by tom_kauf » Mon Nov 06, 2017 8:42 am
That's a great price for RE003s!! I'd definitely recommend them at that price. I'd be interested to see what S001s are with the current special.
The S001s were cheaper when I bought mine, but there's usually not a huge difference between them (in price and performance).
It depends what you're looking for in a tyre though. The S001 is marketed as more of a high-performance Luxury GT Car tyre (came from the factory on the Ferrari 458 for a while, various high-powered Audi RS models, Aston Martin Rapide etc).
Whereas the RE003 is more of an enthusiast tyre.
People who tried both back-to-back generally preferred the S001s (eg eduard0 on his GenV Liberty). I really like my S00s, but I haven't personally tried the RE003. But eduard0 has, so I'll paste some of his comments below - credit to him for most of the detailed info:
Because of GT Car target market, for NVH (Noise, Vibration, Harshness) the S001 wins hands down. They are much quieter and seem to have less rolling resistance (which makes sense given the 280 treadwear vs. the 220 on the REs), to the point where I can coast and maintain speed for significantly longer.
Lateral grip, the REs seem to have an edge when you push them and get a flow on through fast corners, at least initially. As they aged, this became less so.
The initial bite turning in on the S001 is much greater. To the point where as long as you know you're not going to unsettle them by pushing sideways, you can enter corners much harder and pull in much sharper. The REs fight too much to make that practical most of the time.
Wet weather performance is equal on the road. But on wet grass etc, the S001 is slightly less well behaved. It will break traction with ESC on with about 2/3 throttle, where the REs you had to hammer the throttle to come unstuck there. That may be an indicator of how things would be on a properly slippery surface like ice or moderate depth water, where aquaplaning is likely.
Launching can be done much harder with the S001 vs the REs. They don't seem to hold you back as much as. At the drags, the launch and 60' was severely negatively impacted. I'd say like-for-like, 0-100 on the bum dyno feels a good half a second or so different.
Generally speaking, I'm more happy with the S001 as a street tyre. I'm not sure how they'd go for the circuit compared to the REs. But if they're for a daily, or primarily street use, then even if the S001 are $20 or so more a corner, I don't see any compelling reason to choose the RE. The vehicle dynamics are massively different, so if you're used to the S series, you'll likely be disappointed with the RE compared to the hype they're receiving. They're an adequate tyre -- certainly one of the best around in that market segment for the money -- but everyone raving that they're the best thing out have fucking rocks in their head.