Bridgestone Potenza RE960AS Pole Position 1000 mile review

[giantrobot]

Bought a 2005 GT @27,000mi and immediatley started looking at new tires. Strange thing is that the car was obviously very well taken care of but the tires looked like they were never rotated. Fronts were at 3/32 and 4/32 while the rears were both at 7/32. Rotated myself but still was unimpressed by the stock Goodyears. My boss has a super tuned Stealth with the Summer pole positions and after I drove the beast I was sold. Went with the all season (I'm in Michigan) 215/50ZR17. Got a great price of $699 out the door with free rotations from a O/O tire shop. You can usually do much better than the so-called 'Discount' tire chains. That also comes with a $75 rebate from Bridgestone.

Let me tell you these tires are the real deal. Nothing but sticky. There are a couple of nice test runs around me and now I can carve the dickens out of them. Tires are super quiet as well. Mileage seems the same which means bad the way I drive. Only now do I realize how badly the car needs an anti-roll kit and some lowering.

Wet performance is amazing. As close to dry pavement as I have seen. Now all thats left is snow/ice which will be coming all too soon. Bottom line, if you've been looking at these just go buy them. You won't be disappointed.

[MOPAR43]

Your decision to go +1 with the tires was a smart one! I did the same thing with my '05 GT convert when it was brand new and with my '03 GT before that. The Good Year RS/A's were really bad! Don't know why so many manufacturers have them as OEM tires. My TOYO's have been really good in all weather and they really stick in warm and dry conditions!

IMHO, you might want to also consider adding a strut tower brace for better front end stability, especially when under WOT acceleration and hard cornering.

I just replaced the stock shocks and struts after lowering the car last year put a lot of stress on the suspension. Couldn't afford the more expensive units, so I went with Tokico HP Blues and I am very pleased with them.

Good luck with your upgrades and keep us posted!

[apexanimal]

to add to the review from a suspension nut...

the re960as pp's are a very quiet tire, and they are surprisingly sticky. great in dry stuff, great on wet, haven't had the chance to try them on snow yet... BUT...

i was disappointed with steering response. now some of you may not notice, but i'm coming off some very firm treaded tires - these are supposed to have a soft tread to help with snow traction/wear purposes but trust me that roll bars and coilovers will not solve the "rear sliding out" feeling on turn in...

but i'm stuck with them... and i have to have them for the 4 seasons so there's that...

[JCsGTPT]

I bought a used 05 GT DT (drop top) last August and for 6 months I was really uncomfortable with the handling. I took the car in for service and they recommended replacement at less than 30K miles. I went with Kumho Ecsta ASX's and I can't believe the difference! These tires are clearly better and it would have cost me $100's extra to put new RSA's on. The Goodyears were crap. And noisy!

I don't understand why manufacturers don't offer better tires or at least a choice.

[MOPAR43]

Amen, brother. The common denomenator here is the factory original Bad Year RS/A tires. They were, and maybe still are, standard equipment on some awfully expensive cars, including SUV's like the Infinity FX35 and FX45 models. I guess that money talks when OEM folks come calling, even in Japan.

Go figger!!!!

.

[bados]

Originally Posted by giantrobot

Bought a 2005 GT @27,000mi and immediatley started looking at new tires. Strange thing is that the car was obviously very well taken care of but the tires looked like they were never rotated. Fronts were at 3/32 and 4/32 while the rears were both at 7/32. Rotated myself but still was unimpressed by the stock Goodyears. My boss has a super tuned Stealth with the Summer pole positions and after I drove the beast I was sold. Went with the all season (I'm in Michigan) 215/50ZR17. Got a great price of $699 out the door with free rotations from a O/O tire shop. You can usually do much better than the so-called 'Discount' tire chains. That also comes with a $75 rebate from Bridgestone.

Let me tell you these tires are the real deal. Nothing but sticky. There are a couple of nice test runs around me and now I can carve the dickens out of them. Tires are super quiet as well. Mileage seems the same which means bad the way I drive. Only now do I realize how badly the car needs an anti-roll kit and some lowering.

Wet performance is amazing. As close to dry pavement as I have seen. Now all thats left is snow/ice which will be coming all too soon. Bottom line, if you've been looking at these just go buy them. You won't be disappointed.

I thought there was a problem using 215's on the GT because the wheel is only 6.5 inches. I too have a '05 GT.

[JCsGTPT]

My stock tires are 215's. I contemplated going up in width but the service guy gave me a long speech about how cars come off the production line with too much tire to begin with and with the poor condition of the stock Good-for-a-years and this being the only place that could get me the Kumho's I didn't rebut so I stuck with the the 215's.

BTW- I posted this a while back, It shows a comparison of tire sizes if you are considering going bigger.

Ejelta.com: Tire Size Calculator

[JCsGTPT]

Also I have the 5 point star rims and they are 7 inches.