I did 57,000 KM (35,500 miles) on a set of these tyres before they were due to be replaced. My car is a heavy car (nearly 2 tonnes) and was advised to expect 20,000 to 25,000 KM from them. At 30,000 KM they were still going strong. I had them rotated and balanced every 5,000 KM since day 1 which i think made a huge difference to their longevity. Tyre pressure was a constant 37psi for the whole of this time and the tyres were filled with nitrogen gas from day 1.
These tyres did the job. Not the best I have ever had, but with a bit of care they were made to work. The car is capable to doing 0 to 100 KPH (60 MPH) in 5.2 seconds and i did not always take it easy with the driving.
Tyre wear was even on all 4 wheels.

Compared to my Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 3 tyres these Bridgestone are FAR FAR away from the standard of the Goodyears. In the wet the Bridgestones are appalling and you can barely accelerate.

First factory tires, lasted 42.000 miles or 68.000km and still in the legal limit in the middle of the tire and just on the limit on the outside got replaced with hankook noble 2 only because I got a good deal.

Potenza is very strong durable are reliable tire in that class, 220aud, no wow effect but good quality tire that wont let you down, dry or wet.

Have YOU got experience with the Bridgestone Potenza RE050A? Help millions of other tyre buyers

Review your Bridgestone Potenza RE050A >

Shocking! Utterly shocking! Bought a little two seater and was shocked by the poor handling performance, the crashyness over the smallest of bumps, the dangerous cornering ability when the road was not perfect, that sound of crashing coming into the cabin was horrendous. My car had the M sport suspension and I thought it was down to that. Then someone stated I should change over to non rub flats. . . the difference is extortionary! There is no crashyness, no loud crashes into the cabin - going round corners with slightly scared road surfaces is now normal and I dont fly have to drop to very low speeds or get jolted across the other side of the road. It should be illegal to sell these tyres, they are so very dangerous in what should be a drivers car. I opted for some Michelin Primacy 4's simply for the comfort and the difference is uneblievable I cannot stress how much better these are - its like driving a completely different car

This was the WORST tire i have ever experienced in one of my cars! A BMW 5 series in 245/40r18 RFT If you never had better tires you may think it is good in dry, but no it isn't. In mildly wet surfaces it's MURDEROUS to say the least! I have driven cars with chinese tires that had more longitudinal and lateral grip than this tires!!! In comparison to other "medium/cheap" tires like Michelin PS3 or PS4, ContiSportContacts and Goodyear F1s, it's a ridiculously BAD tire. NEVER again

The car came as a fresh import with four Bridgestone Potenza S001, for which I'll leave a separate review. However, for the purposes of comparison, I would say they had the sharpest turn-in of any tyre I've ever driven, very "sporty" and with excellent grip in both the dry & wet, although all at the exense of comfort, with a very "crashy" ride. Unfortunately, the S001 were no longer available in my slightly unusual tyre size and so I plumped for the older RE050A, which seemed a bit of a retrograde step, given the RE050A was launched in 2004 and replaced by the S001 in 2011. I'd also heard it performed better in hotter climates. Nevertheless, the S001 were so good and these RE050A would have been the OEM fitment on my Subaru, when the car was built in 2006. I needn't have worried, turn-in isn't quite as sharp, but it is still very good, with excellent dry (and more importantly) wet grip, even on cold wet UK back roads I failed to find the limit, giving me the confidence to push on regardless. And what's more, they are noticeably more compliant than the S001, giving a noticeably smoother ride, which for a performance family estate, makes for a better compromise. I don't really notice tyre noise, as I'm either cruising with the stereo on or pressing on, when the engine note takes centre stage. As for fuel consumption, I wouldn't expect my 301ps / 278lbft AWD estate to sip at the cup of economy, while I'm giving it the beans and I doubt whether a set of eco tyres would make much of a difference. My only concern at this stage is wear, as I've heard bad things and the Treadwear Rating of only 140 is half that of the S001, but so far so good. One final point, is that I've noticed most of the poor reviews seem to relate to the Run-flats.

