Tests – · none yet Owners – · 2 reviews (needs 5)
Bridgestone Potenza RE050A Pole Position looks discontinued: no new owner reviews or road tests in five years and no current EU tyre label.
Head-to-head
Updated
Bridgestone Potenza RE050A Pole Position vs Michelin Pilot Super Sport — Compared
Relative Score (0–100): the weighted average of the categories below, each 60% road tests and 40% owner reviews (comfort 40/60). Based on 0 + 1 road tests and 2 + 1,506 owner reviews. How we score
Add your size for an exact match
/R
Both Amazon links then search this exact size.
TireWheelGuide may earn a commission from purchases made through these links.
Tests 75 · 1 test Owners 82 · 1,506 reviews
Best test result: #1 of 9 in 2017 Motor Mag UHP Tyre Test (dry handling)
“Damn. 295s on Style 359Ms? That's pushing it a bit, isn't it? I so desperately wish Michelin would make a 285/30 PSS. I'm running 275/35s now, and while I like the extra rubber on the road, I don't like the increased sidewall height over the OEM 265/35.”
Category by category
Relative Score per category, 0–100. Open “Why this score” for the tests and owner ratings behind it.
-
–
Dry
No comparison83Why this score
Source Potenza RE050A Pole Position Pilot Super Sport Professional tests (TWG score) · – / 1 tests – 77 Reviews found online – 90 Pilot Super Sport: 60% × 77.4 + 40% × 90.2 = 83
-
–
Wet
No comparison77Why this score
Source Potenza RE050A Pole Position Pilot Super Sport Professional tests (TWG score) · – / 1 tests – 73 Reviews found online – 84 Pilot Super Sport: 60% × 73.1 + 40% × 84 = 77
-
–
Comfort
No comparison74Why this score
Source Potenza RE050A Pole Position Pilot Super Sport Professional tests (TWG score) – ≈ 71 (est.) Reviews found online – 77 Pilot Super Sport: 40% × 70.6 (est.) + 60% × 76.9 = 74
No road tests of comfort for Pilot Super Sport. The test half is the tested tires’ average (69): owners’ comfort ratings barely follow the road tests.
-
–
Treadwear
No comparison70Why this score
Source Potenza RE050A Pole Position Pilot Super Sport Professional tests (TWG score) – ≈ 68 (est.) Reviews found online – 73 Pilot Super Sport: 60% × 68.4 (est.) + 40% × 72.8 = 70
No road tests of treadwear for Pilot Super Sport. The test half is estimated from the owner ratings, as far as owners and testers agree (correlation 0.35).
-
–
Handling (owners)
No comparison83Why this score
Source Potenza RE050A Pole Position Pilot Super Sport Reviews found online – 83
Scores at a glance
| Category | Bridgestone Potenza RE050A Pole Position | Michelin Pilot Super Sport |
|---|---|---|
| Relative Score | – | 78 |
| Dry | – | 83 |
| Wet | – | 77 |
| Comfort | – | 74 |
| Treadwear | – | 70 |
| Handling (owners) | – | 83 |
Higher is better. The Relative Score follows your weights below; category scores do not change.
Weight the categories that matter to you
Wet grip starts at “Important”. Treadwear starts at “Neutral” here: road tests measured it for at most one of the two tires, so it rests on owner reviews. Move the sliders and the scores update instantly.
Important
NotLessNeutralImportantMost
Important
NotLessNeutralImportantMost
Less important
NotLessNeutralImportantMost
Neutral
NotLessNeutralImportantMost
Less important
NotLessNeutralImportantMost
Recomputed
Headline score
–
/ 100
Potenza RE050A Pole Position
78
/ 100
Pilot Super Sport
Only categories both tires have data for count toward the headline score.
Pros, cons & observations
Themes extracted from owner reviews found online — not the opinion of TireWheelGuide.
Tire A Potenza RE050A Pole Position
Not enough owner reviews yet to extract themes.
