Bridgestone B250

I have a new Kia Carnival bought in June 2008 fitted with 225/70/120h
Living in Spain the tyre does not perform very well in wet conditions and produces tyre screech on hot tarmac conditions.
The wear factor is poor and having carried out diagnal changes x3 to increase the wear they only lasted for 29000 Kms

I have two Astras both fitted with Brigestone B250 tyres I've owened the cars from 10 months (17k) to the present (32 months old) I alternate each car daily and make the same 80m round trip over the Pennines (over 1400ft high) while the other car travels 60m on the M1

After 48K and 46K the all of the bridgestones have 3mm to 4mm of tread One car is fitted with two tyres of a another make due to puncture damage. Both spares have 3mm of tread. This gives a mileage of over 31K to 3mm tread remaining for the three sets of tyres (3x4).

I've just fitted one car with four new B250s compared to the old tyres on the other car there is a big difference on snow - I can't get up the first hill on the old tyres. Ten minutes later on the new B250s no problem but quite exciting getting down in the evening. In the rain the old (non bridgestone) front tyres are poor and can skid at low speeds (30mph) while the B250 don't at 50mpg on the cross country trip.

I test the ABS on the same spot every week in each car and the amount of ABS function is less with the new compared to the old B250s (and the non Bridgestone) in the wet - I've not been able to test them in the dry yet.

Despite the lightness of the car, they're on their way out after only 17k of average driving. The overall grip levels aren't impressive either, especially under braking and acceleration on wet conditions. The comfort levels (noise and harshness) are good for a low budget tyre (the 60 series profile probably helps in that department).

I guess they perform as well as you can expect from an "economy" tyre. I'll be looking at something different (the slightly pricier Bridgestone Turanza ER300 or Continental PremiumContact2) for my next set of tyres.