Owners of the Bridgestone Potenza S001 RFT most consistently praise long tread life, supported by numerous mid-life and end-of-life accounts. Dry grip divides opinion, with more praise than criticism but little agreement on outright ability. Noise and wet grip are each criticised by roughly two in five owners, while a similar share finds the ride harsh. Some report good wet-road confidence, but they are clearly outnumbered by those describing limited traction in damp or rainy conditions. Steering feedback attracts a smaller group of favorable comments, and the repeat reviews do not establish a consistent change with age.
What owners mention most counted across 57 reviews
Review is done in 2020.
17 plate 320D MSport. Full Msport with launch control + Adaptive suspension + brembo calipers etc....
Rear Tires - 255/35 R19 92Y
I have had these tires on since i bought the car. They have lasted 36,000 miles before needing to being changed (no groves left). Have done many aggressive launches from lights and they always hook(grip) really well. Along with providing great amount of traction.
Tires provide a great deal of grip considering the speed and aggressive driving done and have worn evenly along with durability.
Front Tires - 225/40 R19 89Y
These front tire have also been on since the car was purchased and they are still gd with roughly 6 mm of tread with the car currently reaching 48,000 miles and counting. Edges are worn down to 2mm on outer edge from very aggressive driving. Have understeered with these but it's manageable.
these tires are predictable and provide good life expectancy. mix of 70 motorway an 30% road driving. ride is gd - state by passengers which is a gd sign. done a mix of small journeys 2 mins and long (4 hours or 200 miles). With colder weather building the temps in the rear does affect the tire performance like any tire noticeable in hard acceleration. wet conditions only become a concern if your tread is running close to below 4mm or if ur speed is high. But rain grip is close to dry grip allowing for spirited driving.
Bought my 320d M Sport second hand, it was fitted with Kumho on the front and Dunlop on the rear. When these wore out I fitted the Bridgestone, mainly as a desire to try something different from my usual Goodyear. The Bridgestone S001 are a very good tire, especially as they are run flat. The feedback I get from both the front and rear of the car is brilliant. I feel as though they're on the same level as my old favorite, Goodyear Eagle F1. Very happy with my choice and will be buying them again when my current set wears out.
Check out how the BEST all seasons tires perform against premium summer and winter tires!
These came on my 2016 Mazda MX5 2.0 Recaro.
- Strong good grip in the dry (no complaints, one of the best I’ve ever had)
- Very skidding in the damp. I can’t count the number of times the back end has kicked out under normal driving on mini roundabouts
- Little confidence in the wet, but in reality they’ve never let me down in the wet
- Because they are run flats the ride quality is appalling
Conclusion: if you need run flats and need a summer tire these are probably one of the best. Switch to a winter tire when cold seasons arrive.
If you don’t need run flats, then there’s better all round tires from this and other manufacturers.
I’ll be running mine until their done and then switch to Michelin pilot sport 4
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Researching the Bridgestone Potenza S001 RFT? Rate the tires you actually drive - and help the next buyer choose.
Bridgestone S001 were fitted as OEM tires on my car. I do a lot of mileage close to 50,000 miles per year in 2 cars and I have done close to 50,000 miles so far in my 1 series BMW in just over 2 years. I had to change one of my front tires due to pot hole damage 2 years ago but the other remaining original front tire is still going strong having done well over 50,000 miles. I do a lot of motorway mileage which might account for the longevity of the tire, but I have never had this much mileage out of any tire before which is why I will keep on putting them on the car. The rears which take the brunt of my driving have still provided great mileage.
Member
SEAT
225/45 R18 T
20 miles
Spirited
My Seat Leon St Fr came from the dealer with this tires. I drive cars for the last 20 years on multiple cars and tires. This model of Bridgestone is THE WORST TYRE i had ever.
It is a scary tire. You have no confidence in it. On mountain curvy roads you have to be carefull to not lose grip and end in the other lane. It does not feel that is sticking to the road. A strange feeling that you lose grip everytime. Feels like PLASTIC.
