Bridgestone Potenza S001

Exellent tyre except that it don't last long.
I have a 50%-60% wear after 1 year of usage. (~16000km)
I am driving at an average speed of 140km/h.

The S001 replaced the PZero Rosso I had on my Volvo S80 T6. Originally the car came with P6000. Out of the three set, this is the best fit for a heavy car. Steering into a corner gives you lots of feedback early on. Tire treads still very new, but the handling compared to the Pirellis I had are way better. I will comeback in few months for an update on how they progress.

My wife's A3 was originally fitted with standard 16" wheels with Pirelli P7's 225/55R 16 91W. In fairness, this wheel and tyre combination provided a very comfortable ride and was fine & economical (£70 a corner, P7's) for general family motoring. However, when pulling away on wet roads these narrow tyres would some times spin even with the modest power of the 140bhp diesel, and didn't insprire confidence when pushing on.

I therefore upgraded to Audi's 17" 5 spokes thinking these would still provide a reasonable ride with the car's standard suspension, and widen the contact patch from 205 to 225. I'd been told 18" could make the ride very harsh/choppy on the standard Sport Back suspension.

After reading a number of EVO magazine tyre reviews I went for Bridgestone Potenza S001's. Whilst EVO did rate the Continental Sport Contact 3 above the Bridgestones, I run Potenzas (RE040) on my Nissan 350Z and had always been very pleased with them on both road and track. With some hard negotiation I got them for £103 per corner all in which was far cheaper than I could get the Conti's reduced to. The Potenza S001's have a blocky tread pattern not dissimilar to the Conti's, and also a prominent rim protector ridge on the side-wall which is useful on the Audi 5 spokes as that design does seem a bit prone to the curb!

I have to say I'm delighted with this wheel & tyre combination, it really has unlocked the potential of the car when you do want to push on.

Clearly it's impossible for me to give a like-for-like comparison given that I've gone up a wheel size. As you'd expect, the ride is firmer and there is more road noise than from the narrower 16", but to my mind still perfectly acceptable for a family car. The A3's clearly not a 'drivers car' but feedback through the Potenzas is near telepathic; grip in both dry & wet is very good and has eliminated the wet pull-away slip. You can corner in confidence within the limits of the standard suspension set-up, and braking is significantly more confidence inspiring.

I'd certainly say these tyres are well matched to the A3 Sport Back and give a good combination of comfort and performance.

I can't give any feed back on wear on the A3 yet, but if my experience with the 350Z is anything to go by I'm expecting my wife to get a descent mileage from these tyres. They do have an 'outside' face which means you can't rotate left-to-right to balance wear, which is a shame given the A3's tendancy to wear nearside rears.

Amazing

I was looking for an alternative for the upcoming cold winter season in Seoul, Korea for my Audi R8 V8. OEM is the Pirelli P-Zero, but as we all know P-zero is not the best wet/cold grip tire for winter. I drive this car as my daily commuter. My tire shop suggested S001 as an alterative. At first 500km, the tire felt a bit slippery. But after the burn out period, it has a great wet grip. I can not say it has better dry grip than P-Zero, but so far so good. I will say more when the snow falls from the sky.

Early days with the Potenza S001's on the rear but so far, so good. Chose these to replace Potenza REO50's (but still kept the 50's on the front) and I'm impressed. Good feedback, grip etc but expensive at around ?160 each. Will be taking them for a week in the Dales next week so will see how they fair under more demanding drives.

Fantastic grip wet and dry, but and this is a big but 6000miles on driven wheels! Driven hard at times, Really poor wear.