The Bridgestone Potenza RE050A Run Flat draws its strongest owner criticism for a harsh ride, mentioned in well over half of reviews. Dry grip is the clearest positive, although it is not universally praised. Around a quarter of reviews criticises wet grip, and similar proportions mention noise or tramlining, with some describing the tire skipping over rough corners. Tread life is mixed, with more complaints than praise, while mid-life and end-of-life reports range from rapid wear to long service. Steering kickback and limited feedback are further recurring concerns, making comfort and confidence on uneven roads the main weaknesses.
What owners mention most counted across 136 reviews
Tap one to read only the reviews that mention it.
Owner ratings averaged from 147 ratings
Owner score49%
Dry Grip71%
Wear55%
Road Feedback55%
Wet Grip54%
Handling48%
Comfort32%
Bridgestone Potenza RE050A Run Flat Reviews - Page 6
I recently bought a BMW 330i M Sport, it came with these tires fitted as I believe they are OE spec. Having owned many cars and having used tires like Conti's, Goodyear, Pirelli I was quite happy to find the car came with a good premium brand tire.
However driving with them is another story, an extremely harsh ride over even the smallest bump and potholes. Tramlining at high speeds. In the wet you really have to go easy as they feel like your driving on plastic. They seems to have all the characteristics of a budget tire.
I don't think I'll be buying these again, it seems a shame that a company like BMW who are known for quality decide to fit such poor tires to a car.
Similar to other 'poor ride' reviews.
Great for billiard tables, not so good for UK roads.
MSport set up and virtually rigid side walls on the run flats makes the car very skittish, stepping out on the slightest bump.
Driving style has to be more attentive to the road surface than the actual drive itself.
Run flats on 19" rims is a definite NO. My experience peaked when one of the wheels developed several cracks, a common problem.
As a 'moderate' driver, I didn't appreciate the harshness of the ride, it's a no compromise option and not for the faint hearted.
I took this as the time to swap, I bought a set of 18" rims on regular tires (which I'll review after a few miles).
The car is a different beast, rides better, smoother, quieter and I can now enjoy the ride.
Check out how the BEST all seasons tires perform against premium summer and winter tires!
36%
Member
BMW
225/45 R17
19,000 miles
A Combination of Roads
Average
Had these as oe on 320d m sport. Ok at first but when they started to wear, terrible. Never buy these again. I've another BM 335d which has Michelin ps2 fantastic tire. Just about to change to these.
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Just changed the whole set to continental sports contact 2 SSR, I am amazed how much difference it has made. RE050A is certainly descent tire, but there are better ones in the market. it is very hard, and noisy tire. run flats are always harder and ride quality gets compromised over the safety, but I am so much happier with CSC2 ssr. I got 18000 miles out of it and I am not a harsh driver for sure. I'll wait and see how much i'll get out of CSC2 SSR.
proficient tires but there are better ones out there.
This tire inspires no confidence whatsoever in it's abilities. Dry grip is average. Wet grip, progressiveness and roadfeedback are all a let down and below average. When you buy a tire you want to buy something you trust for the purpose and this tire let's me down. Ability to handle aquaplaning is not brilliant and they tend to tramline quite a bit. Not a run flat tire that I would want to buy again.
To be honest I think run flats get a very raw deal in terms of reviews mainly by people who clearly aren't used to a sporty ride. They certainly are firm when combined with sports suspension but that is to be expected. I've had a number of bmws now with and without runflats and I'd have either again. Yes they are more expensive however the last two sets of Bridestones gave well in excess of 35000 miles of both motorway and back road driving. Also having experienced a blow out of a standard tire and nearly ending up in the central reservation they are obviously the safer choice.
I replaced good years on my corvette with the potenzas. I have had no problems with them and they are not as noisy as the good years. Maybe the bridgestones are not suited to rough roads...I don't drive on rough roads so I can't help there.
I bought the car 7 weeks ago, and have covered 3.5k bone shaking miles in it, before making the expensive decision (only because the rears are virtually brand new) to remove them and go to non-runflats.
Don't get me wrong, if you're driving on a freshly laid, billiard-table surface like road, then the RE050A RFT actually provides brilliant levels of grip wet or dry, however that's where it ends...
On any normal UK road (read 3rd world), they tramline, steer themselves and crash into pot holes and bumps with such ferocity that I thought I'd cracked a wheel or broken my suspension every time it happened. You have to constantly correct the steering on uneven road surfaces, which becomes somewhat tiring after a while. Hit a bump, pothole or manhole cover on a bend and you'll soon get used to seeing the traction control light and recovering from the back end skipping out...
Rather than paying attention to my surroundings, I felt that I was having to constantly check the road surface right in front of the car to avoid any hazard, which doesn't inspire confidence, and doesn't feel at all safe.
I'll class feedback and progressiveness together, as apart from the nasty feedback outlined above, there seems to be none to let you know when the tires are going to let go. I never felt that I knew what the limit of the tire was, as in ideal conditions they seemed to just grip and grip, to a point where I didn't realise my speed through twisty stuff and backed off because of the worry of crashing!
They were damn noisy, so much so that I had put the car in to have a front wheel bearing checked, which the dealer put down to uneven wear on the tire. I guess that 34k with the fronts showing 4mm at the center would be great, if the outside edge hadn't worn right down because of the stiff sidewall.
If I could give them 0/10 for comfort I would - my back hurts now.
These are my first, and last experience with Bridgestones, and the RE050A RFT has put me off ever buying a Bridgestone tire again.
As mentioned at the beginning of my review, I took the decision to go for non-runflats after extensive research. Even though BMW officially say that the cars are tuned for run flats, my initial feelings are that the tires and suspension are working in harmony now, with the car feeling more settled on all surfaces.
I'll give a proper review of the new tires, Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 2 after I've put a few thousand miles on them, as it wouldn't be fair to do that now.
To summarise, the RE050A is an appalling tire. I feel that because of the way you have to adapt your driving style to compensate for their ultra-stiff sidewalls far outweighs the safety benefits BMW harp on about.
The last puncture I had was about 15 years ago, and I cover 25-30k per year, so I'll make do with a ContiComfort Kit and dirty hands, or in the worst case wait for the AA to come and get me in the event of a blowout.
