When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Factory installed tire is S001L has anyone upgrade to Potenza RE050A? Live in Texas and not worried about snow or ice. We ran the Potenza RE050A and their predecessor on our G37S Coupe for 15 years. Got a long way to go before the factory ones are toast but just wondering if anyone has done this upgrade.
Stock S001L are pretty much garbage compared to anything else.
Lots of us are running the Michelin's Pilot Sport 4S or AS4, but really, mostly anything other than OEM will be an upgrade.
Stock S001L are pretty much garbage compared to anything else.
Lots of us are running the Michelin's Pilot Sport 4S or AS4, but really, mostly anything other than OEM will be an upgrade.
+1, pretty much any summer performance tire will be an upgrade over the stock tire.
I have experience with both the Michelin Pilot Sport 4S and the Continental Extreme Contact Sport 02 on the IS. Both are fantastic and are cheaper to buy than the Potenza S001L.
I don't know much about the other Potenzas, and they don't seem that popular.
The Bridgestone Potenza RE050A is an old tire. It is from the era when the Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 was a thing.
The Continental ExtremeContact Sport 02 or Michelin Pilot Sport 4S is a better and newer choice and you have a few people here who can give you the pros/cons of them.
Both of these are cheaper than the RE050A for a set of 4.
I will be getting one of these two next unless the Michelin Pilot Sport S 5 happens in our stock sizes.
The AP2 S2000 had Potenza RE050 from the factory (my '06 did for sure), and the RE050A came out pretty shortly after that. Definitely an old tire, at least 15 years. Any of the newer Michelins or Continentals mentioned in this thread will be better.
Factory installed tire is S001L has anyone upgrade to Potenza RE050A? Live in Texas and not worried about snow or ice. We ran the Potenza RE050A and their predecessor on our G37S Coupe for 15 years. Got a long way to go before the factory ones are toast but just wondering if anyone has done this upgrade.
I had them on my G37S sedan and I liked them. I switched to Bridgestone all seasons though. Swapping Summer/Winter tires got annoying. They unfortunately don't make an AS tire that fits so I'm going Michelin when it's time.
The S001L is decent but I wouldn't get them again. Have you considered the Potenza Sport? Much better wear rating than the 050's.
The S001L is decent but I wouldn't get them again. Have you considered the Potenza Sport? Much better wear rating than the 050's.
Believe it or not my wife got 40K plus out of every set of 050's. I guessing in the IS she will get 50K from S001Ls or they will dry rot. So a long way from having to make a decision. I started thread because I wondered why no one was picking other better Bridgestone tires and jumping to other brands. But makes since. I saw a Singer Porsche video the other day on youtube and it had 4Ss on it so they must be pretty decent.
Believe it or not my wife got 40K plus out of every set of 050's. I guessing in the IS she will get 50K from S001Ls or they will dry rot. So a long way from having to make a decision. I started thread because I wondered why no one was picking other better Bridgestone tires and jumping to other brands. But makes since. I saw a Singer Porsche video the other day on youtube and it had 4Ss on it so they must be pretty decent.
I've heard good things about the Bridgestone Potenza Sport, so if you want to stick with that brand, you should be fine to do so. I personally just would not go for an older tire like the 050's.
Believe it or not my wife got 40K plus out of every set of 050's. I guessing in the IS she will get 50K from S001Ls or they will dry rot. So a long way from having to make a decision. I started thread because I wondered why no one was picking other better Bridgestone tires and jumping to other brands. But makes since. I saw a Singer Porsche video the other day on youtube and it had 4Ss on it so they must be pretty decent.
If your biggest concern is mileage why look at softer, lower treadwear summer tires? There are a ton of choices out there. On the IS she might not get great usage from tires because of the inner wear problems. My tires looked good for 7-8k miles then by 12k the inside tread was gone, outside tread would have went another 20k easily.
Originally Posted by arentz07
I've heard good things about the Bridgestone Potenza Sport, so if you want to stick with that brand, you should be fine to do so. I personally just would not go for an older tire like the 050's.
Same, the Sport and Sport AS are pretty decent. Our RX 500h came with Bridgestone AS Sport tires and I have zero complaints with them.
I have 17k on my crappy Bridgestone S001L's so far. They need to go.
That's impressive. I applaud you for getting some mileage out of a tire, regardless of how enjoyable it is.
I did the same with my IS 350 - I got about 15,000 out of them before I started having some uneven front wear. I got new Michelin PS4S tires and an alignment at that time. Those tires completely woke the car up. I couldn't wait as long on the IS 500 because I thought the Potenzas were letting the car down. And, at about 5/32" in the rear, it was getting close to time for new rubber anyway.
After putting over 4,000 miles on the Contis, I am happy with my decision to put those on. I think they're just as grippy as the Michelins (according to seat-of-the-pants feel as well as tire testing I've seen online, like Tyre Reviews and Tire Rack) while riding more smoothly over small bumps and more quietly. The Michelin definitely is the more sporty-feeling tire, I will say.