Standard Bridgestones / wet driving

[green justin]

Would VW knowingly fit dangerous or sub standard tyres to the Polo? If they are passed as fit for use BS standard then it may be down to individual preference. Not sure if there are any tyres that allow you to use full throttle in any situation without the car feeling unstable.

Substandard is a matter of opinion. They meet specification and legal requirements, doesn't mean its a good tyre. On the UK Roads, my opinion is that Bridgestone's propensity for compounds that are ultra hard don't suit our climate. They might actually be a lot softer for use way down the South of Europe where it's generally a lot warmer, or on a track where they'll heat up nicely. Driven normally on UK British roads though?

This subject has been done to death on many VAG group forums and it's been shown that for pretty much the rest of Europe (France, Germany, Spain, Poland, Italy etc.) Performance Golfs don't get Bridgestones, but the UK does, and also it seems the Polo GTI for the RHD markets with 18" Brescias.

I was nowhere near using full throttle (more like 40% throttle) with fully occupied seating when the back end got away. At that point I wondered whether the Polo's handling was poor and begging for multilink rear suspension to stabilise it...but no, it was those awful tyres and the car was transformed when they were taken off.

There are many tyres that would allow you to use full throttle in multiple situations with good weather. Ever used full throttle to overtake someone? That's a pretty common full throttle manoeuvre that most of us gave done.

Pretty much everyone here that has made the change will tell you what a hugely positive difference ditching the Bridgestones has made.

I do wonder what leeway VW have for tyre use when gathering driving data for official use. I bet the 0-62 times weren't achieved with Turanza T001 tyres, nor tge fuel economy/emissions figures. Early UK Polo GTI press review vehicles were all shod with Michelin PSS tyres before being handed over to journos. Do you need to wonder why they didn't gave standard fit Bridgestones on?

Car Magazine and other car journalist tested the Polo GTI shod with Turanza T001 at Gerotek test facility in South Africa, they were getting 0-100km/h in 6.64 seconds.

Also the 17inch Michelin Primacy Achieved 6.65 seconds 0-100km/h.

Regards

[monkeyhanger]

Although I didn't specifically mention compound hardness there, the Bridgestones do have a hard compound, but they also have a very rigid sidewall compared to the Michelins - you really notice the difference on turn in.

So turn in should be better on the Bridgestones.
Sidewall flex is worse for turn-in.

In an ideal world with completely smooth and flat road surfaces, a completely rigid tyre would be ideal to maintain feel. Great for a well maintained race track, pity roads aren't like that, so with an unyielding tyre and hard suspension the wheel will hop to a certain degree within the confines of the suspension movement, lessening grip as it does so. A bit of sidewall flex on turn-in puts more tyre surface down for better grip. Too much will feel awful. Everything in moderation. A rock hard tyre bobbling along the road over the imperfections is going to be less grippy than a tyre absorbing some of that bobbling that the suspension doesn't fully take care of.

[Andy Beats]

One thing I've noticed about the standard Bridgestones.
Now that we're down to it being damned cold every morning up here, I've noticed cold grip is really good.
I'm warming to these tyres and don't even think about them now.
I'm not saying I'd pay extra to have them again, but neither would I avoid using them again if the price was competitive.

[wayne10244]

I found that the bridgestones are the worst tyres that I had for wet and cold conditions. With the increase in power they are very poor also was a standard fit to my old car Audi A1 and changed the tyres within the first year. I just changed to Michelin pilot sports 4 had a good deal. I find the Michelin’s a better ride and quieter in road noise as well

[SRGTD]

I found that the bridgestones are the worst tyres that I had for wet and cold conditions. With the increase in power they are very poor also was a standard fit to my old car Audi A1 and changed the tyres within the first year. I just changed to Michelin pilot sports 4 had a good deal. I find the Michelin’s a better ride and quieter in road noise as well

Only had my GTI+ just over three months and until recently, I’d not experienced the poor grip and tramping issues with the Bridgestones that other forum members had commented on. However, with the drop in temperature I experienced both wheel spinning when pulling away from rest and wheel hop / tramping at a roundabout. In both cases, the road surfaces were pretty much near dry, and I certainly wasn’t gunning it - my days of over enthusiastic driving are long gone as I’m much too old for that sort of thing! .

I’ve just had new wheels fitted to my car (I’ve posted a picture in the ‘what did you and your Polo do today?’ discussion thread), and that was a good opportunity to get some better tyres, so my new wheels are also wearing Michelin PS4’s. They’ve only been on the car a couple of days, so it’s a bit It early to evaluate how they compare to the Bridgestones, but based on other’s experiences, I have high expectations.

[Andy Beats]

Aside from the weird feeling I used to get in standing water, which I've since got over, I'm surprised at the slagging the Bridgestones are getting.
I'd lay a hefty wager I'm one of very few on here that does very high speeds every single journey (my trip home is along a private test track your honour).
So I'm hammering them during acceleration. braking and cornering.
There's no grip issues at all, not one.
Noisy though, agreed.