Bridgestone Potenza RE050A Run Flat

I don't think I'm qualified to give dry, wet, and in general, handling characteristics as this is my first performance tire. I will mention that during heavier rainfall, I did have a few worrying moments of aquaplaning within the speed limit, however, this was during our stormier and wetter seasons. Generally, the tire does feel grippy on dry and wet roads but I wouldn't say that it is confidence inspiring. Wear can be a little bit weird for sportier drivers. I do find that the outer tread does seem to wear much quicker but weirdly I only experienced it on the front right side. I did take my car in to have the tires inspected and they weren't able to deduce exactly why except from a possible misalignment. Is that the fault of the tire? Possibly not, however, seeing reviews on this did not make me feel confident about the general wear characteristics.

Is the tire comfortable? You do get a lot of noise in the cabin and that is likely due to the tires being runflat. Having changed to Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 6, the road noise is almost non-existant even on the roughest of new roads being paved with rocks everywhere. Where it is a stiffer tire, any bumps you encounter will not feel great at all and will leave you worrying about the state of your wheel. I will give the tire a big plus on that there is a sidewall that portrudes a fair distance from the rim which protects it. Luckily, I have never kerbed the car and knock on wood, I will never.

In terms of whether or not I would buy it again, I would probably say no. The price is high, it compromises comfort for the ability to run flat for x amount of miles, and I don't think it is a tire I will stick with if I and many others have had some unusual wear. It is a good tire nonetheless and if you need the runflat then I would definitely choose this. These were fitted on my BMW 335i 2011 (E92) and the rears were newer than the front and I only recently purchased the car so I cannot tell you how many miles these had been on for. I already had in mind that I wanted to change from runflat to non-runflat so my view may be biased. I do think for drivers who do take it easy and want the peace of mind, this tire is good and does everything that you need.

Gotta say, I’ve had some serious bad luck with my Merc E400 and its Bridgestone 245/35R20 run-flat boots.

It had new wheels and tires when I bought it with 14k miles on it last year. (Bought from a friend so I saw them installed by Wembley Tires).

Since then, I’ve done ~10k and have got through three tires, two of which blew on the inside rims, and one cracked wheel. I can’t believe I’ve gone through the better part of £2k in less than 18 months.

I’m based in London where you can seldom reach 30mph but where speed calming and potholes are ubiquitous. That said, I drive carefully, not aggressively, usually on the car’s eco setting for fuel economy.

The car itself is wonderful, but I’m beginning to worry about what it rolls on.

I know run-flats have poor reputations for durability and ride comfort, but I had them on my previous car for the seventeen years / 100k miles I owned it and hardly got through any more (Pirelli Zero 205/55) boots in all that time.

Bridgestone are a premium brand but are they really this fragile?

Seriously considering another brand or even saving a packet on non-runflats and slime….

These were fitted to my unmodified 2015 BMW E89 Z4 SDRIVE 20i M SPORT ROADSTER when I bought it 6 months ago, the test drive very nearly put me off as the ride was so harsh, but convinced myself the car was ideal otherwise. Having now driven a few 000's of miles on most UK road surfaces I can honestly say I find the ride comfort to be pretty dreadful in most conditions - although ok on well prepared roads and it rides gentle undulations well, the car crashes on all blemishes in the road surface. Makes driving most A & B roads impossible to enjoy, as attention is focused on just avoiding problems. Crashy, harsh, unforgiving, tramlining. Granted the combination of M suspension (not active), 19" wheels and RFT tires is hardly ideal, but will certainly be soon changing these tires for something more forgiving, possibly non-RFT. May also invest in changing to 18" rims at the same time, if budget allows.