Bridgestone Potenza RE050A

I inherited these tires on a 2010 Porsche Boxter S. In the dry from a standing start it sends the traction control off at anything above 1/2 throttle. In the wet they are not much good also. They fare better for handling. There is plenty of tread left and they are not too old 03/22 on the ID mark but they need to be replaced asap to get the best out of the car.

Factory fit on a Skoda Octavia RS Wagon. Excellent grip when new and for first 6,000km. Wore down quickly after and wet grip deteriorated. Harder sidewall resulted in excellent handling & feedback but a harder ride. Replaced with Michelin Pilot Sport 4 which did most things better.

These tires came on my car from factory when I purchased my 124 Spider brand new. I got 38k kms out of them before I replaced them with the exact same spec of tire. Dry handling is phenomenal, wet grip is good until the tire starts to get worn out. Had minimal wet grip and instances of aquaplaning just before I replaced them with a new set of RE050A's. Comfort is not the greatest but that is to be expected with a proper UHP tire. Tire cost is very pricey but it does everything you want an UHP tire to do. I will consider other options next time as i don't believe they live up to their price but they are a good tire.

I left a previous review in 2020 and I’ll start this one, how I finished the last. Quite a few of the poor reviews relate to the run-flat version or BMWs, which are probably running run-flats. Those tires have a separate page on this website and if they were removed from this NON run-flat page, these tires would score higher.

My first review at 3,000 miles was very positive and I’m pleased to say things carried on in a similar vein. My only two concerns were “wear” and given I’m writing this review over 5 years and another 50,000 miles later, answers that one. In fact, most of the tire widths still have 2-3mm left (must be my Jim Clark driving style [I wish]), but my performance estate runs some negative camber and the inner shoulders were shot.

The other was cold temperatures, which I understand afflicted the previous RE040, but not these tires. Sub 5 degrees on damp back roads was not a problem.

In short, dry / wet grip, feedback and handling were all top notch, especially running an extra 2.5psi, which made the car feel even more “planted” and inspired additional confidence. Being 93XL load, compared to the OE 89SL, they needed an extra 0.5psi in any case. Comfort was still reasonable, I didn’t notice any noise and economy was as expected.

Finally, I hardly noticed any deterioration in performance near their end of life, as I was still chasing down faster metal on cold damp back roads with confidence. Perhaps the odd slight twitch through standing water, which is only to be expected, given the loss of tread.

Would I buy again? Without doubt, although Bridgestone no longer make them in my size, so I’ve gone for a set of Kumho Ecsta Sport PS72, as I’m on a budget and these mid-market tires have reviewed well since their launch.

Good in the dry but not the best. Very poor in the wet (when pushed quite hard in the wet coming out of corners, lost front wheel traction without warning a few times which could have ended badly!). They're sporty but noisy. Changed to Goodyear as3's which were far superior.

I bought new wider rims to suit my supercharged Commodore 2012 VE SS [640 RWHP] so I could fit wider and more grippy tires for occasional spirited driving. These tires were recommended by Bob Jane staff. Previous tires gave me 32,000kms. Already looking at replacing these at 9,700 km. I knew they were a softer compound but this is crazy. I'm a 60+ year old with responsible stable driving habits. Quite a harsh and noisy ride at 36psi recommended by fitter. Yes they provided significantly more dry grip and reasonable wet traction but durability trade-off just not worth it. Won't be buying again and cannot recommend. 275/35R19 100Y was version fitted.

A great tire for a average driver. Not the tire for a person looking for max grip or max wear. Its soft but it doesn’t provide as much grip... rather go for the RE003 RFT But overall a great tire Bridgestone’s Run Flats are the best it’s true. Quite pricey for a average tire.

