Bridgestones, whats the problem?

[Jackie Treehorn]

I have not got a GTD yet but I assume they come with Bridgestones, and I see lots of people commenting on the Bridgestones, can anyone tell me what the issue is?

4 posts of opinion later...

surely then they are not fit for purpose as VW should be held accountable and provide tyres that are suitable to the cars performance, has anyone challenged VW about this?

Wow that escalated quickly!  Going from a general question, to not fit for purpose and wanting to challenge one of the biggest car manufacturers in the world? The tyre is fitted to Porsche and the Ferrari 458 and probably a host of other cars as standard.  VW will politely tell you to "jog on" unless they had a bad month for sales at the dealer.

So the tyre?
Are Bridgestone the best tyres you can fit to your car? No
Are they the noisiest tyres at 73db or 72db if its the Mercedes approved ones? No (most "premium" brands are between 70db and 72db on average so 1db is neither here nor there and its very dependent on the surface)
Are you going to crash into a ditch with them? Not unless you are complete idiot.
Are they fit for use? Yes you have a medium size hatchback diesel, or R or GTi, not a McLaren P1 needing Trofeo R's


If you don't work within the grip limits/circle of the tyre you will lose traction, like with all tyres.  There are plenty worse Landsail Xiangwong province tyres on the market besides the leading 4-5 brands Michelin, Continental, Bridgestone, Pirelli, Goodyear etc.  In Germany they fit another brand (can't remember now), but they also have de-restricted Autobahns where as our speed limit is 70mph among other differences with the roads between the UK and Germany.

Your car will be fine, enjoy your new purchase and when the tyres wear out look to another brand to have a sligthly better tyre.  OEM+ is what most enthusiast do, same with the shocks, when they wear out look to Bilstein or Ohlins, but I wouldn't worry too much about the tyres on a VW hatchback of any type as long as they are a premium brand.

[kalimon]

I have not got a GTD yet but I assume they come with Bridgestones, and I see lots of people commenting on the Bridgestones, can anyone tell me what the issue is?

4 posts of opinion later...

I'll reserve judgment until I've had my car a few months.
I don't plan on accelerating from a standstill like a lunatic too often so if it's wheel spinning like a b!tch under moderate acceleration, I'll know they're sh!te.


surely then they are not fit for purpose as VW should be held accountable and provide tyres that are suitable to the cars performance, has anyone challenged VW about this?

Wow that escalated quickly!  Going from a general question, to not fit for purpose and wanting to challenge one of the biggest car manufacturers in the world? The tyre is fitted to Porsche and the Ferrari 458 and probably a host of other cars as standard.  VW will politely tell you to "jog on" unless they had a bad month for sales at the dealer.

So the tyre?
Are Bridgestone the best tyres you can fit to your car? No
Are they the noisiest tyres at 73db or 72db if its the Mercedes approved ones? No (most "premium" brands are between 70db and 72db on average so 1db is neither here nor there and its very dependent on the surface)
Are you going to crash into a ditch with them? Not unless you are complete idiot.
Are they fit for use? Yes you have a medium size hatchback diesel, or R or GTi, not a McLaren P1 needing Trofeo R's


If you don't work within the grip limits/circle of the tyre you will lose traction, like with all tyres.  There are plenty worse Landsail Xiangwong province tyres on the market besides the leading 4-5 brands Michelin, Continental, Bridgestone, Pirelli, Goodyear etc.  In Germany they fit another brand (can't remember now), but they also have de-restricted Autobahns where as our speed limit is 70mph among other differences with the roads between the UK and Germany.

Your car will be fine, enjoy your new purchase and when the tyres wear out look to another brand to have a sligthly better tyre.  OEM+ is what most enthusiast do, same with the shocks, when they wear out look to Bilstein or Ohlins, but I wouldn't worry too much about the tyres on a VW hatchback of any type as long as they are a premium brand.

[Restlessnative]

Front wheel drive on my GTD,loads of torque, and 1st gear acceleration in the wet/damp from roundabouts can result in acute embarrassment.And that's with only 2000 miles on the Potenzas.

[monkeyhanger]

They're legally sound, but the car could perform so much better with any other premium brand of tyre. After a long line of the higher output VW TDIs, i've never suffered tramping or in-gear acceleration tyre slip on any of them but the MK5 GT Sport 170TDI and the MK7 GTD which were shod in Bridgestones. The MK5 was transformed when the Bridgestones wore out and the car was put on Michelin PS3s. Other cars have had Pirelli P7s, Conti 2s, Dunlop SP01, Uniroyal Rainsport 3.