Bought them used with the wheels, have done one summer and no sign of wear. They are heavy and they do feel like it but when you start driving enthusiastically there is excellent communication and feedback. Traction is near excellent in tarmac and offroad. The tries (runflat version) feel very stiff and I would not recommend if you were driving constantly on bad roads. Wet grip is decent but can catch you off guard sometimes, fairly unpredictable in the rain - better take caution-. Would I buy them again? No, not that they are bad, they are very neutral, id have some other high performance summer tires from Conti or Michelin.

Had them fitted from factory, a good all rounder withnwer as the weak spot on them. I live in Cyprus so wet conditions are not a big problem.

These came with my BMW 335d E92 and with them being RFT's, they ride extremely harshly. Hitting a pothole on these tyres with a 19-inch rim feels like you've just written the car off. They are very skitty over even after the smallest of bumps in corners. My 335d makes 600nm and 340hp and it wheelspins at 80mph in the wet with these on the rear. Definitely not a confidence-inspiring tyre.

Driven for more than 5 years all i can say is one of the best sport summer tire u can fit
Dry/wet almost same grip very high limits and handling specially when they are pushed on the limit
A bit hard compound but its a performance tire not comfy for everyday use.
They lasted about 35000-40k with good grip,last 10k a bit more slippery but ok
Would buy them again if not so expensive ..

Tyres came as standard on my car. Done about 35k before it got replaced with Michelin PS2, which is quite good for performance tyres, in fact they were the longest lasting set for the car. Dry grip was there but I found I had to drive it hard to extract the grip from these tyres. In wet, these tyres were terrible when compared to other like PS2, PSS and V105 tyres I had, there was no confidence in cornering in wet and often ended in massive understeer. The RE050A were quiet though, they were less harsh than the Michelins I had probably because the Michelins had 98 and 100 loadings instead of the bridgestone's 96. They were not cheap hence I would recommend other tyres.

Comes standard with the car and provide superb feel and handling in both dry and wet. Tire is harsh and transmit all bumps and road irregularity into the cabin, likely due to the low profile ratio. Tire wears off very fast, and less than 10K km it is at 50% or less.

LIkely buy again, as the tires matches the car performance - almost no drama (read: boring) drive across mountainous winding road... no screeching, no sign of losing grip...

I purchased a BMW Z4 from a family relative and it was fitted with the Bridgestone Potenza RA050A run flats. The first thing I noticed was the disturbing tendency to tram line, the car was constantly fidgeting on the road. The second issue was very serious, the car would effectively slalom when pulling in after an overtake. It was terrifying! The Potenza’s fitted to the rear were new (1400 miles use) on the front they were worn with the front offside down to the legal limit.
I took the decision to fit Goodyear F1 Asymmetric 5 tyres all round and at the same time I had a 4 wheel alignment performed. Whilst some settings were out of spec the maximum was 0.21 degrees too little camber on the left rear tyre so I don’t think this had any impact on the handling.
The car on F1s has, quite simply, transformed. It is calming, smooth and predictable. One Z4 owner described the fitting of Bridgestone Potenza RA050A tyres to that chassis as ‘treachery’, I now agree.

Since changing to these tyres there is a huge increase in Road Noise. Ok at speeds under 50mph, but really noticeable after that. Would I buy again..? NO

I've had those on my Audi quattro and they put a smile on my face every time , the Grip is impressive on both surfaces wet and dry , they are really good until they worn out and it happened so quick , it's worth to mention I'm an aggressive driver and I live in U.A.E where it's mostly sunny .
I've done about 44000 km on them and then I had to replace them and I did it with a cheaper set of Chinese tires the difference was distinctly clear and I felt like I lost some of my car bhp due to the huge gap in the grip between both .Conclusion : if you are looking for performance regardless of money and comfort then go for them otherwise you should probably think of something else.