Bridgestone Potenza RE050A Run Flat

Had these on a BME 330D M Sport in RFT guise.

They really are 2 tyres in one: When they're new they're relatively quiet and the ride isn't that bad. As they wear though everything changes.

After 14K miles or so (with 5mm of tread left, so not anywhere near the limit) the tyre noise becomes really noticeable and the ride quality drops off a cliff. Tramlining doesn't even begin to describe it - they seem to actively seek out ruts in the road and drag the car into them.

Avoid - there are better options.

gonna ditch these horrible runflats for normal tyres.All four tyres are wearing on outer edge while still having about 5mm of tread in middle.what a waste of money.

very poor wear rate on outside edges. centre with plenty meat

Very hard tyres,Driving on them it's night mare

These tyres came on the car as standard.

They have lasted pretty well in all fairness. I am used to changing tyres every 15000 miles or so due to how I drive (like an idiot)
I have just hit 32000 and the tyres have only just got into the wear indicator.

As for a review. In the dry it spins, in the wet it spins, in the ice, it wouldn't move. The tyres are very hard and you feel everything on the road. It tramlines a lot due to its hard side wall. It under steers a lot as well.

Unfortunately tyres are covered in a maintenance package with the company, and they replace the tyres like for like. Which i am gutted about.

Would i have these again if i had to pay for them. Short answer is NO!.

Having put up with these for 20000 miles, I'm qualified to say they're the worst sports tyre I've ever driven, and fitting them to a Z4 is tantamount to sabotage. Tramlining and weave on anything but a really flat road is appalling, and the ride punishingly hard with no payback in handling. On the contrary, the hardness causes skitter on pocked or ridged surfaces, with the tyres seemingly in the air much of time! This simply doesn't compare to previous experience of the Z4 on non-runflats. Adding insult to injury, I have print-outs of the Press launch in 2009 of Bridgestone's third generation (3G) Potenza, which is supposedly better, but can I buy it to replace my worn out set? No... two YEARS later Bridgestone say it's available only on new cars, and BMW says it's never heard of it (despite supplying demo cars for the Press launch - how does that work, then?) Could it be they have a lot of the outdated 2G tyres to get rid of? Goodbye Bridgestone! On balance, and appreciating that conventional tyres might still be the ultimate, I'm sticking with the safety benefits of runflats and fitting the new Conti Contact Sport 5G SSR instead. It's so new I have no reviews, but they cannot be any worse.

My last review of these tyres was in February 2011, when i put a pair of new tyres on my car. That pair are now needing replaced so another review!

Between February and November I have driven 23000 miles from the Outer Hebridees to South Wales and everywhere inbetween in scortching sun shine and in rain of Biblical proportions. The Bridgestones have offered good grip and a decent amount of feedback on unclassified, B roads, A roads and Motorway / dual cariageways. They dont generate too much noise and ride quality is not too bad. They are a decent all round tyre.

However i have driven a 3 series BMW fitted with 19" runflats and the ride quality was shockingly poor. Could it be that 40/45 profile is the ideal profile for runflat tyres?? Draw you own conclusions!

BUT. . . . They are very sensitive what pressure they are inflated to. 0.1 bar either side of their optimum pressure makes the difference between nice even tyre ware and the shoulders being worn to the canvas whilst the rest of the tyre still has 5mm of tread.

Unfortunatly they are expensive currently £225 each, but there are still too few alternative manufacturers making tyres in the 255/40/17 size so prices are going to remain high!

Summary: A decent all round tyre which doesn't excell in one particular area but crucially its not bad in one particular area either.(225/45/17 & 255/40/17), but has to be inflated to suit your individual circumstances. Buy a good pressure gauge and tread depth gauge, check and adjust your tyre pressures once a week and you'll be fine

I wish run flats had never been invented.

Have bmw 325 series coupe 2006 had 2 fronts and 3 rear tyres replaced because off rear alloys cracking and outer tyre wear front and inner tyre wear rear all tyres were replaced with still at least 5mm of thread on tyres have been told that there is a fault with these tyres to which i am trying to find out about.Had my tracking done when my tyres were fitted but thay still wore out at the edges.brian.

Good grip, but awful ride on 18". Difficult to keep car in a straight line with any small bump in the road. Far too expensive for quality of tyre, if I didn't need to have BMW approved tyres, I'm sure I would get better quality and better ride for half the price.