---
title: 'The Miata Gets GRIP - Bridgestone Potenza RE-71RZ Street Driving Impressions'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=vjDLsIJMGF4'
video_id: 'vjDLsIJMGF4'
date: 2026-07-01
duration_sec: 1370
---

# The Miata Gets GRIP - Bridgestone Potenza RE-71RZ Street Driving Impressions

> Source: [The Miata Gets GRIP - Bridgestone Potenza RE-71RZ Street Driving Impressions](https://youtube.com/watch?v=vjDLsIJMGF4)

## Summary



## Transcript

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