Bridgestone Potenza RE050A vs Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S — Compared

“30,001 on all 4 when I changed to exact same tires. Rear tread was driver as fronts probably had 5k left in them but did not want to do this in two phases. Had tires drop shipped from Tire Rack to BMW dealer for install. Worked well. Mine are staggered (275 rear, 245 front, in 19" size ) so no rotation ever done. Probably 30-40 1/4 runs so expect my rears wore a little sooner than normal. OTOH I do live where the roads are smooth so may gain compared to others there.”

“Quote: Originally Posted by EWG35 I looked at these but did not buy for two reasons. 1) the tread rating was pretty low. Although I found them on ebay in 245/35 20 and 275/30 20 for something like $650-680 I just felt they'd wear too fast. 2) The tread pattern. I don't understand how they can shed water properly. Since the tread pattern is only molded in one direction (not a right and a left) which is just flip flopped. One appears it would shed water while the other would force water under the tire. How does this work? The side wall looks pretty nice. If you think 280 tread rating is low you should look again at the RE050A's 140. It one of the hightest tread rating in ultra high performance tires. Michelin PS2 is 220, Bridgestone RE050A is just 140 and Toyo T1R is 280. The only tires i can think of that has higher tread rating is Falken 452's 300 and Kumho Ecsta SPT's 320. Tread rating 280 isn't low.”

“My invoice says I travelled 71500km (just under 45K miles) on the RE050A .. but I do a lot of highway. I dialled out the toe front/rear to be toe neutral instead of toe in and rotated every 15K. Switch them out when the tread is near the wear indicators.”

“I had a similar experience with Discount Tire and brand new Michelin PS4S's. I clipped a large lane marker (not a dot, a turtle) with both driver's side tires and pinch-flatted them both. I had driven them less than 10 miles so Discount Tire replaced them for only $50 without me even asking for a discount. I had purchased them for about $450 each and didn't buy a road hazard warranty, so I was very pleased with Discount Tire.”

“My 2023 20th AE Golf R came with Hankook tires , and I've been very pleased with them. I'm a fairly aggressive driver and frequent the twisty roads in the Santa Monica Mountains. I also have a mildly modded Mk VI Golf R shod with Michelin Pilot Sport 4s tires on factory 18" rims, and the Hankooks seem to perform almost as well in the dry, but outshine the PS4s in the wet. I will most likely need new tires next year, but I am undecided between the Hankooks and the Michelin PS4AS tires . As for Continental tires ... I use Continental tubular tires on my road bicycle, but have experienced many problems, including massive chunking with them on my 1974 BMW 2002Tii and my 1979 Scirocco Gti , so I am not going to use them on my cars again.”

“My 2020 Kia Forte GT came with Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S tires. Those were not going to work in the PNW as a daily driver tire. I went right to Costco and bought some Michelin Pilot All season tires, the ones that compete with the Continental DWS at the time. I listed the take offs on Craigslist for $400 and sold them that day.”