Potenza RE050A vs RE-01R
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I think consumer reports does a good job rating tires as I have seen in the past that they have pretty much held true to what members on this site say. If anyone has gotten an up to date consumer report on tires or has the data if you could post or link it, it would be much appriciated.
Z1 Performance: I have driven a new M3 with the PS2s, I'm curious to what you think about them. Obviously the M3 is a different car than the Z, but I found them to work great at high speeds and felt completly confident, however I felt that when they let go they let go. Its not progressive like the Potenza's. It could also be the Bimmers chassis though, like most people said you cant really compare unless the tires are used on the same car.
RE-01R are one of the best performance tires around.
I always perfer directional tires in rain and I have only heard good things on RE01R in wet.
Its very said Bridgestone used the RE050A Pole Position as their flagship tires because the S-03 PP performs better in dry and much better in wet.
that's my 2 cents.
I always perfer directional tires in rain and I have only heard good things on RE01R in wet.
Its very said Bridgestone used the RE050A Pole Position as their flagship tires because the S-03 PP performs better in dry and much better in wet.
that's my 2 cents.
i miss the affordability of the yoko avs es100....that was a damn good tire for the $...performed, looked good, and lasted a decent time.....
i have a new set of wheels that i shod with the bridgestone 050a's, will post them up when the variant 3's come in...and i can't wait...
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But i just not like it. May be that's just me.
I perfer directional tires in the wet and also the RE050As are very short lived.
Tred wire 140?
For that mount of money I perfer T1R over RE050A which costs less and performs close enough.
One think you need to keep in mind is marketing. See, you think RE050A are standard on some of the best performance cars would evenually makes them the best tires on the market.
I am not saying Bridgestone are bad. Actually I have always and still want to get my hands on a set of discountinued S-03. I really like the S-03 on my friends IS300 which ran in heavy rain storm like nothing. But the RE050A is just a disapointment to me.
I have always enjoy doing research on different tires because I think it's one of the most important parts of the car. It doesn't matter if the car got 600hp or 6 piston BBK or the best coilover in the world, the only thing that touches the ground is the 4 tires.
Last edited by j-velocity; Jan 7, 2009 at 11:53 PM.
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I like the stock REO50-A they put on the 350. I'm running 265/35 R 245/40 F, so maybe the wider tire helps but from reading a lot of reviews I beleive they are one of the best in terms of street tires right next to the PS2s. But Ill check out the TR-1's.
Does anyone have an up to date consumer reports report on tires. The ones on this site may be getting outdated now.
Does anyone have an up to date consumer reports report on tires. The ones on this site may be getting outdated now.
Or may be you can look into Vredestein Ultrac Sessanta?
Some one said they performs very close to PS2.
Last edited by j-velocity; Jan 7, 2009 at 11:58 PM.
Options from Tire Rack
I'm going through the same debate as I need to replace my tires for my GT Coupe. I checked with Tire Rack on three different size options to go on the stock 18-9, 19-10 wheels. This is the list I got with prices for Max Performance Summer tires.
Stock 245/40-18, 265/35-19
Bridestone Potenza RE050A $233/$299
Continental ContiSportContact 3 $237/$302
Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 $288/$389
Pirelli PZero $299/$405
Yokohama ADVAN Sport $233/$301
255/40-18, 275/35-19
Bridgestone Potenza RE050A Pole Position $255/#317
Bridestone Potenza RE050A, $249/$307
Continental ContiSportContact 2 $259/$307
Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 $303/$380
Pirelli PZero Rosso $272/$397
Yokohama ADVAN Sport $248/$295
BFGoodrich g-Force T/A KDW 2 $184/$273
255/40-18, 285/35-19
Bridestone Potenza RE050A, $249/$312
Continental ContiSportContact 2 $259/$329
Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 $303/$422
Pirelli PZero Rosso $272/$422
Yokohama ADVAN Sport $248/$349
BFGoodrich g-Force T/A KDW 2 $184/$288
I'm leaning towards the Continental for a balance of performance/cost. Any have any experience with the Continental ContiSportContact 2 or 3?