On wet you go slow and carefull. Period. No trust on it.
Really noisy. In the cabin of Seat i hear much more tire noise with Bridgestone than in my wife's car Opel Corsa with Continental. And Corsa is not sound insulated at all.
I have them for six months, i can not tell about the wear.
Finally: noisy,no grip in wet, scary on dry, makes you drive very vigilent every time.
Dry: Good tire in dry conditions and normal driving, but they very loud and the ride is very harsh when the asphalt is not perfect.
Wet: Spirited driving in wet conditions is not really possible, the tires lose grip easily even under moderate acceleration in corners and have a hard time getting traction when accelerating.
Wear: The wear seems good, 7mm tread left all around after roughly 11.000 miles (18.000 km).
Tires were replaced after 11k miles by non-RFT tires due to the harshness / wet traction / high noise issues.
These came as standard fit on my 230i, 225/40/18/88Y fronts and 245/35/18/88Y rears. First time I have experienced Bridgestone run flats. Dry grip was very good, wet grip nothing more than average. However the first thing I noticed was the noise - very loud. Had Michelin PS2 ZP on my E92 325i and that tire was so much quieter and offered far better wet grip. Back to the Bridgestones and wear is very good, got over 30K from rears and still a few mm of tread left on the fronts. Most of my mileage is motorways but does include quite a few spirited B road blasts. Wouldn't buy again, and will look for something a little softer with better wet weather grip and hopefully a bit quieter.
Compare to Continental Contact 3 & 5 RFT I drove on 328i earlier, this one is certainly better than them, but not as good as Goodyear Efficient Grip RFT in terms of comfort and wet grip. Dry grip on S001is way better, similar to those non-run flat. Harshness on bump is unbearable, rolling noise is tremendously high. It came with the car, is a waste to dump it but I certainly will replace it after 10,000 km. The only thing good about this tire is dry grip, nothing else!
Member
BMW
255/35 R19 W
25,000 miles
A Combination of Roads
Average
I have found the Bridgestone Potenza runflat's on my BMW 425d to be noisy and this has got worse as they have worn. The ride is very firm and you feel every blemish in the road. The grip is very average in the dry and not good at all good in the wet. Wear rate has been good, 25k miles so far and still some life, but will change soon to a different brand.
Came as standard on my BMW 440i. My main gripe is wet grip. For example, even with modest throttle, these tires spin on anything but bone-dry tarmac so I have absolutely no confidence accelerating from junctions in damp or wet conditions. Similarly, I have found them squirmy and easily slippable under braking in the wet. They seem fine in the dry with reasonable straight line grip and progressive grip under cornering but for UK conditions, I couldn't recommend them.
Got 18000 miles from the rear, 25000miles from fronts in 330E BMW.
My main complaint is that over roundabouts the fronts would squeal horribly at relatively low speeds and understeer a lot.
I preferred the tires when the outer edges of the fronts had worn away. They no longer squealed and gripped better. -I think this is more to do with the BMW suspension setup though (M sport suspension, 17" tires
These tires came with the car when purchased and the car had covered 23,000 miles and had approx. 6mm on the fronts 225/40/19 and 6mm on the rears 255/35/19 Run flats.
Being used Audi's with the S Line suspension I had no issues with run flats as they are both quite stiff and you can feel the road when you hit a pot hole and in general driving, so the Audi S line set up is similar to BMW run flats.
I do approx. 90% motorway driving and have had no issues with the tires, they are smooth on flat new surfaces, they grip well in the dry and are very progressive. On rough surfaces yes, you can feel that they are run flats but again this was the same on my previous Audis. In the wet they handle very well however the car is X Drive so the handling should be good in all conditions.
What has really impressed me is the wear rate I have now hit 33,000 miles so 10,000 since owning the car and driving on these tires and they are on 4mm at the front and 5/6 mm on the rears so excellent wear rate so far.
Overall nice tires, good grip wet or dry and excellent wear rate so I can't complain.
