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[N1]

now its official and ive choosed POTENZA

Ferrari's selection of the Potenza RE050A tyres evidences the legendary sports car manufacturer's high regard for Bridgestone's ultrahigh-performance tyre technology.

Bridgestone® Brand Run-Flat Tires Chosen As Original Equipment For U.S. 2006 BMW 3 Series
All-season touring and summer high-performance Run-Flat Tires earn fitment on best-selling performance sedan

Nashville, Tenn. (2005) - Bridgestone Corporation, parent company of Bridgestone Americas Holding, Inc. and Bridgestone Firestone North American Tire, LLC (BFNT), will be supplying both all-season Bridgestone® brand Turanza™ EL42™ Run-Flat Tires and summer Bridgestone brand Potenza™ RE050A™ Run-Flat Tires as original equipment for the 2006 BMW 3 Series performance sedan.

In equipping the BMW 3 Series, the European automaker’s best-selling sedan worldwide, Bridgestone Corporation has secured the following size and placement fitments on the U.S. market vehicles:

* All-season Turanza EL42* RFT tires in size 205/55R16 91H
* All-season Turanza EL42* RFT tires in size 225/45R17 91H
* Summer Potenza RE050AI* RFT tires in size 225/45R17 91V
* Summer Potenza RE050AI* RFT tires in size 225/45R17 91V – front, with Summer Potenza RE050AI* RFT tires in size 255/40R17 94V, rear
* Summer Potenza RE050A* RFT tires in size 225/40R18 88W – front, with Summer Potenza RE050A* RFT tires in size 255/35R18 90W, rear

"We’re thrilled that the Bridgestone Group has been selected by BMW to supply an extensive array of Bridgestone-brand Run-Flat Tires for the all new 3 Series, which will be traveling the roads throughout the United States,” said Michael Martini, president, original equipment consumer tire division, BFNT. "This wonderful opportunity expands our original equipment offerings of self-supporting Run-Flat Tires while also allowing us to showcase our premium Bridgestone technology on BMW’s most popular vehicle."

In addition to the tires’ proprietary Run-Flat technology, Bridgestone Corporation and BMW engineers worked together closely on developing and optimizing performance of both the Bridgestone Potenza and Bridgestone Turanza tires to meet the demanding requirements of the new BMW 3 Series.

Bridgestone-brand Run-Flat tires are based on a Self Supporting Run-Flat Tire (SSR) system. The SSR system employs a special, rubber sidewall reinforcement that carries the weight of the vehicle and maintains the tire’s shape following deflation. Consumers may feel so little difference when the tire loses air that a Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) must be used with Run-Flat Tires to notify the driver of an air loss. Run-Flat Tires offer drivers the opportunity to get to a safe location to change a tire when necessary, offering mobility for up to 50 miles at 50 mph.

Nashville-based Bridgestone Firestone North American Tire, LLC is a subsidiary of Bridgestone Americas Holding, Inc., whose parent company, Bridgestone Corporation, is the world's largest tire and rubber company. BFNT develops, manufactures and markets Bridgestone, Firestone and associate and private brand tires. The company is focused on wholesale and original equipment markets, supplying passenger, light truck, commercial vehicle, off-road, motorcycle, agricultural and other tires to its customers in North America.


I think they will make 30.000 km i.e. 23.000 miles WITHOUT or DRIFTING

[06E90Rostik]

Dude you must have lots of time making HUGE posts...

[ward]

better than that pirelli crap they call tires

[06E90Rostik]

Pirelli crap? I thought they were good

[noflash]

Bridgestone is also Firestone which was at least partly to blame in all the Ford Explorer rollover/tread-separation cases.

[N1]

Yes SIR i am spending lots of time
"The tyres for the Ferrari GG50, the Potenza RE050 RFT, feature runflat capability, and are of size 245/35R20 on the front wheels and 305/35R20 on the rear wheels. Bridgestone's proven record and high reliability amassed over the years among car makers such as Ferrari was the catalyst for bringing this plan into fruition.

"The Ferrari GG50 is planned for display at the Bridgestone booth at the 39th Tokyo Motor Show beginning on October 22 as the flagship model expressing the global nature of the Potenza RE050," the statement from Bridgestone concluded.

Bridgestone Corporation, headquartered in Tokyo, is the world's largest manufacturer of tires and other rubber products. Tyres account for 80 percent of Bridgestone Group sales worldwide. The company also manufactures industrial rubber and chemical products, sporting goods, and other diversified products. It sells its tyres and other products in more than 150 nations.
If we have to take RFT at least we must be aware of the best.

