Bridgestone Potenza RE-71R – 205/45R16 Tire

The Potenza RE-71R is an Extreme Performance Summer tire developed for serious sports cars, sports coupe, and performance sedan driving enthusiasts looking for Bridgestone’s fastest DOT-legal street radial. Starting with a clean-sheet approach and a virtual slick tread, all of the design features were fine-tuned to maximize performance, traction, handling, and control. Performance-tuned for dry and damp conditions, the Potenza RE-71R, like all Extreme Performance Summer tires, are not intended to be serviced, stored, or driven in near- and below-freezing temperatures, through snow or on ice.

Potenza RE-71R tires employ a newly developed tread compound that enhances grip by increasing contact with the road surface. This compound is molded into a directional tread design featuring a continuous center rib flanked by massive shoulders to provide constant rubber-to-road contact that enhances steering response and cornering stability. While wide circumferential grooves with hydro evacuations surface ridges on their inner walls and multi-angle “7-shaped” lateral grooves promote water drainage to help retain wet traction, longitudinal and lateral hydroplaning resistance will be challenged if heavy rain or standing water is encountered. Drivers should drive cautiously at reduced speeds in these conditions.

The tire’s internal structure features an asymmetric shape that helps distribute footprint pressure evenly during aggressive cornering. Two wide steel belts reinforced by spirally wound nylon provide strength, uniform ride quality, and high-speed capability.