Zivman

iTrader: (19)

potenzas suck. They are have no grip, average wear quality and are relatively expensive for a tire with no grip and averate wear rating. I wouldn't buy them for any vehicle

Black Duck

1. Perhaps you should re-think what you just wrote. Stock Potenzas ARE SUMMER TIRES. People will argue with you because you are wrong.

2. Most high performance vehicles are equipped with Summer tires.

3. What are "dry performance tires"? Summer tires maybe.

4. What are good tires in your expert opinion?

Please think before you post.

adrianko43

iTrader: (2)

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/bridgestone/bridston.jsp

Look under Ultra High Performance Summer. The Z is a sports car, and people who buy sports cars are willing to sacrifice some wet performance for more dry performance.

I also disagree on the general consensus that the RE040s are terrible tires. In the wet, probably, but in the dry, they were awesome. I used them for a couple of track events a few years ago, and they stuck through the corners.

BRONZEE

Well I'm floored. I personally wouldn't keep a set a tyres on a sports car/coupe for 30k (kilometres), let alone miles. 40 odd miles, So little connecting the car to the road, tyres are super important, best footprint all the way in my book.

DavesZ#3

iTrader: (26)

Not sure how you think I'm being contradictory. I stated in my post that the fronts were replaced for the feathering problem, they still had lots of tread when that happened and the second set still had lots of tread when I sold them.

You're right, Potenzas (RE040) aren't high-performance summer, they're ultra-high performance. And your statement As a matter of fact, what kind of car company sells "summer tires" for their car? Almost none. MOST cars come stock with "all season". It wouldnt make sense otherwise. has absolutely no basis in reality. Practically every sports car sold have high-performance or better classed tires. Did you even look on TireRack's website to see the classifications and ratings? BTW, RE040s are rated 8 out of 10 in dry traction. That's hardly "low, very very low".

I and others argue otherwise because we're not blindly jumping on the "Potenza's suck" bandwagon. Practical experience allows me to make the contrary judgement.

I'm curious, what do you consider to be a "Compared to a REAL "dry performance" tires"?

Black Duck

No grip??

Expensive? Tell me a decent performance tire that isn't?

Please tell us your basis for these conclusions.

Average wear? It has already been pointed out, but most "performance tires" will wear out quicker. There are plenty of other tires that wear out quicker that these Potenza's in my experience.

I have yet to see a someone back up these comments with some stats or hard evidence.

jadaniya

iTrader: (22)

flee ownage

Zivman

iTrader: (19)

unless the conditions are 100% perfect, they are rocks. I could tolerate that if they were extremely soft when conditions were perfect, which just wasn't the case. They never seemed to soften up and give me any sort of grip

From my experience, after driving the potenzas on not just my Z, but also on another car, they are not a very good tire. For about the same money, and with more options of sizes, the kuhmo MX is a tire with much more grip. I have been getting decent wear quality out of the set I am currently running. I have had them for almost 12K miles and they are just now showing a little wear. I would expect the kuhmos to wear faster, but a decent trade off for MUCH improved grip under equal condtions to the potenzas.

All that said, I wouldn't buy the kuhmos again. I would be willing to spend more money on a tire that has better wet traction along with great dry performance

cambo350z

iTrader: (8)

I thought I went a long time. i'm at 28k miles..the fronts are good but the rears are pretty low..getting new wheels/tires next week.

TripleD

iTrader: (3)

I have an 03 Touring with the original OEM Potenzas that were on the car when it was brand new, 35k miles on them. I just took stockers off though in place of Volks. They are still in pretty good shape, no dry rod, getting low on tread though.

speedydave

Do you realize that there are many types of "Potenza's"?

The WRX came with Bridgestone Potenza Re-92's wich suck in nearly every category.

The WRX STI came with Potenza RE-070's wich is a more grippy summer tire.

The Z came with Bridgestone Potenza RE-040 first then updated to Potenza Re-050 witch are favored by many Japanese magazines and tuners for a street tire and not R compound.

Flee0588

iTrader: (4)

My bad, I got my tires mixed up. The potenzas on the Z are not all-season.

