[0:08] All right, we are back with the Miata
[0:10] and it's time for another update because
[0:12] we have added some serious grip. I have
[0:15] a set of Bridgestone RE-71RZs
[0:19] on here now. These are the new kind of
[0:22] gold standard for track day / maybe
[0:25] autocross tires. These are in 225 45 R
[0:30] 17s, so a little bit larger of a size
[0:33] than maybe what's recommended on this
[0:35] Miata, but I wanted maximum sidewall for
[0:39] Michigan roads. I'm probably going to be
[0:41] dailying on these tires throughout the
[0:42] summer and I wanted a wide 225 width to
[0:46] just handle heat and track work. So,
[0:48] this is what we've got. In 17-in sizing,
[0:50] Bridgestone gives you 215 45 17s, 205 45
[0:55] 17s and these 225 45 17s. I could have
[0:57] also gone to a 245, but it's a little
[0:59] bit wide. Not sure how well clear as it
[1:01] sits with my suspension setup,
[1:02] alignment. This only rubs just very,
[1:05] very, very slightly right here on the
[1:07] inner fender liner and that's it. So, it
[1:10] fits, it ships, it clears. I think it
[1:12] looks fantastic. We're going to take you
[1:14] guys out on a drive today. It's a little
[1:16] bit chillier than probably these tires
[1:18] are
[1:19] designed to operate in. It's about 50-55
[1:22] degrees Fahrenheit, but we'll get them
[1:23] warmed up and get some temperature in
[1:24] them and give you guys some driving
[1:25] impressions.
[1:27] After spending some time with these, you
[1:28] can see I've already taken them out to
[1:30] the racetrack, they are a little bit
[1:32] quieter than I was expecting compared to
[1:35] the RE-71RS
[1:36] and
[1:38] they of course last a little bit longer
[1:40] on track. We took them out to Gingerman
[1:42] Raceway, which is incredibly hard on
[1:44] tires and I think this massive outer
[1:47] sidewall block is a little bit tougher
[1:51] and more resistant to wear. I haven't
[1:53] driven these in the wet yet, so I can't
[1:54] comment on wet performance, but so far
[1:58] in the dry the traction has been immense
[2:00] and they've been
[2:01] more comfortable and quieter than I was
[2:03] expecting for such a hardcore track
[2:05] tire.
[2:06] I did struggle some with brakes during
[2:08] the track day last week and I think most
[2:11] of that is my own fault. One, I didn't
[2:14] bleed the fluid before going, total
[2:16] newbie move. I thought it was good, I
[2:18] checked the water content, it was fine.
[2:20] It was just old. So, I bled it at the
[2:22] track and after that my brakes performed
[2:24] better, but still they weren't working
[2:26] as intended because I don't think I had
[2:28] a good bedded layer on the rotors. And
[2:32] also the rotors were kind of old, there
[2:33] wasn't a smooth contact patch with the
[2:35] pad. So, I've replaced the front rotors
[2:38] with just a set of
[2:39] blanks from O'Reilly's Auto and uh we'll
[2:42] see how these perform. I'm going to get
[2:44] them bedded in. We're going to go out
[2:46] for our first drive in them today. I've
[2:47] mostly just kind of been driving them
[2:48] around town up until now. So, we'll see
[2:51] what that rotor face looks like at the
[2:53] end of this drive.
[2:54] And we'll give you guys some first
[2:55] street driving impressions on these
[2:57] tires cuz I haven't really driven these
[2:58] too much on the street. I drove them to
[2:59] the track on the highway and that's
[3:02] about it.
[3:05] Still loving the Miata even with a Viper
[3:08] in the garage, too. This thing is just
[3:10] so much fun.
[3:12] It's easy to drive, it's light, it's
[3:14] nimble, it's flickable
[3:17] and you can push this thing hard. You
[3:19] can go flat out everywhere in this car
[3:22] unlike the Viper. So, let's take it out
[3:24] for a drive this morning and we'll give
[3:25] you guys some driving impressions. I
[3:27] just went through this whole car,
[3:28] changed all the fluids, the
[3:30] transmission, the oil, the differential,
[3:32] and the brake fluid is fresh now, too.
[3:35] So,
[3:36] we should be in business
[3:39] with a 2017 Miata.
[3:43] Coilovers are set to their street
[3:45] setting, which is about 26
[3:48] clicks from hard.
[3:51] This feels about right for this tire,
[3:53] for this grip level, and for our
[3:55] Michigan roads right now.
