RE-010's discontinued?

[johne]

My rear tires need to be replaced soon, while shopping around (tire rack, wheel works etc..) for Bridgestone RE-010 OEM (17 245's) replacements and seems that nobody has the left rear in stock, wheel works told me they called bridgestone to find out when they will be available and was told they have been discontinued!?!

Does anyone know if this is true? I'm not sure if I should go with a different tire altoghter (any recomendations?) or hunt around to try and find the RE-010's ?

what tires are they using on the new NSX's?

johne

 

[AaronR]

Backordered- YES
Discontinued- NO

I have my purchasing department checking on it with Bridgestone so we can get you an real eta. I will have them report back to Mason so he can post the details for you here. You can reach him at any time by email at [email protected] or by phone at 800.428.8355 x619
thanks
Aaron@tr

 

[nsxtasy]

I'm not sure if I should go with a different tire altoghter (any recomendations?) or hunt around to try and find the RE-010's ?

AaronR will post Tire Rack's status, and you can also try Discount Tire Direct.

If you can't wait, and you like the precise handling and other characteristics of the RE010, then I would suggest switching to the other widely-available OEM tire for the NSX, the Yokohama A022H, which is similar to the RE010 in performance and most other characteristics (although slightly more expensive).

what tires are they using on the new NSX's?

The '02-03 NSX now has 17" front wheels, and the tire sizes have changed to 215/40-17 front, 255/40-17 rear. It comes from the factory with the Bridgestone RE040 tires, which (like your RE010 and the Yoko A022H) are also corner-specific.

 

[johne]

So could I use the Bridgestone RE-040 255/40-17 on the rear ?

 

[Nimbus]

So could I use the Bridgestone RE-040 255/40-17 on the rear ?

Yes you can.

 

[mason@tirerack]

I have a request in with our purchasing department to get an exact date on the OEM Bridgestone tire for the NSX so that we can have more accurate information to proceed with your tire choices. Have you considered the OEM Yokohama tires?

 

[nsxtasy]

So could I use the Bridgestone RE-040 255/40-17 on the rear ?

You can, but...

The "official line" you will hear is that you should use the same model of tire at both ends of the car. In general, that's good advice - which is why many cars advise you to rotate your tires, so that they all wear out at the same time, facilitating this principle.

With the NSX, it's a different story, because the OEM tires can't be rotated. And the rear tires wear 2-3 times faster than the front tires, complicating the matter because no one wants to have to replace front tires with plenty of tread on them, just because the rear ones need replacing.

As "unofficial" advice to consider, I would suggest that you might be able to get away with mismatched tires (a different model on the front vs the rear), as long as you (a) understand that handling might be affected, and (b) minimize any handling problems by selecting a rear tire model that is most similar to the front tire model. I admit that I don't know a whole lot about the RE040 tire, but if I were in your situation, I would try to get the RE010 as a first choice, and if it's not available in an acceptable time frame for you, I would get the Yokohama A022H in the same 245/40-17 size as the RE010 was, which is designed to be used with the 215/45-16 size you have in front. I think mason was implying the same thing...

 

[mason@tirerack]

Purchasing placed an ETA of 4 weeks from now for the Bridgestone tires to arrive at our facility for shipping.

 

[johne]

Here's my update, I spoke to Mason at the tirerack and I decided not to wait until the RE-010's are in stock, and went ahead and ordered the RE-040's, that was yesterday, today UPS just dropped off two RE-040's at my doorstep, excellent......

johne