Stock 245/40-18, 265/35-19
Bridestone Potenza RE050A $233/$299
Continental ContiSportContact 3 $237/$302
Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 $288/$389
Pirelli PZero $299/$405
Yokohama ADVAN Sport $233/$301
255/40-18, 275/35-19
Bridgestone Potenza RE050A Pole Position $255/#317
Bridestone Potenza RE050A, $249/$307
Continental ContiSportContact 2 $259/$307
Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 $303/$380
Pirelli PZero Rosso $272/$397
Yokohama ADVAN Sport $248/$295
BFGoodrich g-Force T/A KDW 2 $184/$273
255/40-18, 285/35-19
Bridestone Potenza RE050A, $249/$312
Continental ContiSportContact 2 $259/$329
Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 $303/$422
Pirelli PZero Rosso $272/$422
Yokohama ADVAN Sport $248/$349
BFGoodrich g-Force T/A KDW 2 $184/$288
I'm leaning towards the Continental for a balance of performance/cost. Any have any experience with the Continental ContiSportContact 2 or 3?
I think consumer reports does a good job rating tires as I have seen in the past that they have pretty much held true to what members on this site say. If anyone has gotten an up to date consumer report on tires or has the data if you could post or link it, it would be much appriciated.
Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 85
Pirelli P-Zero 84
Bridgestone Potenza RE 050 A Pole Position 77
Continental ContiSportContact 3 76
Yokohama Advan Sport 66
Pirelli P-Zero Rosso 50 (bottom of the entire list)
For some reason, they did not rate the Continental ContiExtremeSport, but they did rate the Continental All-Season tires (and pretty highly at that). Edit: I just found the rating for the Continental and added it.
So if you trust Consumer Reports, the Michelin may be the best, but the Bridgestone may be the best "bang for buck" tire considering it is a lot less expensive however the Michelin has a treadwear grade of 220 and the Bridgestone only 140.
Last edited by dhays; Jan 8, 2009 at 09:06 PM. Reason: Found CU rating for Continental ContiSportContact 3
Once again, goes to show how interpretive "reviews" for tires can be
I am a pretty decent driver - I've held a pro license before, been racing for 1/2 my life now. I know the ins and outs of suspension setup on a variety of cars, and particularly with my Z, as I've tried so many setups on it. I have the RE050A on my Z now (265/30/19, 285/30/19). I'm not doing track days with the car anymore, but I certainly know a crap tire from a good one - at least as far as my tastes are concerned. Others opinions will vary, and obviously do. I don't sell any of these, so I have no axe to grind as far as brand loyalty, margins, etc. I also am not opposed to trying a new tire out for the hell of it, and ditching out of it quickly if I don't like it - I enjoy it. I absolutely LOVE the RE050A on my car, and would not hesitate to run them again. They have been on my car since last spring, and about 10k miles. I previously have run S03's on my Z, as well as well as RT615, Toyo's, as well as A048's for track use. I HATED (and I cannot stress that enough) the S03 on my car. They did grip well, but nothing I did to the dampening settings on 2 different sets of coilovers made them remotely street friendly. They were harsh...obnoxiously harsh. I got rid of them very quickly. They were no more competant in the rain than anything else I have run on the Z, from the Toyo, to the Falkens, to my current S03, to anything else that's been on the car since changing from OEM's. Then again, I purposely do not push the car in the wet, for safety sake, so I suppose short of an R Compound, anything would work well enough for me in that regard.
The RE050A, to me, have a very predictable turn in, and give me tons of feedback when they are at their limit. The breakaway on them is extremely progressive, meaning that when I have gotten the car to come out from under me (and I have!), it's not all of a sudden. This completely counters the feelings I had with the S03, which gave me next to no warning and had a tendency to simple snap out, very quickly. My S03's were slightly smaller, at 245/40/18 and 275/40/18. I ran the S03's on 2 different coilovers (Cusco and HKS) always with the same differential (Cusco RS) and varying alingments within a given range, from fairly aggressive, to pretty conservative (I like to play around with it). I was forever playing with tire pressure with the S03, as well as preload and dampening settings, trying to get it dialed in where it did everything reasonably well, and just never got it nailed. With the RE050A's the car now wears, I've run more conservative alignments, since the car has no plans for track use anymore. I started at a fairly nomimal 32 psi all around and have since moved to 38 front, 36 rear, and have not had any reason to change them. I run exactly the same damper settings I did with the RT615 the car previously wore - never touched it.