[Bimmerista]

I'm not sure how good 'em BStones are - I'll have wait until I put mine on; when I got my car I changed to winters right away.

If we had the Michelins PS RFTs available here I would get them in a heartbeat though...

[BudTokR]

:rocks:

[bavarian19]

Someone please give me an AS HP RF Tire....

(All-season - High Performance - Runflat Tire)...

If the Pirelli's I have on now were available in RF's, there would be no question as to whether or not to get them again... By the way, I have the Pirelli Pzero Nero M+S High Performance All Season Tires. I love them, but I think I would like some runflats back on my car... Not for ride quality purposes, just for the little extra safety...

[ward]

Originally Posted by 06E90Rostik

Pirelli crap? I thought they were good

common misconception,

I thought they were good too, then I had a couple sets

turns out they've just got a cool name

[canucklion]

have you thought about buying those tire-repair kits to put in your trunk? I'm thinking of doing that if I end up not liking the RF's.

Originally Posted by bavarian19

Someone please give me an AS HP RF Tire....

(All-season - High Performance - Runflat Tire)...

If the Pirelli's I have on now were available in RF's, there would be no question as to whether or not to get them again... By the way, I have the Pirelli Pzero Nero M+S High Performance All Season Tires. I love them, but I think I would like some runflats back on my car... Not for ride quality purposes, just for the little extra safety...

[JSpira]

The news release you posted is 12 months old.

Why post it 12 months later?

[canucklion]

funny how bad press can hurt a company's reputation for long times to come, I thought the same as you when I opened up this post

Originally Posted by noflash

Bridgestone is also Firestone which was at least partly to blame in all the Ford Explorer rollover/tread-separation cases.

[BMW0]

If Ferrari uses them they have to be great.

[bavarian19]

Originally Posted by canucklion

have you thought about buying those tire-repair kits to put in your trunk? I'm thinking of doing that if I end up not liking the RF's.

Its what I have as a safety measure now. If they would make the right tire, I will certainly go back to RF. I really do need to have all season performance tires though. Not enough winter weather here to warrant a full blown winter wheel/tire setup, but certainly cant go summer tires year round...

[David328M-Sport]

Hey Ward,

What trouble did you have with Pirellis?

I have them on my E90 and I have not found any problems. I am very happy with them.

Interesting to know why you feel this way towards Pirelli.

Cheers.

[cntlaw]

I have used :-

Bridgestone Performance tire 03 on E320, worked well for a year and the next year some "eggs" grown on the surface (according to my friend I sold him my E320)

Pirelli Rosso on C55 , very sensitive road feel , a bit noisy

Michellin PS/2 on C55, very quiet, pretty sticky, best ever !

Can someone tells me what will RE050A giving me differences from above? I only drive at most 200km/h.

[sunnywuh]

a bit off topic, could you write more on Michelin PS2? Do they wear very soon?

ps i'm using Bridgestone S03.

[E24]

Sorry - I'll take the P's over the B's any day. I think Bridgestone is a POS tire - sorry - opinion (had some on a Mazda and later Lexus and immediately replaced). I wish Michelin made a run flat for the E90/E91. I'm not a fan of France but they make nice tires. I would even take a decent Goodyear over a Bridgestone. Sorry Ward but I think that Bridgestone is bottom of the barrel (i.e. Firestone).

[ward]

I've run pirelli's on my E30 ( I thought the brand sounded cool)

the tread bubbled on the shoulders of the tires and didn't last very long (I was so inexperienced at the time I couldn't tell you much about their grip, but the tread wore horriblly)

I have them on my E90 and the grip is crap. the tires squeal like crazy and I'm positive that a good all season tire would outperform it


I've run bridgestone S-03's and they lasted quite well while providing great traction, also PS-2's from michelin are great tires very sticky and great in the wet.

E24, The S-03 is certainly right there with the PS-2 and the new high performance tires are probably better than the PS-2.

If my next BMW shows up with pirelli's I'm seriously going to make them change it.........

currently I think michelin is the best, followed by bridgestone and yokohama

certainly in the run flat world the bridgestone is ages ahead of the pirelli (I have them both)

[N1]

BMW 3 series in North America for 2006 have that tire by decision taken long ago. You are going to get the best tires this year as Ferrari. The new item is that you shall not expect any change, its decided, but i could choose so i think you can either. I was posting to the new E90 owners, the ones who are about to buy. In straight answer to.

[ward]

there are many varieties of the bridgestone re50, runflat and non runflat

on www.tirerack.com there's quite a few different ones