Unless VW are getting these Bridgestones massively cheaper than any other, they should really be listening to their customers if they haven't researched the performance of all the tyres they have fitted to their cars.

So yes, you'd be a bit daft taking your performance Golf to the max knowing you're on slippery Bridgestones, knowing how crap they are, but after spending £26-£32k on a Golf (excluding options), doesn't the car deserve to be shod in tyres that allow it to perform as intended? It's like buying a laptop and finding that Toshiba put a 10 minute rechargeable battery in it, but you can buy a regular 4 hour rechargeable battery for another £100. IMO it is sh!tty of VW to do it.

The most galling thing about the choice of tyres is there are better tyres for the car at the same retail price-point, yet to correct VW's mistake of putting Bridgestones on you're talking of a £400-600 outlay.

If you're running Bridgestones and don't understand the fuss then you're only tickling the throttle in the wet. That's fine when the car's performance is so great that it has very noticeable traction limits no matter the choice of tyre, but when a different tyre of the same retail cost can transform the car, you've got to seriously question VW's choice of tyres when they put Bridgestones on a GTD or GTI (and to a lesser extent due too the 4WD making up for the tyre's shortcomings - the R).

[Mk7-GTD]

I have not got a GTD yet but I assume they come with Bridgestones, and I see lots of people commenting on the Bridgestones, can anyone tell me what the issue is?

4 posts of opinion later...

surely then they are not fit for purpose as VW should be held accountable and provide tyres that are suitable to the cars performance, has anyone challenged VW about this?

Wow that escalated quickly!  Going from a general question, to not fit for purpose and wanting to challenge one of the biggest car manufacturers in the world? The tyre is fitted to Porsche and the Ferrari 458 and probably a host of other cars as standard.  VW will politely tell you to "jog on" unless they had a bad month for sales at the dealer.

So the tyre?
Are Bridgestone the best tyres you can fit to your car? No
Are they the noisiest tyres at 73db or 72db if its the Mercedes approved ones? No (most "premium" brands are between 70db and 72db on average so 1db is neither here nor there and its very dependent on the surface)
Are you going to crash into a ditch with them? Not unless you are complete idiot.
Are they fit for use? Yes you have a medium size hatchback diesel, or R or GTi, not a McLaren P1 needing Trofeo R's


If you don't work within the grip limits/circle of the tyre you will lose traction, like with all tyres.  There are plenty worse Landsail Xiangwong province tyres on the market besides the leading 4-5 brands Michelin, Continental, Bridgestone, Pirelli, Goodyear etc.  In Germany they fit another brand (can't remember now), but they also have de-restricted Autobahns where as our speed limit is 70mph among other differences with the roads between the UK and Germany.

Your car will be fine, enjoy your new purchase and when the tyres wear out look to another brand to have a sligthly better tyre.  OEM+ is what most enthusiast do, same with the shocks, when they wear out look to Bilstein or Ohlins, but I wouldn't worry too much about the tyres on a VW hatchback of any type as long as they are a premium brand.

I'm going out on a limb here but do you A) Work for VW or B) Not not drive quickly a car with any decent amount of power?

For what it is worth I'm guessing the former.

[JB GTI]

There are a fair few new Audi TT's leaving the factory fitted with Hankook tyres 

[Restlessnative]

They're legally sound, but the car could perform so much better with any other premium brand of tyre. After a long line of the higher output VW TDIs, i've never suffered tramping or in-gear acceleration tyre slip on any of them but the MK5 GT Sport 170TDI and the MK7 GTD which were shod in Bridgestones. The MK5 was transformed when the Bridgestones wore out and the car was put on Michelin PS3s. Other cars have had Pirelli P7s, Conti 2s, Dunlop SP01, Uniroyal Rainsport 3.

Unless VW are getting these Bridgestones massively cheaper than any other, they should really be listening to their customers if they haven't researched the performance of all the tyres they have fitted to their cars.

So yes, you'd be a bit daft taking your performance Golf to the max knowing you're on slippery Bridgestones, knowing how crap they are, but after spending £26-£32k on a Golf (excluding options), doesn't the car deserve to be shod in tyres that allow it to perform as intended? It's like buying a laptop and finding that Toshiba put a 10 minute rechargeable battery in it, but you can buy a regular 4 hour rechargeable battery for another £100. IMO it is sh!tty of VW to do it.

The most galling thing about the choice of tyres is there are better tyres for the car at the same retail price-point, yet to correct VW's mistake of putting Bridgestones on you're talking of a £400-600 outlay.

