Ray Hull

My Service Advisor came through for me: He had BMW replace my second set of Dunlop Thumpflats with another brand. I was hoping for Micheliin PS2s, but he said they had to be BMW spec tires from BMW. So, I picked them up this week (and had snow wheels put on), but they are brand new Bridgestones, same as on the new 550 sport on the showroom floor (but 18")

So, I am here to ask what kind of service have you gotten from Bridgestone RFTs? Generally, from my motorycle experience with them, I do not like Bstones. I think they are cheap tires with a huge markup that prices them just below the premium brands, without anywhere near the qualilty. But that's my motorcycle experience.

How have your 18" Bridgestones faired? I won't try mine until April.

Thx,
Ray

pennetta

The Dunlops were the problem tires and I got my changed for free as well. Never heard any similar problems with Bridgestones.

jmatthe

The bridgestones wear well, but the ride harder...They also seemed to have slighty better dry grip. noise is moderate, but never got any worse throughout the 10000 miles I had them.

TXPearl

Agree - no real noise issues, but the ride is SO harsh w/ the Brickstones - so much so that it prompted me to drop the runflats altogether and get the PS2s. If you live in an area with really good, smooth roads, they're probably fine, otherwise, I think you'll hate 'em.

I don't think they can be the same tires as the current 550i sport - it has non-runflats.

AMP

I had Bridgestones on my '06 550i sport. They were OK. The car had just under 15K miles on it when I turned it in and they still had some life left in them.

Complaints:

Noisy
Harsh ride
Crappy traction (wet and dry)
Did I mention harsh?

Of course, these are all general RFT complaints, so I can't solely blame the Bridgestones.

If I had it to do over again I would have immediately bought a set of PSIIs and put the stock tires in storage. I would have then turned the car back in with the stock tires.

Ray Hull

That's what I thought until I SAW them :thumbsdown: (Right beside a 7 series Alpina). 19" Bridgestone RFTs are back on Sport 5 models..........Sorry.

Ray

swajames

Are you sure, Ray? The Bridgestone RE050A comes in both RFT and non-RFT variants and to the best of my knowledge there isn't a 19" RFT from Bridgestone. I thought the max size for the RE050A RFT is 18", the only 19" in the range is a non-runflat. The non-runflat RE050A is an excellent tire, by the way. I don't agree they are a cheap tire. I'd have as much confidence in the RE050A as the PS2 (both are OEM tires along with Pirelli P Zero Rosso which I have on my 997).

Edit - correction. There is one Bridgestone 19" RFT on TireRack and it says it's for BMW OEM. Still, the marketing collateral for the 08 550 Sport makes a big deal of the fact that they are using standard tires and that's what should have been on the 550 you saw.

JSpira

550i with Sport Package is not coming with RF tires. It comes with 19" non-RF tires (FYI "non-RF tire" is a "retronym"). I'm pretty sure my car came with Contis.

kscarrol

Ditto here, unless they have changed within the last month, the 550 comes w/ non-runflats. Same as Jspira, mine came with contis...

jcatral14

So why did they replace your RFTs? And why are new cars coming with non-RFTs? Did BMW come to their senses? Sorry for the?s