Tire B Pilot Super Sport
Pros
- Phenomenal dry grip and cornering stability
- Precise steering response and excellent road feedback
- Better-than-expected tread wear and mileage for a performance tire
Cons
- Reduced grip and traction in cold weather (below 15°C)
- Mediocre performance and tendency to aquaplane when tread wears down in heavy rain
- High price point compared to some alternatives
What real owners are saying
From Reddit, forums and review threads. Not part of our score
Tire A
Bridgestone Potenza RE050A Pole Position
We haven't collected enough community discussion about this tire yet.
Tire B
Positive
Michelin Pilot Super Sport
The Michelin Pilot Super Sport is widely praised by the community as a benchmark high-performance street tire offering outstanding dry grip, sharp cornering capability, and decent ride comfort for daily driving. Many drivers note that its successor, the Pilot Sport 4S, improves upon it—especially in cold and wet conditions—while several users highlight downsides such as poor winter/snow capability, premium pricing, and eventual rubber degradation or tread cracking as the tires age.
r/Miata
·11 upvotes ·2026-10-07
“Worth bearing in mind the Sam Vimes "Boots" Theory of Socioeconomic Unfairness. The tires I got on my new '17 RF GT didn't last very long, the two sets of cheap tires I replaced them with didn't either, then I put Michelin Pilot Super Sport tires on it and they're great performers as well as outlasting the earlier sets combined.”
bimmerfest.com
·2026-03-23
“All four of my Michelin PSSs had cracks in the inner circumferential channels after prolonged exposure to temperatures below +20F (while the car was parked in a u-stor-it garage). All four of my Michelin PS 4Ss were never exposed to temperatures below +32F and did not develop similar cracks.”
subaruoutback.org
·1 upvote ·2015-09-06
“I encountered freezing rain with severe black ice in mid-March a couple days after I got my 3.6R. The tires behaved as expected. Awful. I'm planning to put Nokian Hakka R2 snow tires on the car like I've done on my last 3 cars. I normally do winter wheels but the TPMS senders are stupidly expensive and reprogramming at every tire swap had me look at the numbers. It's cheaper to pay for mounting & balancing every 6 months than buy winter wheels, TPMS , and buying the instrument to reprogram the car every 6 months or pay a tire shop to do the swap. That way, I know the tires are balanced properly every 6 months. When the stock tires wear out, I'll research tires then. I don't have a problem with the tires for summer use. They don't have road noise. I haven't had any issues with hydroplaning. I ran Michelin Pilot Super Sports on my last daily driver but I don't need a summer performance tire on a lifted 3,800 pound station wagon.”
Top themes
#Dry grip and cornering#Comparison to PS4S#Poor snow performance#Tread life and wear#High purchase price#Age and cracking issues#Daily driving comfort
Based on 364 community posts
Specs side by side
| Attribute | A · Bridgestone Potenza RE050A Pole Position | B · Michelin Pilot Super Sport |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Summer Max Performance tires | Summer |
| Vehicle type | Passenger Car / Crossover | Passenger Car / Crossover |
| Sizes available | — | 50 |
| Rim diameters | — | 17″ – 23″ |
Which one should you actually buy?
–
/ 100
Bridgestone Potenza RE050A Pole Position
78
/ 100
Michelin Pilot Super Sport
Only Michelin Pilot Super Sport has enough test and review data for a Relative Score, so there is no head-to-head winner yet.
Tire A · Bridgestone Potenza RE050A Pole Position
Tire B · Michelin Pilot Super Sport
TireWheelGuide may earn a commission from purchases made through these links.
How do we compare tires?
Every category score blends two independent signals. 60% comes from professional tire tests (braking distances, lap times, noise measurements), each result compared with every other tire in the same test and newer tests counting more. 40% comes from owner reviews found online, adjusted for how generously each site rates. Both use one scale: the average tested tire gets 70, the best 100. When a tire has only one of the two, the missing half is estimated from the other and the score stays closer to average; with no road test and fewer than five owner reviews it gets no score yet.
Handling is the exception: road tests measure it inside the dry and wet scores, so its own row comes from owner ratings only and starts as less important.
Community buzz from Reddit and forums is shown for context only — it never changes the score. Full methodology