I've driven on both all-season and summer potenzas for the Z,wrx, and boxster. and I just dont see how anyone could like these. What could you possibly like about them? They are expensive and they dont perform. Why buy these when you could get a some eagles or advans for cheaper??? Doesnt make sense. Sorry for the thread jack, but they suck. Cant be more adament about it.

DavesZ#3

iTrader: (26)

The November 07 Consumer Reports has reviews and ratings of Ultra-high Performance tires. The Potenza RE050A (comes on the Z) ranked 4th out of 21 tires. It got Good or better marks in all categories except tire wear, there it only got a Fair rating. Naturally, almost every tire in the category got low marks for Tire Wear.

The Goodyear Eagle you mention ranked 8th. The price CU paid for the Eagle $164, the price for the Potenzas $167. The Advans ranked down at 13th, the price for them $197. You're right about one thing, it doesn't make sense.

Ahsmo

iTrader: (13)

I pushed mine to about 50k... then one night in the rain I was going down a hill and let up off the gas and the tail end wipped around and sent me into a curb. 3k worth of damage and my car has never been the same since.

I wish I had replaced mine at 30k.

Learn from my then cheap ***, buy new tires when they are beyond their proscribed life span.

Black Duck

Try doing some research before you post.

cv_ryder

Still have the original 18" Potenzas on my 2004 Touring 6MT, but at 33K miles they are almost down to the wear indicators. I was told by an Audi S4 owner not to expect more than 20K miles at the most. They grip hard on warm, dry surfaces (straights or turns). Never pushed them hard in the rain. Drove on snow and ice once and all the lights came on (LSD/VDC) so I parked it until everything thawed out. They are hard....Hit a transition bump once where they were milling/repaving the highway and thought I knocked some fillings out of my teeth. Will probably purchase them in their current version to replace the worn stock set on my 350Z. Tire rack has them categorized as summer high performance tires.

Black Duck

I have read the GT-R will be shod with Bridgestones.

Spike100

You have made about the most inaccurate posting I’ve seen on this Forum. Since it contains so many errors, I choose to dissect it line by line with corrections and my arguments. Here goes:
________________________________
Re>: “You contradict yourself. How did you autocross yours for 3 years? You must have gotten a second set of them after you used up your old ones?”

You need to improve your remedial reading skills. Dave explains this, and he describes what many 2003/2004 Z buyers experienced. That would be tire feathering that Nissan corrected and kindly replaced a lot of fronts. Nissan gave me a new front set of tires, so I’ve been driving on Bridgestone Potenza RE040 tires (set one and set two) for 3+years and 30K+ miles. Get it now? Do you understand?
_____________________________________
Re>: “Potenzas are no "high-performance summer tires" ill tell you that much. They are sold as all-season tires for the Z as well as many suby's, not "summer tires". “

You are dead wrong. Bridgestone Potenza RE040 tires are rated as Ultra Performance Summer Tires. You can see this definition on any site selling the tires or Bridgestone’s site.
_____________________________________
Re>: “As a matter of fact, what kind of car company sells "summer tires" for their car? Almost none. MOST cars come stock with "all season". It wouldnt make sense otherwise.”

You’re wrong again. Most car manufacturers producing high performance sports cars deliver the car with tires rated as performance summer tires. For example Porsche delivers its cars with Michelin PS2 tires.
_________________________________________________
Re>: “As you said, they blow in snow, water, slippery conditions.”

Geez… you’re not getting this at all. High performance tires are not designed for snow and ice. These tires are meant to run in warm weather on good roads. But, many performance tires run well on wet roadways. Since races are run in dry or wet weather, the tire manufacturers design the tread to handle the wet as well.
_________________________________________________
Re>: “As far as dry grip, Potenzas score low, very very low. Compared to a REAL "dry performance" tires, potenzas are ****. They are not good tires.”

Your statement is argueable. In fact Bridgestone Potenza RE040 tires have stiff sidewalls that provide a confident ride. They stick well on dry roadways and are very adequate in the rain. Of course there are better (and more expensive tires), but the Potenza RE040 is a good value that balances cost to performance.

--Spike

duckypower

iTrader: (2)

wow i only got 9000 miles.......(wonder why?)

Alberto

iTrader: (14)

Wow-and I thought me making it to 20K was a lot on stock tires! Well for me that is a record...