[3:58] I'll put all the modifications in the
[3:59] description, but again, these are the
[4:01] SakeBomb Garage Spec
[4:04] Ohlins DFV coilovers.
[4:11] We are running the G-Loc R12 pads at all
[4:14] four corners.
[4:21] And from what I've read, these pads
[4:23] operate best when there's a good
[4:25] transfer layer on the rotor.
[4:27] These were purchased pre-bedded, so all
[4:30] the outgassing, all that has been
[4:31] accomplished with the pad, but then you
[4:33] have to mate it to the rotor face.
[4:35] And
[4:37] you want similar materials contacting
[4:40] each other, especially for track work.
[4:44] So, I think one of my
[4:46] one of my mistakes
[4:48] getting prepared for the track day
[4:50] was not getting a good bedding in with
[4:52] these pads beforehand.
[4:56] All right, so 56° F out.
[4:58] Let's let these tires come up to temp a
[5:00] little bit.
[5:03] One change that I did make to the Miata,
[5:05] which has been fantastic, is I added
[5:07] these little 3D printed wind deflectors.
[5:10] I just found them on Etsy randomly. They
[5:13] were 35 bucks, and they have
[5:16] improved the top down experience vastly.
[5:21] If I go both windows up,
[5:23] there's a lot less buffeting from the
[5:25] top here.
[5:27] There's still a little bit, but it's
[5:29] it's reduced, I'd say, by maybe 50%, and
[5:32] then with this window just slightly
[5:33] down, there's a lot less buffeting
[5:36] there, too. I can even drive pretty
[5:37] comfortably now on the highway with both
[5:39] windows down, which is great. I just get
[5:40] a little bit more cooling to the back of
[5:42] my neck.
[5:44] Really impressed with this car so far.
[5:46] It gets incredible fuel economy on the
[5:49] highway even with these oversized tires.
[5:52] It's comfortable. The exhaust doesn't
[5:55] drone too badly. I thought it might be a
[5:57] little bit tiresome on longer road trips
[5:59] with the top up. It was fine.
[6:02] This is the Roadster Sport Race exhaust,
[6:04] so the most aggressive axle back that
[6:06] Goodwin Racing sells, and it's been just
[6:09] fine. It sounds fantastic.
[6:24] Gearbox feels a little bit smoother with
[6:26] some fresh
[6:27] transmission fluid in there.
[6:30] I am using Motul Competition Gear
[6:33] 75W140.
[6:36] So, the stuff that everyone recommends
[6:38] for track work on the Miatas.
[6:43] And I'm actually using the same exact
[6:45] fluid in the diff.
[6:49] All right, so some highway driving
[6:51] impressions.
[6:52] We've got some grooved pavement here, so
[6:53] seeing a little bit of wondering right
[6:55] now with the lower pressures on these
[6:57] tires and the cold temperatures. I set
[6:59] these pressures for
[7:01] 75-80° F,
[7:03] and right now they've gone down
[7:05] considerably. So, we're probably at like
[7:07] 26 PSI.
[7:11] They'll come up to temp, they'll warm
[7:12] up, and we'll be back in business.
[7:15] The tire rides really nicely though.
[7:18] A little bit of noise over bumps. Some
[7:19] of that is my suspension, so it's kind
[7:21] of hard to discern which is tire which
[7:23] is suspension.
[7:48] >> All right.
[7:53] Get some temperature into these brakes.
[8:16] This is still just such a fun car.
[8:21] So fluid, easy to drive.
[8:26] And with grip,
[8:30] it does kind of transform the driving
[8:31] experience.
[8:41] I'm really curious to see how these
[8:42] RE-71R's perform in the wet. There's
[8:46] less grooving with this new tread
[8:49] design.
[8:51] So, we will report back with some wet
[8:53] driving impressions.
[8:55] I'll just take you guys out in the rain
[8:57] at some point here soon.
[9:00] All right. So, ride quality's pretty
[9:01] good. They're surprisingly quiet.
[9:04] Tons of traction
[9:06] when it's warm out. And honestly, in the
[9:08] cold,
[9:11] they feel pretty good out here, too.
[10:56] >> All right, we'll get a couple more stops
[10:58] on these brakes
[10:59] and then see what they look like.
[11:23] Yeah, there we go. Now we're getting the
[11:25] bite that we would expect from a set of
[11:27] R12s.
[11:38] >> Always bed your brakes
[11:40] in a safe environment on the street.