Assuming stock is ok when its time to do new tires, I'm going to give the PS2 a try next. If they aren't available, I'd happily run another set of RE050A again
I am a pretty decent driver - I've held a pro license before, been racing for 1/2 my life now. I know the ins and outs of suspension setup on a variety of cars, and particularly with my Z, as I've tried so many setups on it. I have the RE050A on my Z now (265/30/19, 285/30/19). I'm not doing track days with the car anymore, but I certainly know a crap tire from a good one - at least as far as my tastes are concerned. Others opinions will vary, and obviously do. I don't sell any of these, so I have no axe to grind as far as brand loyalty, margins, etc. I also am not opposed to trying a new tire out for the hell of it, and ditching out of it quickly if I don't like it - I enjoy it. I absolutely LOVE the RE050A on my car, and would not hesitate to run them again. They have been on my car since last spring, and about 10k miles. I previously have run S03's on my Z, as well as well as RT615, Toyo's, as well as A048's for track use. I HATED (and I cannot stress that enough) the S03 on my car. They did grip well, but nothing I did to the dampening settings on 2 different sets of coilovers made them remotely street friendly. They were harsh...obnoxiously harsh. I got rid of them very quickly. They were no more competant in the rain than anything else I have run on the Z, from the Toyo, to the Falkens, to my current S03, to anything else that's been on the car since changing from OEM's. Then again, I purposely do not push the car in the wet, for safety sake, so I suppose short of an R Compound, anything would work well enough for me in that regard.
The RE050A, to me, have a very predictable turn in, and give me tons of feedback when they are at their limit. The breakaway on them is extremely progressive, meaning that when I have gotten the car to come out from under me (and I have!), it's not all of a sudden. This completely counters the feelings I had with the S03, which gave me next to no warning and had a tendency to simple snap out, very quickly. My S03's were slightly smaller, at 245/40/18 and 275/40/18. I ran the S03's on 2 different coilovers (Cusco and HKS) always with the same differential (Cusco RS) and varying alingments within a given range, from fairly aggressive, to pretty conservative (I like to play around with it). I was forever playing with tire pressure with the S03, as well as preload and dampening settings, trying to get it dialed in where it did everything reasonably well, and just never got it nailed. With the RE050A's the car now wears, I've run more conservative alignments, since the car has no plans for track use anymore. I started at a fairly nomimal 32 psi all around and have since moved to 38 front, 36 rear, and have not had any reason to change them. I run exactly the same damper settings I did with the RT615 the car previously wore - never touched it.
Assuming stock is ok when its time to do new tires, I'm going to give the PS2 a try next. If they aren't available, I'd happily run another set of RE050A again
I look forward to you review of the PS2s. They've always been my favorite tire, and worth the extra money to me.
I drove ContiSport Contacts one time and absolutely hated them. Soft sidewall, lots of understeer - it was just bad. I literally hated driving on them.
They are not even comparable speaking of performance.
RE050A are totally crap.
They even perform worse than Toyo T1R.
RE-01R are one of the best performance tires around. They have been in Asia much earlier than North America. They perform extremly close to R tires.
I have tried 2 sets of RE050A. The first set was my OEM G35 19" tires which are 225/40R19 and 245/40R19. I hated them with in one month and got myself a set of T1R. When I am done with the T1R i got a very good deal on a set of 255/35R19 and 285/35R19 so I gave it another try. I thought being wider would actually grips better. They are better but not better than the T1R i got so I got myself another set of T1R again.
I always perfer directional tires in rain and I have only heard good things on RE01R in wet.
Its very said Bridgestone used the RE050A Pole Position as their flagship tires because the S-03 PP performs better in dry and much better in wet.
that's my 2 cents.
RE050A are totally crap.
They even perform worse than Toyo T1R.
RE-01R are one of the best performance tires around. They have been in Asia much earlier than North America. They perform extremly close to R tires.
