We bought our long-term 2009 Audi A4 Avant 13 months ago. In that time it has been driven over 20,000 miles. I thought you might like to see how its 18-inch Bridgestone Potenza summer tires (Remember our car is equipped with the optional Sport Package.) are holding up. I think the answer is remarkable well.
In fact, I drove the car in the rain this week and it's as sure footed as you'd expect an all-wheel drive Audi with massive perfomance tires to be.
Scott Oldham, Inside Line Editor in Chief @ 20,309 miles
sodaguy says:
04:52 AM, 12/11/09
Considering that the Bridgestone Potenza RE050A tires are categorized as max-performance summer rubber, it is absolutely incredible that they appear to have at least 5/32" left on them after more than 20,000 miles.
My friend told me he was able to get over 30,000 miles on a set Bridgestone Potenza RE050A Pole Positions on his G35, which too, is pretty incredible for a max-performance summer tire. I personally find it very odd that a max-performance summer tire can last more than 15,000 miles, so I wonder if Bridgestone has some special tricks when it comes to developing a summer tires.
hybris says:
07:10 AM, 12/11/09
@sodaguy
Probably Bridgestone is simply using a harder rubber compound.
bmwbig6 says:
08:19 AM, 12/11/09
The Bridgestone Potenza RE050A has a UTQ treadwear rating of 140. I'd be happy getting 20k+ miles out of them myself. That is a very soft tire.
equ says:
08:37 AM, 12/11/09
The UTQ ratings can be very misleading (as pictured above), I don't think they are an apples to apples comparison as they set out to be.
I have the same car/suspension (well mine is a manual sedan, but also sports package with 18" Y-rated tires). Here's to hoping my pirelli p7's hold up as well.
actualsize says:
04:01 PM, 12/11/09
A tire engineer friend of mine told me this about Treadwear Ratings: You cannot stamp a tire with a number higher than the one you earned in the UTQG treadwear test, but you can choose to stamp a LOWER number there, if you like.
Why would a tire company want to do that? Two reasons:
1) a lower number makes it easier to exceed a customer's expectations.
2) a lower number implies that a high-performance tire is sticky as hell. It's a dubious marketing ploy employed by some tiremakers to improve the street cred of said hi-po rubber.
Chances are high this is what explains a low treadwear-rated tire that lasts a long time.
cr_driver says:
04:55 PM, 12/11/09
Good to know actual size......
And those tires are looking way too good!!
majin_ssj_eric says:
07:11 PM, 12/12/09
Same tires I have on my G37 and they lasted 30k miles. I think Bridgestone makes an excellent summer tire. It may be a bit harder of a compund than say a PS2, but having them last so long makes up for any performance liability in my mind...