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

[00:08] All right, we are back with the Miata

[00:10] and it's time for another update because

[00:12] we have added some serious grip. I have

[00:15] a set of Bridgestone RE-71RZs

[00:19] on here now. These are the new kind of

[00:22] gold standard for track day / maybe

[00:25] autocross tires. These are in 225 45 R

[00:30] 17s, so a little bit larger of a size

[00:33] than maybe what's recommended on this

[00:35] Miata, but I wanted maximum sidewall for

[00:39] Michigan roads. I'm probably going to be

[00:41] dailying on these tires throughout the

[00:42] summer and I wanted a wide 225 width to

[00:46] just handle heat and track work. So,

[00:48] this is what we've got. In 17-in sizing,

[00:50] Bridgestone gives you 215 45 17s, 205 45

[00:55] 17s and these 225 45 17s. I could have

[00:57] also gone to a 245, but it's a little

[00:59] bit wide. Not sure how well clear as it

[01:01] sits with my suspension setup,

[01:02] alignment. This only rubs just very,

[01:05] very, very slightly right here on the

[01:07] inner fender liner and that's it. So, it

[01:10] fits, it ships, it clears. I think it

[01:12] looks fantastic. We're going to take you

[01:14] guys out on a drive today. It's a little

[01:16] bit chillier than probably these tires

[01:18] are

[01:19] designed to operate in. It's about 50-55

[01:22] degrees Fahrenheit, but we'll get them

[01:23] warmed up and get some temperature in

[01:24] them and give you guys some driving

[01:25] impressions.

[01:27] After spending some time with these, you

[01:28] can see I've already taken them out to

[01:30] the racetrack, they are a little bit

[01:32] quieter than I was expecting compared to

[01:35] the RE-71RS

[01:36] and

[01:38] they of course last a little bit longer

[01:40] on track. We took them out to Gingerman

[01:42] Raceway, which is incredibly hard on

[01:44] tires and I think this massive outer

[01:47] sidewall block is a little bit tougher

[01:51] and more resistant to wear. I haven't

[01:53] driven these in the wet yet, so I can't

[01:54] comment on wet performance, but so far

[01:58] in the dry the traction has been immense

[02:00] and they've been

[02:01] more comfortable and quieter than I was

[02:03] expecting for such a hardcore track

[02:05] tire.

[02:06] I did struggle some with brakes during

[02:08] the track day last week and I think most

[02:11] of that is my own fault. One, I didn't

[02:14] bleed the fluid before going, total

[02:16] newbie move. I thought it was good, I

[02:18] checked the water content, it was fine.

[02:20] It was just old. So, I bled it at the

[02:22] track and after that my brakes performed

[02:24] better, but still they weren't working

[02:26] as intended because I don't think I had

[02:28] a good bedded layer on the rotors. And

[02:32] also the rotors were kind of old, there

[02:33] wasn't a smooth contact patch with the

[02:35] pad. So, I've replaced the front rotors

[02:38] with just a set of

[02:39] blanks from O'Reilly's Auto and uh we'll

[02:42] see how these perform. I'm going to get

[02:44] them bedded in. We're going to go out

[02:46] for our first drive in them today. I've

[02:47] mostly just kind of been driving them

[02:48] around town up until now. So, we'll see

[02:51] what that rotor face looks like at the

[02:53] end of this drive.

[02:54] And we'll give you guys some first

[02:55] street driving impressions on these

[02:57] tires cuz I haven't really driven these

[02:58] too much on the street. I drove them to

[02:59] the track on the highway and that's

[03:02] about it.

[03:05] Still loving the Miata even with a Viper

[03:08] in the garage, too. This thing is just

[03:10] so much fun.

[03:12] It's easy to drive, it's light, it's

[03:14] nimble, it's flickable

[03:17] and you can push this thing hard. You

[03:19] can go flat out everywhere in this car

[03:22] unlike the Viper. So, let's take it out

[03:24] for a drive this morning and we'll give

[03:25] you guys some driving impressions. I

[03:27] just went through this whole car,

[03:28] changed all the fluids, the

[03:30] transmission, the oil, the differential,

[03:32] and the brake fluid is fresh now, too.

[03:35] So,

[03:36] we should be in business

[03:39] with a 2017 Miata.

