Bridgestone Potenza RE050A Reviews - Page 12

Have these fitted to a Golf GTD. Have been fine until the snow has come. On the snow they are not good even in a couple of inches. The car just sits and spins even on the slightest slope and its not even rear wheel drive! Have invested in a pair of AutoSock's to go over the front tires which has enabled me to get easily up the hills. Without these the car would be going no where!

Fitted as original equipment on 170hp Mk6 Golf GTD. 12,000 miles of enthusiastic (aka hooligan) driving on motorways, a-roads and country lanes before the fronts needed replacing. Still plenty of life left in the rears. Can't fault the dry grip in warm conditions and the wet performance isn't too bad as long as the temperature remains high, although they are prone to aquaplaning at any temperature. However, as soon as the temperature drops to below about 7 DegC it's a different story... In cold weather the dry grip is average at best and any hint of moisture will have you spinning the wheels in a straight line and understeering into the corners. Once the temperature is low enough for frost or ice they don't even grip well on a dry road and their performance on frost, ice and light snow can only be described as truly horrific! I had the misfortune to drive to work on about an inch of fresh snow a week or so ago with a temperature of about -5 DegC and I've never been so scared in a car!! I normally go out to 'play' in snow and love to drift round corners whilst practicing my handbrake turns, left foot braking and lift-off oversteer but with these tires I had to drive VERY cautiously and even then I nearly lost it on 3 separate occasions. I've been looking for some winter tires ever since, as I'm confident that these Tires will kill me before spring if I don't! I'd be happy to put them back on next summer but I certainly wouldn't recommend them as a year-round tire in the UK.

These tires were fitted on my car from new. The fronts have just been replaced, covering 28100 miles (FWD). The rears still have 3-4mm left on them, but are wearing on the edges.

This mileage was done 90% on Motorways, with the other 10% driven quite enthusiastically on A roads.

These tires were great, but road noise increased a lot for the last few months.

Grip is great in the dry, but wheel spin is a problem in damp/wet weather when setting off from junctions, never had a problem with aquaplaning even in the worst of weather. Absoloutely no grip in the snow!

Now trying Conti Sport contact 3.

The worst tires I have ever had on a car. And its not just me look on vwaudiforum.co.uk

A great Summer Ttire but are totally useless in freezing/frost/snow conditions.

I highly rate these tires as the grip is excellent in all conditions bar snow and ice. Corner really well and are a very comfortable tire even for the 35 profile. They are awesome in the dry and you can really throw the car in and out of bends with confidence and in the wet they are very good too however I have had a few scary moments but that may have something to do with my over eager right foot rather then the tire.

Superb grip wet and dry and much better then OEM CSC2.

The RE050A are an excellent choice for OEM tires on the 2009 and later model Mazda RX-8 R3s. They were the 'upgrade' tire of choice by many owners of the Series 1 RX-8 (18"), myself included. Far better in the cold weather and a bit better in the wet than the RE040s. I have no problems with them on the R3 - other than eating through the rear set in only 9,000 miles!

Well, had these fitted on my Audi 3.0 Quattro sport and i can honestly say they are AWESOME!

100% better than my old Continental Sport Contact 2.

Happy Days.

A summer tire that can perform on the road and track equally well but only in the dry. A very hard compound with a very stiff sidewall that is especially good for any car with sports suspension. A nice sharp turn in every time with this tire. Wear rate is very good as you would expect with a hard compound tire.

The trade off for the harder compound, that is so perfect when hot, is its poor performance in the cold/wet. This is compensated to a degree by the excellent feedback and progressiveness of the tire allowing you to know when the grip is poor.


I have just had them replaced for some Toyo T1R's to see me through the winter but will be looking to fit these again in the Summer.

In my opinion a quality tire just don't expect a summer tire to perform all season!

excellent performing tire, putting 256bhp through the front wheels they cope very well, lacking confidence with them when it is very wet, just replaced these on the front with the same again as they were original fit and did 14,000 miles on them, not bad for a front wheel drive car with 256bhp, rears have hardly worn at all, they get a bit noisy when due for replacement but don't they all? very good looking tire on the 18" wheels, will probably have but these again too.

as others have said fairly good in the dry but very unimpressed with wet grip too expensive for the performance they give