Shocking! Utterly shocking! Bought a little two seater and was shocked by the poor handling performance, the crashyness over the smallest of bumps, the dangerous cornering ability when the road was not perfect, that sound of crashing coming into the cabin was horrendous. My car had the M sport suspension and I thought it was down to that. Then someone stated I should change over to non rub flats. . . the difference is extortionary! There is no crashyness, no loud crashes into the cabin - going round corners with slightly scared road surfaces is now normal and I dont fly have to drop to very low speeds or get jolted across the other side of the road. It should be illegal to sell these tires, they are so very dangerous in what should be a drivers car. I opted for some Michelin Primacy 4's simply for the comfort and the difference is uneblievable I cannot stress how much better these are - its like driving a completely different car

This was the WORST tire i have ever experienced in one of my cars! A BMW 5 series in 245/40r18 RFT If you never had better tires you may think it is good in dry, but no it isn't. In mildly wet surfaces it's MURDEROUS to say the least! I have driven cars with chinese tires that had more longitudinal and lateral grip than this tires!!! In comparison to other "medium/cheap" tires like Michelin PS3 or PS4, ContiSportContacts and Goodyear F1s, it's a ridiculously BAD tire. NEVER again

The car came as a fresh import with four Bridgestone Potenza S001, for which I'll leave a separate review. However, for the purposes of comparison, I would say they had the sharpest turn-in of any tire I've ever driven, very "sporty" and with excellent grip in both the dry & wet, although all at the exense of comfort, with a very "crashy" ride. Unfortunately, the S001 were no longer available in my slightly unusual tire size and so I plumped for the older RE050A, which seemed a bit of a retrograde step, given the RE050A was launched in 2004 and replaced by the S001 in 2011. I'd also heard it performed better in hotter climates. Nevertheless, the S001 were so good and these RE050A would have been the OEM fitment on my Subaru, when the car was built in 2006. I needn't have worried, turn-in isn't quite as sharp, but it is still very good, with excellent dry (and more importantly) wet grip, even on cold wet UK back roads I failed to find the limit, giving me the confidence to push on regardless. And what's more, they are noticeably more compliant than the S001, giving a noticeably smoother ride, which for a performance family estate, makes for a better compromise. I don't really notice tire noise, as I'm either cruising with the stereo on or pressing on, when the engine note takes centre stage. As for fuel consumption, I wouldn't expect my 301ps / 278lbft AWD estate to sip at the cup of economy, while I'm giving it the beans and I doubt whether a set of eco tires would make much of a difference. My only concern at this stage is wear, as I've heard bad things and the Treadwear Rating of only 140 is half that of the S001, but so far so good. One final point, is that I've noticed most of the poor reviews seem to relate to the Run-flats.

Bought them used with the wheels, have done one summer and no sign of wear. They are heavy and they do feel like it but when you start driving enthusiastically there is excellent communication and feedback. Traction is near excellent in tarmac and offroad. The tries (runflat version) feel very stiff and I would not recommend if you were driving constantly on bad roads. Wet grip is decent but can catch you off guard sometimes, fairly unpredictable in the rain - better take caution-. Would I buy them again? No, not that they are bad, they are very neutral, id have some other high performance summer tires from Conti or Michelin.

Had them fitted from factory, a good all rounder withnwer as the weak spot on them. I live in Cyprus so wet conditions are not a big problem.

These came with my BMW 335d E92 and with them being RFT's, they ride extremely harshly. Hitting a pothole on these tires with a 19-inch rim feels like you've just written the car off. They are very skitty over even after the smallest of bumps in corners. My 335d makes 600nm and 340hp and it wheelspins at 80mph in the wet with these on the rear. Definitely not a confidence-inspiring tire.

Driven for more than 5 years all i can say is one of the best sport summer tire u can fit
Dry/wet almost same grip very high limits and handling specially when they are pushed on the limit
A bit hard compound but its a performance tire not comfy for everyday use.
They lasted about 35000-40k with good grip,last 10k a bit more slippery but ok
Would buy them again if not so expensive ..

Tires came as standard on my car. Done about 35k before it got replaced with Michelin PS2, which is quite good for performance tires, in fact they were the longest lasting set for the car. Dry grip was there but I found I had to drive it hard to extract the grip from these tires. In wet, these tires were terrible when compared to other like PS2, PSS and V105 tires I had, there was no confidence in cornering in wet and often ended in massive understeer. The RE050A were quiet though, they were less harsh than the Michelins I had probably because the Michelins had 98 and 100 loadings instead of the bridgestone's 96. They were not cheap hence I would recommend other tires.