RE11, RE11a, RE71R

[virob]

A month ago I ordered new tires to replace the 23 year old tires on my new-to-me 84 carrera. After much researching and searching I found a good deal on a set of Potenza RE11A's. I chose these because they still had good performance in the wet for an ultra performance tire. Living in the PNW, we get a lot of rain. This is a weekend fun car, street driving and the occasional auto cross. I don't plan to drive it in the rain much, but around here, you can start off with a nice day and end in the rain.

So after a month, the 2 front tires show up at the tire store and I just found out that the rears are going to take at least another 3 weeks due to a mix up at the Bridgestone warehouse.
I also find out that the RE11A is to be discontinued (maybe why I am having trouble getting them?) to replaced by the RE71R, which makes me now rethink my original decision.

Being asymmetric the RE11A's can't be rotated. Assuming the rears wear out and the fronts are still OK, I won't be able to get matching rears if they are discontinued. Would it be OK to mix RE11's on the rear and RE11As on the front down the road sometime?

Nice thing with the new symmetric, but directional RE71R's, is that they could be rotated side to side so they should last longer, plus if the rears wear out I can still get matching fronts. Potential downside to the RE71R's is that no one has tried them yet, and are they going to be as good in the wet? I'm no tire expert, but looking at the tread, I would say no, but are they still going to be better than the other ultra performance tires?

Or I could go to the RE11's knowing that they aren't going to be discontinued.

So my question(s).
A) Should I stick with the RE11A's and in a could years, replace the worn out rears with RE11's?
B) Switch my order to RE11's?
C) Switch my order to RE71R's?

[Bleedsblue]

Mixing RE11s and 11As is fine--they are reportedly similar compounds.

Bummer, I see the 71R has no 245/45.

[chuckr]

Onlinetires.com - BRIDGESTONE - POTENZA RE-11A

[RSTarga]

You should not rotate tires on 911 anyway, they take a set. Don't you have wider tires at rear too.

[virob]

Good to know that you can mix RE11s and RE11As as sets front and rear. Far as I know they have the same tread pattern but different rubber compound.

Rear tires are 225/50/16 and fronts are 205/5/16, so yes, they can't be rotated front to back. But the fronts could be swapped or the rears could be swapped if the tires are symmetric. Wouldn't this even out potential wear due excessive camber, and increase the overall life of the tires?

[RSTarga]

You can't swap sides on a performance radial. I have the same re11 and re11a on my car. They are great tires. Excellent grip rain or shine.

[virob]

Originally Posted by RSTarga

You can't swap sides on a performance radial. I have the same re11 and re11a on my car. They are great tires. Excellent grip rain or shine.

If the tire is symmetrical or symmetrical and directional (RE71R), why can't they be swapped side to side? They would have to be taken of the rims and flipped before they could be mounted on the other side. Is there a reason why you wouldn't want to do this?
I understand why you can't do this with an asymmetric tire like the RE11/RE11A.

[Arne2]

If you retain the rotation direction by flipping the tire on the rim, you could swap sides. However, speaking from 20+ years in the tire industry (prior career), tires still take a set, and swapping to the other side to attempt to even out camber wear rarely gains much, almost never worth the cost of the mount/dismount and balancing.

Side comment - if either of us ever gets in the other's neck of the woods, we should try to get our two cars together for a photo shoot. You should also let me know if you ever decide to go tail-less, as I've been thinking about putting the tail back on my car (was removed by the second owner in 1986).

[virob]

Originally Posted by RSTarga

You can't swap sides on a performance radial. I have the same re11 and re11a on my car. They are great tires. Excellent grip rain or shine.

Originally Posted by Arne2

If you retain the rotation direction by flipping the tire on the rim, you could swap sides. However, speaking from 20+ years in the tire industry (prior career), tires still take a set, and swapping to the other side to attempt to even out camber wear rarely gains much, almost never worth the cost of the mount/dismount and balancing

Got it. Thanks for the explanation.