Bridgestones - what's actually wrong with them?

[falconmick]

I'm on my second R, nothing wrong at all with Bridgestones for sensible road use, I find they stick like glue whilst I've put my car through its paces on tight roundabouts, no slip, no squeal, no under steer. Many drivers who have had no instruction since taking the driving test complain and it is their driving style and lack of knowledge that is to blame.

Or it could be you driving like an oap maybe?

What driver training have you taken since passing your test?

Driver training on a road, none.

Driver training on a track, a fair bit combined with appropriately 3-4k of track driving. What training have you had? I bow down to your superior driving.

About 8 weeks in total on road training paid for by HM, a further 40 hours paid for by myself. Track experience zero as there was never a necessity to do so.

[kalimon]

For daily driving in a sensible manner, they are absolutely fine.
For hard acceleration from a standing start in the wet, they are quite poor. End of story.
All this sh!te about driving training and experience is laughable.
We all see taxi drivers and truck drivers, who drive for a living, doing the most ridiculous things behind the wheel.
Not because of any lack of ability, but because people in general can do stupid things.

[falconmick]

Your offensive language is typical of anyone who has failed to recognise that their driving can be improved, almost every driver on the road believes that they are a good driver and yet have sought no professional instruction since passing their test. Also it is possible to get your point across without causing offence unless your vocabulary is limited.

[I wanted a GTi]

Your offensive language is typical of anyone who has failed to recognise that their driving can be improved, almost every driver on the road believes that they are a good driver and yet have sought no professional instruction since passing their test. Also it is possible to get your point across without causing offence unless your vocabulary is limited.

Wow, I now bow to both your driving expertise and education. Sorry in advance if I don't take your future posts seriously

[falconmick]

Your offensive language is typical of anyone who has failed to recognise that their driving can be improved, almost every driver on the road believes that they are a good driver and yet have sought no professional instruction since passing their test. Also it is possible to get your point across without causing offence unless your vocabulary is limited.

Wow, I now bow to both your driving expertise and education. Sorry in advance if I don't take your future posts seriously

Whilst I accept that I have a reasonable level of competence whilst driving, I have no educational qualifications whatsoever, experience in life has taught me that manners cost nothing and yet are worth a lot.

Do you enjoy fishing by any chance?

[Gnasher]

Now now children!! 

[I wanted a GTi]

Now now children!! 

I will make my own comparison after I pick my car up next Wednesday. I have driven a GTD with 19" wheels and Pirelli tyres over a total of nearly 3 weeks and 1500 miles so I have a good idea how the car drives with them.

Another good way of testing a tyre is to hit the brakes hard and see not just how quick it stops but also how often the abs kicks in, the more it kicks in the less grip the tyres have. If I don't like them then I will put these on

[kalimon]

Your offensive language is typical of anyone who has failed to recognise that their driving can be improved, almost every driver on the road believes that they are a good driver and yet have sought no professional instruction since passing their test. Also it is possible to get your point across without causing offence unless your vocabulary is limited.

Wow, I now bow to both your driving expertise and education. Sorry in advance if I don't take your future posts seriously

I think the offensive language comment was aimed at me
falconmick,  take that stick out of your backside and relax a bit.
If I'd known we had a mixture of Mary Whitehouse and Nigel Mansell on the forum, I'd have minded my P's and Q's a bit more

[falconmick]

I do not recall making any offensive post whatsoever, merely taking exception to others who cannot express themself with being offensive. It was good while it lasted, I'll get my coat.

[corgi]

[
Another good way of testing a tyre is to hit the brakes hard and see not just how quick it stops but also how often the abs kicks in, the more it kicks in the less grip the tyres have.

I'm not sure that's a recommendation I would use to assess the overall ability of a tyre... how about lateral grip.

I have reasonably extensive experience of these tyres on a BMW 120d. They are more sensitive to temperature than almost any other road tyre I have experienced. With the BMW if it was cool, even on cool spring/autumn mornings, if you were not careful it was very easy to spin up the rears for the first few miles and the steering felt fairly wooden for longer. If it was warm or you got the tyres up to temperature there were no issues. In the wet, generating temperature, especially if it it cool/cold either never happens or takes a long time. Two likely suspects, firstly compound and secondly stiffness of the sidewalls. The sidewall stiffness effects the warmup because there is much less sidewall flex.

There is a potential positive, once warm the stiff sidewalls can give a more precise steering feel on ititial turn-in, tyres with softer side walls e.g. Goodyear Asymmetric (I'm not saying that these are bad tyres but have a different construction) to me tend to feel a little less precise on initial turn in... Of course, the downside of this on a front wheel drive car would be the lack of temperature in the rears.

Back to the Bridgestones, they are at least adequate and better than reasonable in warm weather. I'm sure that, if I bought a new car with them on, I wouldn't go out immediately and replace them but I would change to something with a wider operating range when the time to change them came along. In the meantime I would learn their limitations and attempt to dive accordingly...

I have a Jaguar 5.0 XKR with Michelin Pilot SuperSports all round... widely regarded as a very good tyre... but for the first few miles - until they have a bit of temperature - if you're not careful... the rears will spin up with (including lots of popping and banging as the traction control cuts in) only light application of the throttle... I just (try) drive accordingly...