over triangle indicators on the tire sidewall, though I have heard some people run as low as 32psi on the Falkens will have to investigate if perhaps I was still too high on pressures. Meanwhile the rear seemed like it could come lower than 35psi (around 34-33psi) according to the roll over indicators. However, because of the understeer the car was having I decided to keep the PSI squared off with the fronts (so 35psi front & rear) in order to hopefully gain some more rotation at lower speed.

Thoughts on tire spraying: The idea of spraying water on the tires especially in this heat (104F) did seem to improve lap times. I began spraying my tires after the 2nd run but some competitors began spraying theirs as soon as their first run was over with, though they did have different compound tires as well. Next event I will spray the tires immediately after the first run.

Firstly, obvious improvement in terms of lateral grip over the stock PS4 tires much more capacity at low speed for the car to keep it's current speed up while cornering over the stock PS4 tires. Early on in the first few bits of the course before the first left hander I was able to keep WOT relatively easily and even kept banging of the rev limiter each run. I feel with the PS4 tires I would have to lift slightly in order to maintain the same line as I had with the RE71RS tires. Although I will say that compared to the PS4 tires, the RE71RS compound is a bit vague when it comes to steering feel and audible feedback in comparison to the OEM PS4 tires. This may judging the limit of grip a bit more difficult and is certainly something I will have to get used to as I keep running on these tires for future events.

I also feel this current setup (235/45/17) introduces quite a bit of understeer behavior now even with jabbing the throttle pedal in order to make the car rotate around tighter corners. That being said the throttle can now be treated more like an on/off switch versus the more delicate approach required on the PS4 tires. That being said I do have plans for a front swaybar upgrade in addition to OEM crash bolts in order to combat the new found understeer bias this car has on the RE71RS setup.

Now for the controversial part...the brakes felt terrible throughout the day. Either as a result of quite literally going faster (good example is right before the first left hander out on course) or the brakes now being inadequate at these newer speeds. We are still on stock pads / fluid but have plans to look into better compound pads and fluid atm. Some other drivers have suggested something may be wrong with the factory bleed on my car as I reported that I could go pretty deep in terms of stroke on the pedal (no ABS chirp) and the car was NOT slowing down in time for the corners. Throughout the day I had to readjust my braking points and simply brake earlier than what I would have expected in order to nail my apexes.