Bridgestone Weather Control A005 Reviews - Page 3

2 years ago I bought 4x Bridgestone Weather Control A005s. I've covered 21k miles on them, rotated the tyres once and now all are at 3mm of tread left. My driving is a good mix of motorway and fast, twisty A-roads up in the hills of Lancashire and the car is usually running heavy with people and kit on board. In wet weather these tyres provide plenty of confidence. There is lots of grip for fast driving on twisty roads with plenty in reserve for an emergency situation. When newer they happily tracked through standing water at speed and maintained your position on the road. On dry roads, in a family car, I think you'd be hard-pressed to notice the difference between these all season tyres and some dedicated summer tyres regarding grip levels and steering precision. I've had a few opportunities to drive on snow but no more than 2 to 4 inches deep. Fresh snow posed no real issues with gaining traction, even up moderate inclines. However, compacted snow showed the tyre's weakness whilst getting moving on slight uphill sections. Additionally, cornering grip ran out much earlier than expected. As an example, out in the sticks I had to make a right turn into a wide open junction on a mix of packed snow and slush. I was probably going 12mph, if that, and the tyres failed to follow the moderate amount of steering lock applied and skittered almost straight on towards the kerb. To prevent an expensive bit of wheel and suspension damage I hit the brakes and the ABS must've pulsed about 30 times to slow the car enough to allow the tyres to grip again. The tyres probably had about 5-6mm of tread at that time. I was very surprised by the lack of "bite" the tyres had on such a little amount of snow, especially given I have turned into this road 1,000s of times in different cars, on various tyres and in worse conditions. Having had cars fitted with Nokian WRA3s, WRD4s, WRD3s, Hankook Winter Icept*RS2s & various Goodyear Vector 4Seasons (Gen 1 & 2) I think the A005s beat them all in the wet and dry. But in the snow, the A005s come in last place by some margin. They're not terrible on snow but traction, braking and cornering are not a patch on the tyres listed above. Noise levels? There are no tiresome noises or irritating droning at motorway speeds. They're a good companion when travelling long distances and comfort levels are high. They seem to absorb road imperfections very well indeed. Fuel economy? Not noticed any difference between the A005s and the summer tyres previously fitted. Wear? Just over 20k miles (there might be another 5-8k left in them) given the types of roads I drive on I don't think is too bad. The A-road surfaces themselves are rough and scarred and the tyres take a lot of punishment in that respect, so I'm happy with that result. Would I recommend them / buy them again? Definitely, they're fantastic and I'm really happy with them (my wife bought the newer Evo version for her car). The only caveat that might change your mind is if you drive in hilly areas where it snows more frequently than in Lancashire. In which case, all things considered with my experience of the above tyres, buy the Goodyear Vector 4Seasons - I feel they're 90% of the A005s in the wet & dry but far superior in the snow. Just to contradict what I've written above, I'm currently waiting for the arrival of 4 Falken Euroall Season AS210s which will replace the A005s this October / November - I like trying different tyres out, you see!

So this an update on these tyres which have been on my car for almost a year and have covered 18000 miles so far. Up until now the tyres have worn evenly. Looking at the fronts in particular, there is no sign of any severe degradation. I commute to London from northern France, but in recent months have been making round trips to northern Italy where I am now. Currently we have been experiencing temperatures of daily highs hitting 36C. On previous trips in July and August, it was even hotter. This has not affected the integrity of the tyre. On the autoroute/autostrada the car tracks straight and true. Road noise is not an issue. In the wet, this tyre inspires confidence. I have had to make a couple of emergency stops on wet/greasy roads and the ABS was not activated. I have not experienced any snowy conditions. Fuel consumption has not been affected adversely with the Bridgestone tyres. To maximise the range of the relatively small 48 litre fuel tank on the Talisman (due to the rear wheel steering), I cruise at 110kph as per the GPS. The car averages 5.2 l/100 kms at this speed or 51 mpg which I think is excellent for such a big car. At 130 kph fuel consumption increases to 6.8 l/100 kph. Regarding ride comfort, I have the XL version of this tyre. I run the tyre pressures at the lower option as recommended by Renault of 2.3 Bar fronts and 2.1 Bar rear which is for constant speeds up to 160 kph. If heavily laden the pressures should be adjusted to 2.6 F, 2.4 R. Ride comfort has been fine at the lower setting and the tyres have worn evenly. I chose this tyre because I wanted a specification which leaned towards wet, icy or slushy conditions. The tyre has a high resistance to aquaplaning and I have experienced quite a few events of high speed driving in heavy rain. These tyres appear to be wearing better than the original summer Continental rubber on the front. Looking at the front tyres right now, there is still some way to go to the wear bars. I haven’t noticed any dramatic loss of performance so far. My plan is to make another trip to Italy in October, then replace all four tyres before the onset of winter. I am not going to wear the tyres right out. On my previous car, a 2016 BMW 518d estate, I fitted Michelin Cross Climate tyres which were excellent. I see that there is an EVO version of the Bridgestone A005 now. Perfect timing. Also the Michelin CC tyres are now available in the Talisman’s size. The company who supply my tyres in a France and fit them at my home, are offering free fitting with the Michelin’s. However the French brand are €39 more each than the new Bridgestone A005 EVO’s. It will be a difficult choice.

Fitted these as a replacement for the OEM Bridgestone Turanza, based on 4 & 5 star reviews. Liked the wet weather safety performance so after quite a lot of research ordered these through Halfords online and had them fitted at a local Halfords autocentre. They had performed really well as a daily tyre, with no real noticeable concerns. Clearly a 1.8 Honda Civic is never going to really push tyres to any limits so across 12 months (all of the seasons) they have done as expected and safely ferried the kids, the shopping, the dogs etc... However very disappointingly exactly 1 year and day after being fitted the car had its annual MOT and was failed because the tyres on the driven wheels had started to fall apart. 12 months and 4800 miles after being fitted! The tread blocks were split and flaps of tread were hanging off. The tyres have been returned to Bridgestone for examination and replaced at our cost to pass the MOT. I'm very disappointed in the short life of these tyres and what I'm more concerned about is that after contacting both Halfords and Bridgestone UK they advise that they wouldnt recommend fitting these tyres in the UK unless living up north or in Scotland where its apparently colder or has more chance of snow. I've checked several websites and have yet to find this information in the usage guidance. So in summary I wouldn't recommend the A005 Weather Control tyre if you're expecting a reasonable level of wear from your tyres. They apparently cannot cope with one of the seasons. The heat of a summer!

Tried these tyres wife works at local hospital 11 miles away but some nice hills and poorly salted roads in winter can be an issue and she cant miss a shift due to weather and I drive her there. These are on my personal car not company car. Grip in all conditions (not met real snow) has been excellent ex motorbike rider like the corners bends and roundabouts :) I put the car in the line I want and the tyres keep it there, can wheel spin on a spirited start but other than that performance wise great tyre. Tread wear, at 10,500 miles service mechanics flagged that I was close to legal limit! that is somewhat disappointing as Bridgestone states " Offers the same high mileage as Bridgestone summer tyres" Hmmm not so happy with this especially when I made the decision to fit All Season it means you can not mix any other tyre type on the car so I either have to replace all 4 or suck it up and accept I am only going to get 10k miles on front tyres. Before you all say heavy right foot I have been driving economically for the last year these tyres were purchased 17th January 2019.