Bridgestone Potenza S-03 Pole Positions?

[MrElussive]

Hey all,

So I've got almost 17,000 miles on the G35 Coupe on the OEM Michelin Pilot Sport tires and I am going to replace them over the summer. Because of my vehicle's not-so-typical tire size of 245/45-18 in the rear and 225/45-18 up front, I can only choose among Michelin Pilot Sport's, Bridgestone Potenza S-03'ss, and Pirelli PZero Rosso Asimmetrico's.

I am really feeling the S-03's but I have a couple of questions. For those of you who have S-03's for quite some time, how do you feel about the tires? On The Tire Rack's web site, people either love them or hate them. The pros are that the dry and wet traction are superb and they handle really well under hard cornering. The cons are that the tire wear is bad, the tires produce a lot of road noise when they start to wear down, and overall tread life is not so great (more specifically, performance of the tires decrease as they wear).

Any info is much appreciated as you guys are always critical and tend to give really solid advice.

Thanks,
MrElussive

 

[bmw046series]

I have Potenzas on the Z4 and with only 20,000 miles on the car I've had them changed once, in fact the rear went before the front, the problem is they are a pain to rotate because they are directional and they are run flats so the shop I go to doesn't like doing that because they are lazy.

- They wear funny like I said the back went before the front, then taking high speeds on a track up to 130 it sounds like your on an airplane with turbulence and the windows are open - the front vibrates really bad it's a loud car the way it is, and the tires make it worse when they wear down – bottom line they don’t wear correctly even if you rotate them.

- Oh they are incredibly expensive too, $1600 for a set of 4 tires!!! That only lasts about 10-15,000 miles not even that because the tread is so thin I had mine changed @ 12,000.

All in all they really are pretty go tires – I actually do like them.

 

[frolf]

run flats? i don't know what youare talking about. The S-03's are amazing tires dude. I thought going with the Yokohama's would only be a slight downgrade, but man i miss my S-03's. I don't know about the roadnoise either, my tires were really quiet.

I ran mine until they were well beyond legal in the back (meaning realll low tread) and they still gripped fine, obviously ran performance was reallllll sketchy)


I give these tires and my next set (this summer or the summer after next) will be either S-03's, or maybe RE850's (??? or whatever they are) or i might go michelin, i've never had michelin.



finally, a route i might take as well that you should consider, is maybe scoring a set of Falkens or Kuhmo's, and run the piss out of them and just get new tires every year. they are dirt cheap and grip well but wear fast.

 

[epj3]

run flats? i don't know what youare talking about. The S-03's are amazing tires dude. I thought going with the Yokohama's would only be a slight downgrade, but man i miss my S-03's. I don't know about the roadnoise either, my tires were really quiet.

I ran mine until they were well beyond legal in the back (meaning realll low tread) and they still gripped fine, obviously ran performance was reallllll sketchy)


I give these tires and my next set (this summer or the summer after next) will be either S-03's, or maybe RE850's (??? or whatever they are) or i might go michelin, i've never had michelin.



finally, a route i might take as well that you should consider, is maybe scoring a set of Falkens or Kuhmo's, and run the piss out of them and just get new tires every year. they are dirt cheap and grip well but wear fast.

Falkens are GREAT if you want to lay some thick rubber on the road.

 

[epj3]

I have Potenzas on the Z4 and with only 20,000 miles on the car I've had them changed once, in fact the rear went before the front, the problem is they are a pain to rotate because they are directional and they are run flats so the shop I go to doesn't like doing that because they are lazy.

- They wear funny like I said the back went before the front, then taking high speeds on a track up to 130 it sounds like your on an airplane with turbulence and the windows are open - the front vibrates really bad it's a loud car the way it is, and the tires make it worse when they wear down – bottom line they don’t wear correctly even if you rotate them.

- Oh they are incredibly expensive too, $1600 for a set of 4 tires!!! That only lasts about 10-15,000 miles not even that because the tread is so thin I had mine changed @ 12,000.

All in all they really are pretty go tires – I actually do like them.

Take one guess as to why the rear tires wear down quicker than the front on a RWD car with tons of negative camber from the factory...

 

[bmw046series]

Well gee I wonder...???...

 

[MrElussive]

I figure I'll be in the low-20K mileage range when I replace my tires and I will want them to last for the rest of my lease (36K miles) and I want them to still grip well until 36,000 miles.

 

[Average Jae]

from what i read over at tirerack.com, the only good high perf tires from bridgestone is the S-03s. but the same people also complained of tread life, so there you go. don't get re040s.. i can't wait for them to bald out, so i can get into a different set, potentially the pilots, if i can afford to..

 

[HornyHornet]

How about Bridestone RE050? I know that they are very new so Im not sure about tread life.

 

[epj3]

Well gee I wonder...???...

I was asking you in response to your original post. I already know the answer, aparently you didn't ask yourself why those tires might have worn down faster on the rear.