[11:47] Try to avoid ABS and coming to a
[11:49] complete stop. So, we got a green light
[11:53] right now. We can go.
[12:12] All right, that bite is feeling really
[12:14] good now.
[12:16] Easy to modulate.
[12:19] Nice progressive
[12:21] brake force to pedal input.
[12:30] All right. I think that's a good
[12:31] transfer layer. We've done
[12:34] a few stops there. We'll give the brakes
[12:36] some time to cool.
[12:41] And we'll just take it easy on the way
[12:43] home. Try not to
[12:45] come to a complete stop if possible.
[12:49] And just keep some air flowing through
[12:50] the system. Let everything cure and we
[12:52] should be in good shape.
[13:05] Wow, the grip is insane.
[13:07] These tires on track were nothing short
[13:10] of amazing. They were
[13:12] just so grippy, so much traction. Again,
[13:15] new platform, new chassis, new car. Not
[13:17] used to the amount of grip here, but
[13:20] gosh, it was just insane.
[13:22] The G-forces that it was pulling. I
[13:23] think I was registering 1.6 G around
[13:26] corners in my uh
[13:29] Harry's Laptimer app, which is just
[13:31] wild. Just wild.
[13:41] I came home and my my back was sore. My
[13:44] lower back was sore from bracing myself
[13:47] in the seat all day.
[13:53] I'm going to take another crack at
[13:55] this car with the stock brakes on track.
[13:58] If everything works, great. If not, I'm
[14:00] going to think about maybe upgrading to
[14:01] a big brake kit.
[14:03] Brembo makes a really good system for
[14:05] the cup cars that you can put on the
[14:06] street ND Miatas.
[14:09] And uh if I'm going that route, we'll
[14:12] put a roll bar in here so we can run any
[14:14] track. And this will just kind of be a
[14:16] little track day toy. I might put a seat
[14:17] in here, too. I think a a lower, more
[14:20] bolstered bucket racing seat would just
[14:23] That would be the move for this type of
[14:25] car.
[14:27] I miss the power
[14:29] and fun factor from the Camaro SS 1LE,
[14:32] but you factor in
[14:36] the capability of this chassis, the
[14:38] top-down experience, and all the reasons
[14:41] why I bought this car initially,
[14:43] this is really just still the track car
[14:46] of choice. These ND Miatas are just so
[14:48] darn good.
[15:31] >> All right, now we've got a pretty long
[15:32] stretch of road here where we can let
[15:34] the brakes cool down completely.
[15:39] And then at the end of that, I'm going
[15:40] to pull off. We'll take a look at the
[15:42] rotors, see what that transfer layer
[15:44] looks like, if it's smooth, if it's
[15:46] even, if I need to drive around on these
[15:48] pads a little bit more, if they're
[15:50] are flat, are high spots or low spots.
[15:54] It's interesting, I did some digging and
[15:56] I found that the Brembo brake package on
[15:59] the ND Miata actually has a different
[16:02] rotor that's about a pound lighter and
[16:04] has some extra venting in it.
[16:06] But, they're expensive. They are not
[16:09] cheap from Mazda. They're I think a
[16:11] couple hundred bucks a piece.
[16:13] And at that point, you could get a
[16:15] two-piece rotor from an aftermarket
[16:17] company, stock size, and put that on,
[16:19] which would probably be even better than
[16:21] the Brembo package rotors.
[16:22] But, it is interesting to see the extra
[16:24] cooling that Mazda baked into that
[16:26] Brembo rotor
[16:28] for the Brembo package cars.
[16:31] The previous owner who tracked this car
[16:32] extensively
[16:34] didn't really have too many problems
[16:36] with the stock braking system after
[16:38] putting on the Verus brake ducting kit.
[16:41] Before that, I think he went through a
[16:42] lot of pads and a lot of cooling issues.
[16:45] I was noticing the dust boots on these
[16:47] Brembo brakes on the calipers
[16:50] are kind of cracked and worn.
[16:53] Not a safety issue because it's not
[16:55] going to be leaking fluid or anything
[16:56] like that. It's a closed system, but
[16:59] uh and I don't know if there is a
[17:00] replacement boot kit for these Brembo
[17:02] brakes. You might just have to go and
[17:04] replace the whole caliper, which isn't
[17:05] ideal. Again, kind of making the case
[17:08] for a big brake kit.
