For the last two days, I’d noticed that the car had started pulling to the left slightly. Very un-usual, given this car drives absolutely perfectly.
Last night, as I came out of Cats (the musical), I noticed that the left rear tyre was almost flat. I stopped in at a BP to fill it, and heard the distinct sound of an air leak.
This morning when I got up, I found the tyre flat again, so I drove to the nearest service station (200 metres or so?), filled it, and drove straight to Bridgestone.
I had a bit of a discussion with the Bridgestone guys about my enthusiastic driving style, and it was decided that they would fit their highest performance tyres, the Bridgestone Adrenaline.
My choices were:
235/45/17 – $249 each.
245/40/17 – $395 each.
I took the cheaper option.
The tyres that came off the car also Bridgestone Adrenalines (completely bald), and anyone that’s spoken to me about these tyres knows that I don’t think much of them in the wet, but I was prepared to give the benefit of the doubt. They were on the car when I bought them, and I treated them with utter contempt.
After the tyres were fitted, the car passed it’s rego inspection with flying colours (I didn’t have any doubt that it would, I try to keep it in decent condition).
What do I make of Bridgestone’s top high-performance tyre so far?
In wet weather, it’s fucking useless.
The car does feel a little more stuck to the road around corners, but as soon as I hit the accelerator, it’s all over.
These tyres simply do not have the wet weather grip to put the power (or any power, really) to the ground.
If I drive like grandpa, they’re just like any other tyre, I guess, but that’s not exactly credit. From a standing start, if I try for anything more than light acceleration, they spin.
If I get rolling, and ease on the power, as soon as the boost comes on, they also start to spin.
I really hope that the dry weather performance makes up for what they lack in the wet.
One comment
Comment by BaSH PR0MPT on June 3, 2010 at 5:15 pm
Losing traction isn’t inherently a bad thing, that’s what you have traction control for. In the wet your traction and stability control (which are fused together in the T if that’s the car you’re talking about) are what will keep you on the road not your tyres. I was running 10″ by 1″ semi slick on 20″ rims for a while and I couldn’t lose traction if you paid me, even in the wet, although at $350 a corner you didn’t want to really. Back to the stock rims and tires after too many flat spotted bottomed out and broken hubbed incidents with pot holes (seriously, not really even drastic ones), and they may spin up a bit when you gut it but traction steps in fast.
Remember from a standing start it also depends on whether your tires are warmed up or not too!
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