I have tried 2 sets of RE050A. The first set was my OEM G35 19" tires which are 225/40R19 and 245/40R19. I hated them with in one month and got myself a set of T1R. When I am done with the T1R i got a very good deal on a set of 255/35R19 and 285/35R19 so I gave it another try. I thought being wider would actually grips better. They are better but not better than the T1R i got so I got myself another set of T1R again.
I always perfer directional tires in rain and I have only heard good things on RE01R in wet.
Its very said Bridgestone used the RE050A Pole Position as their flagship tires because the S-03 PP performs better in dry and much better in wet.
that's my 2 cents.
i've had both on my car, and its a world of difference. saying the T1R's even come close to the performance of a RE050A is just plain ignorant...
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I was going to get RE01R's but at the time I couldn't get them in the size I wanted to I went with RE050A's. The Z is the second car I've used RE050a's on and both times I've been happy with the performance they offer.
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I don't notice much difference between the T1R and RE050A but the directional T1R runs much better in wet than RE050A. Especially in some heavy rain.
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From: Boston, MA
I have a CU subscription and am able to access their tire reviews but the links won't work unless you have a subscription. I can tell you however, that they rate the UHP tires in the 18" size in this order (I'm only listing the ones that I think fit the sizes for the 18-9, 19-10 wheels). The number to the right is the "score" that each recieved.
Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 85
Pirelli P-Zero 84
Bridgestone Potenza RE 050 A Pole Position 77
Continental ContiSportContact 3 76
Yokohama Advan Sport 66
Pirelli P-Zero Rosso 50 (bottom of the entire list)
For some reason, they did not rate the Continental ContiExtremeSport, but they did rate the Continental All-Season tires (and pretty highly at that). Edit: I just found the rating for the Continental and added it.
So if you trust Consumer Reports, the Michelin may be the best, but the Bridgestone may be the best "bang for buck" tire considering it is a lot less expensive however the Michelin has a treadwear grade of 220 and the Bridgestone only 140.
Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 85
Pirelli P-Zero 84
Bridgestone Potenza RE 050 A Pole Position 77
Continental ContiSportContact 3 76
Yokohama Advan Sport 66
Pirelli P-Zero Rosso 50 (bottom of the entire list)
For some reason, they did not rate the Continental ContiExtremeSport, but they did rate the Continental All-Season tires (and pretty highly at that). Edit: I just found the rating for the Continental and added it.
So if you trust Consumer Reports, the Michelin may be the best, but the Bridgestone may be the best "bang for buck" tire considering it is a lot less expensive however the Michelin has a treadwear grade of 220 and the Bridgestone only 140.
From this it does look like the Bridgestones may be one of the best bangs for the buck, considering the PS2's are about an additional $50 bucks a tire.
Additional tire from Consumer reports
Since the thread about a good deal on the Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3, I thought I would add Consumer Reports rating of them.
Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 85
Pirelli P-Zero 84
Bridgestone Potenza RE 050 A Pole Position 77
Continental ContiSportContact 3 76
Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3 73
Yokohama Advan Sport 66
Pirelli P-Zero Rosso 50 (bottom of the entire list)
Given the great price available on the 275/35-19 in the Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3, I might be tempted to go that way.
Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 85
Pirelli P-Zero 84
Bridgestone Potenza RE 050 A Pole Position 77
Continental ContiSportContact 3 76
Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3 73
Yokohama Advan Sport 66
Pirelli P-Zero Rosso 50 (bottom of the entire list)
Given the great price available on the 275/35-19 in the Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3, I might be tempted to go that way.
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I can't wait to get the Eagle F1 GS-D3's off my car. Mushy sidewalls FTL. plenty of grip, but I feel like I need sways now
. THey are almost worn out though 
I am thinking about PS2's next, but we have the re050a pole positions on my wife's car and I love them. Sher has 18s so she's running a 255/40 and 275/40.
I would run the re050a pole positions too, but I have 19's and I run 255/35 and 275/35 and they don't come in those sizes for 19's.
I'd like to try the PS2s on the z, but they're pretty expensive. The regular RE050a does come in my sizes too. I had the PS2's on my 97 m3 and loved them.
I agree on the S-03's being obnoxiously harsh. A friend put them on his 97 M3 with stock sizes (225/45/17, 245/40/17) and you could feel a dime in the road, I swear - they were that bad.