[17:10] We'll see how everything comes together,
[17:12] but if you're running the stock Brembo
[17:14] brakes or even just the stock brakes on
[17:16] track, I'd probably recommend a set of
[17:18] titanium shims for the ND Miata just to
[17:21] keep that heat out of the caliper and
[17:23] more on the rotor and also out of your
[17:25] brake fluid, keeping your brake fluid a
[17:27] little lower.
[17:28] I noticed on my Civic Type R, I would
[17:31] stay out of brake fade
[17:33] much, much, much longer and all the the
[17:36] light for the braking system, the the
[17:38] brake fluid temperature would stay up
[17:39] for much longer, at least a couple more
[17:40] laps after I put on the titanium shims
[17:43] from Paragon.
[17:45] And that's what I may end up doing here
[17:48] if I want to kind of push the limits of
[17:50] the stock system.
[17:52] All right, so we've been driving for
[17:53] quite a while here at about 60 mph. It's
[17:56] cold out, so the brakes should be pretty
[17:59] pretty cold at this point.
[18:01] You want that fresh pad layer on the
[18:04] rotor to kind of have some time to cure.
[18:09] And this isn't as intense of a bread
[18:11] bedding procedure
[18:12] as bedding in pads.
[18:21] Gosh, nothing turns in like a Miata.
[18:26] It's so good.
[18:29] All right, using our gears to slow down
[18:31] here, a little dab of brakes.
[18:34] And let's park in a flat spot here.
[18:41] As flat as we can find.
[18:47] All right.
[18:48] Doesn't look like we're rolling.
[18:55] Yeah, everything's pretty cool. We've
[18:56] got a nice transfer layer on the back
[18:59] rotors.
[19:00] And the fronts look pretty good, too.
[19:01] All right, you can see still some cross
[19:03] hatching there from that fresh
[19:07] rotor.
[19:09] But,
[19:10] that looks much better.
[19:12] I would maybe even do a little bit more
[19:15] if I were going to attract it. So, we'll
[19:17] drive on these brakes some. I think
[19:19] that's a nice initial bed-in.
[19:21] We'll get that rotor face a little bit
[19:23] cleaner. But, that looks like a nice
[19:25] even transfer layer. And uh with some
[19:28] more daily driving, that should be a
[19:29] good baseline with fresh fluid and a new
[19:33] set of rotors on this Miata. So, we'll
[19:34] see how it performs at the next track
[19:36] day.
[19:37] I think that's going to wrap up my
[19:38] initial thoughts on this setup. This is
[19:40] kind of how I'm going to be running the
[19:41] Miata all summer. Center caps are out
[19:43] because you don't really want to run
[19:44] center caps on track. I cleaned uh the
[19:47] other side, but not this side of wheels.
[19:48] I got to get back to that.
[19:57] Super happy with the setup on initial
[19:58] impressions. These tires perform so well
[20:02] in so many different scenarios. I will
[20:03] get back to you guys on how they perform
[20:05] in the wet, in the rain.
[20:07] You know what? Let's put the top up for
[20:10] just a little bit.
[20:13] And you guys can hear what these tires
[20:14] sound like at speed on the highway after
[20:17] a track day.
[20:18] Before the track day, they were
[20:20] completely silent on the highway.
[20:21] Surprisingly so. It was It was wild. I
[20:23] couldn't believe how quiet they were.
[20:27] After the track day, they got a little
[20:28] bit more noise to them.
[20:38] But, all things considered, they're
[20:39] still pretty darn quiet. Much quieter
[20:41] than I remember the RE-71R SS B.
[20:49] I'm still hearing exhaust over tire.
[20:53] Oops.
[20:55] We've got a tire pressure light on here.
[20:59] Let's go inspect briefly.
[21:03] Don't hear any air hissing.
[21:05] And I don't see anything weird. We'll
[21:07] check it out when we get home.
[21:10] Might just be the low uh
[21:13] low temperatures this morning.
[21:46] All right, 70 mph.
[21:50] Oh, that is amazingly quiet for a track
[21:53] tire.
[21:56] Little bit of a faint roar.
[22:11] 80 mph, not much different.
[22:17] Great.
[22:20] Changing it to concrete here.
[22:23] And pretty much the same.
[22:29] All right, guys. Those are some initial
[22:30] impressions on the RE-71R Z's and an
[22:33] update on the Miata. Thanks so much for
[22:35] watching. We'll see you guys in the next
[22:36] one.
[22:43] Just kidding, it was a massive nail.
[22:46] And there it is.
[22:48] We'll get that patched.