Bridgestone Potenza RE050 Reviews - Page 3

Given 74% while driving a Renault Clio RS200 (215/45 R17) on a combination of roads for 8,000 spirited miles
Nice tire,very good dry grip,cornering is much better now.Not very comfortable because of the stiff sidewalls.
Helpful 12 - tire reviewed on October 28, 2011
Given 89% while driving a Volvo S60 D5 (185) (225/45 R17 W) on a combination of roads for 25,000 spirited miles
Great tire, lasted 30K!!
15K on a Vectra CDTi
15K on Volvo S60
Helpful 13 - tire reviewed on September 26, 2011
Given 71% while driving a Lexus IS300 (245/45 R17 W) on mostly motorways for 888 average miles
great tire sticks like glue excellent grip, but soooo noisy
Helpful 14 - tire reviewed on July 18, 2011
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Given 59% while driving a Vauxhall Astra SRi CDTi 1.9 150 (225/45 R17 V) on mostly motorways for 12,000 average miles
Disappointed how quickly needed replacing. After a few thousand miles I got the feel that steering needs constent correcting even on straight road. Other than that average.
Helpful 14 - tire reviewed on April 22, 2011
Given 84% while driving a Nissan Primera (225/45 R17) on a combination of roads for 15,000 spirited miles
Probably one of the best tires I have ever used. I have them as 215/45/17 on a 1998 Nissan Primera using stock suspension. After using different makes, for all round driving and hard driving it has to be these. My thoughts:

Dry: Excellent take off grip, and exceptional dry handling, never had the car become nearvous on any of the corners at high speed. Using the low profile they generally shake off pot holes and bumps and are a quiet driving tire.

Wet: Probably the best tire i have ever used. Normal driving you can drive like it was a dry day and even grips extremly well. I feel you get minimal aqua planing with these also however they do cause a spray and can sometimes go over your own windscreen as it disperses the few litres of water on the road. Nothing a window wiper doesn't sort. least you have full control over the car. I hit a huge puddle at 60MPH and never pulled me at all..but like i said sprayed the water else where.

Winter: Not good for a winter tire. It struggled on the ice and snow, but there again these are designed for summer.

Wear: People has mixed reviews on this but personal experiance on the Primera, i find the wear acceptable. I managed to get around 15k miles of combined easy and hard driving on them. Make sure you have your tracking done on your car however when these are fitted new...although this should be done on any tire replacement.

Overall....I would not go past these tires. I would be happy to spend the price to purchase these again due to good grip, fun driving, occasiona drag driving, and the most important..safety. These tires will get you out of trouble more than the budgets!!
Helpful 15 - tire reviewed on April 14, 2011
Given 46% while driving a Skoda Octavia (225/45 R17 W) on a combination of roads for 6,200 average miles
Easy to loose traction on quick pull away. Heavy wear showing across entire tread
Helpful 13 - tire reviewed on January 28, 2011
Given 87% while driving a Honda Civic Type R (205/45 R17 W) on mostly town for 10 average miles
Very good grip in dry conditions, also quite good in wet driving conditions, recently i have expericed with a little bit of snow & ice these tires makes the car near impossible to drive, after all there not winter tires! All in all 8half out of 10, had car for two years tires still holding out strong.
Helpful 14 - tire reviewed on January 13, 2011
Given 67% while driving a Subaru Impreza (225/45 R17) on mostly town for 8,000 spirited miles
First set of tires for my 2.0 R sport, hoping to get more life out of them especially with my lack of power...but lasted a year mainly due to my cornering speed and I guess lack of support (small rims) as the edges wore off - even with extra pressure. But all in all I was happy, good grip in dry however abs would kick in surprisingly early in wet. Rich (Wales)
Helpful 13 - tire reviewed on November 21, 2010
Given 83% while driving a Subaru Impreza (215/45 R17 W) on mostly country roads for 16,000 spirited miles
On the Subaru Impreza WRX these tires are a decent bet.

Good balanced performance in the dry with high levels of feedback and when traction is coming to an end the feeling is nice and progressive. You get scuffing, then understeer with the impreza. Its nice and controlable.

Not as grippy in the wet as something like a Continental Sport Contact 2/3 or the Goodyear Eagle F1. Not as much wet weather progressiveness but thats because they are a harder wearing compound. But the RE050 offers pretty good performance, good aquaplaning resistance and safe braking.

Comfort seems fine. The fact I am not noticing anything major to mention must be a good sign. Again noise seems fine. Certainly no louder than the Eagle F1.

The area these tires outshine the likes of the Sport Contacts and the Eagle F1s is the fact they actually last a reasonable length of time and therefore offer good value for money.

A balanced tire in every sense
Helpful 13 - tire reviewed on September 21, 2010
Given 57% while driving a Volkswagen MkVI Golf TDI 1.6 105bhp (225/45 R17 W) on mostly motorways for 14,000 average miles
Came fitted from the factory on my new Golf. Three days of ownershiop and i almost got stranded in 2 inches of snow. Absolutely hopeless even with full tread depth. Further snow fall meant the car stayed on the drive, in favour of our Fiat Panda third car which coped without issue in 6" of snow even though that doesn't have winter or all season tires.
Wet weather grip was OK when new, but once 50% worn the car had a tendency to feel nervous on white lines even at constatnt speed. Wet cornering mediocre, little confidence and feedback from the tire - i'd have expected better from Bridgestone. Dry performance was good, with no great weaknesses, but nothing special either.
Noise levels were acceptable (Dunlops are much worse apparently on the latest Golf). Comfort levels were fine - reasonable touring tire with a bit of sportiness but i wouldn't fit it to any hot hatch or sports car. This isn't a long life tire - the front tires are at the wear limiters after 14000 miles; not good for a 105bhp car which is driven 60% of its time on dual carriageways. The rear tires will probably last to 22-24k miles, not bad but nothing special. I'll fit the same again to the front axle, but once the rears are worn out i'll be looking elsewhere for the next set.
This winter i'm also fitting winter wheels - the use of summer performance tires in cold, rural climates just doesn't work, even in the UK.
Helpful 14 - tire reviewed on September 10, 2010
Given 69% while driving a BMW E39 5 series (255/40 R18 W) on mostly country roads for 7,000 spirited miles
not that good in the wet , good in the dry but not worth the money better tires available for less
Helpful 17 - tire reviewed on July 12, 2010
Given 52% while driving a Audi A4 Avant1.9 Tdi SE (235/45 R17) on a combination of roads for 11,000 easy going miles
They appear to make the steering quite heavy. It can make shoulders ache after 150 miles.

Wear is poor. Very hard and feel all the bumps. After 11,000 miles fronts are 6.0 and 5.5 and rears 6.0 and 5.5

Very odd that rears have worn so badly. On previous A4 I got 3x the wear from the rears on Michelin Primacy 205/55/ZR16/91W

Must find a better alternative.
Helpful 11 - tire reviewed on May 14, 2010