If you're running Bridgestones and don't understand the fuss then you're only tickling the throttle in the wet. That's fine when the car's performance is so great that it has very noticeable traction limits no matter the choice of tyre, but when a different tyre of the same retail cost can transform the car, you've got to seriously question VW's choice of tyres when they put Bridgestones on a GTD or GTI (and to a lesser extent due too the 4WD making up for the tyre's shortcomings - the R).

Good points there Monkeyhanger.My little most basic spec departed M135i cost virtually the same as my GTD.But was clad in the finest Michelin Pilot Supersports.The best rubber to harness all of that power.And they worked a treat.

[Jackie Treehorn]

I have not got a GTD yet but I assume they come with Bridgestones, and I see lots of people commenting on the Bridgestones, can anyone tell me what the issue is?

4 posts of opinion later...

surely then they are not fit for purpose as VW should be held accountable and provide tyres that are suitable to the cars performance, has anyone challenged VW about this?

Wow that escalated quickly!  Going from a general question, to not fit for purpose and wanting to challenge one of the biggest car manufacturers in the world? The tyre is fitted to Porsche and the Ferrari 458 and probably a host of other cars as standard.  VW will politely tell you to "jog on" unless they had a bad month for sales at the dealer.

So the tyre?
Are Bridgestone the best tyres you can fit to your car? No
Are they the noisiest tyres at 73db or 72db if its the Mercedes approved ones? No (most "premium" brands are between 70db and 72db on average so 1db is neither here nor there and its very dependent on the surface)
Are you going to crash into a ditch with them? Not unless you are complete idiot.
Are they fit for use? Yes you have a medium size hatchback diesel, or R or GTi, not a McLaren P1 needing Trofeo R's


If you don't work within the grip limits/circle of the tyre you will lose traction, like with all tyres.  There are plenty worse Landsail Xiangwong province tyres on the market besides the leading 4-5 brands Michelin, Continental, Bridgestone, Pirelli, Goodyear etc.  In Germany they fit another brand (can't remember now), but they also have de-restricted Autobahns where as our speed limit is 70mph among other differences with the roads between the UK and Germany.

Your car will be fine, enjoy your new purchase and when the tyres wear out look to another brand to have a sligthly better tyre.  OEM+ is what most enthusiast do, same with the shocks, when they wear out look to Bilstein or Ohlins, but I wouldn't worry too much about the tyres on a VW hatchback of any type as long as they are a premium brand.

I'm going out on a limb here but do you A) Work for VW or B) Not not drive quickly a car with any decent amount of power?

For what it is worth I'm guessing the former.

Not sure I fully understand the comment/question and its relevance, but happy to answer either way. No I don't work for VW, I'm a car enthusiast not a big VW enthusiast, I accept the car has its short comings compared to others when I buy it, everything is made at a price point. We want all the gadgets with non of the cost efficiency, we want a big discount and we want directional Xenons and active cruise, better build quality than Renault, Ford and Seat, more tech to play with and also want to have better tactile material, better tyres, wipers, the list goes on. Sometimes something has to give, should it be tyres? Possibly not, but its not something that requires us to all go and get our fire torches is it? 

Monkeyhanger makes valid points, and I agree with many of them, however the opening line "but the car could perform so much better with any other premium brand of tyre" you could replace the word "tyre" for Shocks or Brakes.  The shocks (possibly Sachs) are ok at best, the brakes are possibly lacking on the R with single piston efforts, as it has to stop the quicker and heavier car with also managing the XDS+.  I appreciate the thread origin was tyres not shocks or brakes though.   

These topics are always interesting, but the way the thread turned within a a few posts I felt needed some balance at least.  But to assume after a couple of pages that anyone who doesn't agree, either works for VW or doesn't drive quick enough is missing my point perhaps. 

I have had waaay too many cars, nothing really special but a couple of mine are in my car gallery link below.  Including my Griege GTi PP (Monkeyhanger LSG).

[monkeyhanger]

There are a fair few new Audi TT's leaving the factory fitted with Hankook tyres 

Our 1.6TDI A1 came on Hankooks. I'm not a tyre snob - Bridgestones are marketed as a premium tyre and they're crap for everything but wear/longevity. If Hankooks can give better wet traction/grip and dry grip than the Bridgestones, i'd rather have them.

[JB GTI]

There are a fair few new Audi TT's leaving the factory fitted with Hankook tyres 

Our 1.6TDI A1 came on Hankooks. I'm not a tyre snob - Bridgestones are marketed as a premium tyre and they're crap for everything but wear/longevity. If Hankooks can give better wet traction/grip and dry grip than the Bridgestones, i'd rather have them.

I suppose you could look at it that their fitment is a testament to them being a good tyre  for a particular vehicle but somehow I think it all comes down to cost.