[03:43] Coilovers are set to their street

[03:45] setting, which is about 26

[03:48] clicks from hard.

[03:51] This feels about right for this tire,

[03:53] for this grip level, and for our

[03:55] Michigan roads right now.

[03:58] I'll put all the modifications in the

[03:59] description, but again, these are the

[04:01] SakeBomb Garage Spec

[04:04] Ohlins DFV coilovers.

[04:11] We are running the G-Loc R12 pads at all

[04:14] four corners.

[04:21] And from what I've read, these pads

[04:23] operate best when there's a good

[04:25] transfer layer on the rotor.

[04:27] These were purchased pre-bedded, so all

[04:30] the outgassing, all that has been

[04:31] accomplished with the pad, but then you

[04:33] have to mate it to the rotor face.

[04:35] And

[04:37] you want similar materials contacting

[04:40] each other, especially for track work.

[04:44] So, I think one of my

[04:46] one of my mistakes

[04:48] getting prepared for the track day

[04:50] was not getting a good bedding in with

[04:52] these pads beforehand.

[04:56] All right, so 56° F out.

[04:58] Let's let these tires come up to temp a

[05:00] little bit.

[05:03] One change that I did make to the Miata,

[05:05] which has been fantastic, is I added

[05:07] these little 3D printed wind deflectors.

[05:10] I just found them on Etsy randomly. They

[05:13] were 35 bucks, and they have

[05:16] improved the top down experience vastly.

[05:21] If I go both windows up,

[05:23] there's a lot less buffeting from the

[05:25] top here.

[05:27] There's still a little bit, but it's

[05:29] it's reduced, I'd say, by maybe 50%, and

[05:32] then with this window just slightly

[05:33] down, there's a lot less buffeting

[05:36] there, too. I can even drive pretty

[05:37] comfortably now on the highway with both

[05:39] windows down, which is great. I just get

[05:40] a little bit more cooling to the back of

[05:42] my neck.

[05:44] Really impressed with this car so far.

[05:46] It gets incredible fuel economy on the

[05:49] highway even with these oversized tires.

[05:52] It's comfortable. The exhaust doesn't

[05:55] drone too badly. I thought it might be a

[05:57] little bit tiresome on longer road trips

[05:59] with the top up. It was fine.

[06:02] This is the Roadster Sport Race exhaust,

[06:04] so the most aggressive axle back that

[06:06] Goodwin Racing sells, and it's been just

[06:09] fine. It sounds fantastic.

[06:24] Gearbox feels a little bit smoother with

[06:26] some fresh

[06:27] transmission fluid in there.

[06:30] I am using Motul Competition Gear

[06:33] 75W140.

[06:36] So, the stuff that everyone recommends

[06:38] for track work on the Miatas.

[06:43] And I'm actually using the same exact

[06:45] fluid in the diff.

[06:49] All right, so some highway driving

[06:51] impressions.

[06:52] We've got some grooved pavement here, so

[06:53] seeing a little bit of wondering right

[06:55] now with the lower pressures on these

[06:57] tires and the cold temperatures. I set

[06:59] these pressures for

[07:01] 75-80° F,

[07:03] and right now they've gone down

[07:05] considerably. So, we're probably at like

[07:07] 26 PSI.

[07:11] They'll come up to temp, they'll warm

[07:12] up, and we'll be back in business.

[07:15] The tire rides really nicely though.

[07:18] A little bit of noise over bumps. Some

[07:19] of that is my suspension, so it's kind

[07:21] of hard to discern which is tire which

[07:23] is suspension.

[07:48] >> All right.

[07:53] Get some temperature into these brakes.

[08:16] This is still just such a fun car.

[08:21] So fluid, easy to drive.

[08:26] And with grip,

[08:30] it does kind of transform the driving

[08:31] experience.

[08:41] I'm really curious to see how these

[08:42] RE-71R's perform in the wet. There's

[08:46] less grooving with this new tread

[08:49] design.

[08:51] So, we will report back with some wet

[08:53] driving impressions.

[08:55] I'll just take you guys out in the rain

[08:57] at some point here soon.

[09:00] All right. So, ride quality's pretty

[09:01] good. They're surprisingly quiet.

[09:04] Tons of traction

[09:06] when it's warm out. And honestly, in the

[09:08] cold,

[09:11] 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.