TL;DR Great tire with a huge amount of dry/grip and excellent road feedback. Wear rate and noise is very high. Ride is firm.
This is my second review on TireReviews.com. My past tires on my 2017 (2018 for the Americans) Mazda 6 were a slightly-upsized 235/45/19 Yokohama V701. I've always been a fan of unidirectional and symmetrical tires, so the Bridgestone Potenza Sport tires were a departure from my previous bias.
For context, the Potenza Sport in my car's stock size was some 30% cheaper than the usual Michelin/Continental competitors, and just 5% more expensive than my prior set of Yokohamas. These prices are for Singapore, and for the record, temperatures range from 30-40 degrees Celsius all year round, and we get rain pretty often (50% chance throughout the year).
These tires GRIP. Whether its wet or dry, the confidence inspired by the Potenza Sports were always high. The stiff sidewalls translated to excellent feedback through the steering and I never once felt like the car would come loose. When it was dry and traffic was clear, the tire never failed to plant a smile on my face and it felt like I could never reach the tire's limits on public roads. In the wet, traffic tends to slow to a crawl in Singapore, but of the few times I had fun when it was raining here, the tire would still track very confidently around bends.
Now the negative feedback. The tires were fairly noisy even when new. And whilst the stiff sidewalls translated to excellent steering feedback and response, the ride was noticeably harsher and firmer.
As others have noted on this website, the wear rate is VERY high. I drove this car for 25k km (16k miles) when my car was 5 years old to 7.5 years old. At 7 years-old and my tires were at the 20k km (12k miles) mark, my independent mechanic (who does not sell tires) noted that my inside treads might not pass our local vehicle inspections (similar to UK's MOT, and our's is conducted biennially from the car's 3rd year onwards). For the record, I did manage to pass the test, thankfully.
I always had my car's tires rotated regularly at 6 months regardless of distance, and the wear rate was quite a surprise. I've attached a photo of one of my front tires at its end-of-life (2.5 years or use and at 25k km) and you can see that the inside tread is already at the treadwear indicators.
To be fair, I am running aftermarket camber bolts to for -1.5 degrees camber in the front. But to go back to my usual bias, I'm not able to do a proper cross-rotate to even out the inside tread for asymmetrical tires, which is a bit of a shame. If your car is running stock/less aggressive camber, I daresay you could eke out perhaps another 6k miles (10k km) out of the tire.
Due to the high wear rate, I've gone back to my old tire (Yokohama V701). My local tire shop gave me a very good price for the new set, so I'm happy to head back. Plus the V701's more relaxed nature probably suits the Mazda 6 better. I do miss the much better feedback and grip of the Bridgestone Potenza Sport, but the high wear rate was definitely a concern, despite its reasonable pricing.