If you’re an avid Road & Track reader, you already know tires are one of the easiest, most effective ways to make your car perform better. But how much does tire performance really matter in real-world situations?
Jason Fenske of Engineering Explained decided it was time to swap out the old, mismatched all-seasons on his Honda S2000 for a set of high-performance Bridgestone RE-71R summer tires. In order to show us how much of a difference the rubber upgrade made, Fenske measured stopping distances from 60 mph on both sets, and the results are pretty astonishing.
While the all-seasons were only able to manage a 60-0 run of 136 feet, the new summers pulled off the same stop using just 107 feet—almost 30 feet less. Additionally, the Bridgestones were able to generate 20 percent more g-forces of deceleration, giving us an idea of just how effective they are.
Watch for yourself as Fenske explains the importance of good tires using cold hard data.
