Originally Posted By: Win
This spring, I narrowed my choice of new tires for my GTO down to the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S and the Bridgestone Potenza RE960AS Pole Position.
I have had a lot of Michelin tires and, except for the U.S. Grand Prix debacle, think Michelin is about as good as you get with tires.
I bought the Bridgestone Potenzas. No one had the Sport Pilot A/S in stock. It was always "we can have some in a few days" or similar. I didn't want to be stuck somewhere waiting a few days for an uncommon tire in the event of road damage.
The Potenza's are smooth and quiet. I avoid driving the GTO in the rain, so I can't comment on their wet performance but they look like they can pump a lot of water. I expect to get at least 20K miles out of them.
The Bridgestone road hazard service is great. When I picked up a nail on the second long trip I took on the tires, the Firestone dealer found all my info in the computer, and had a new tire mounted in a few hours, no charge, no questions asked.
When I have to replace the tires on my wife's Jaguar, I will probably get a set of Bridgestone's for it, rather than Michelin, as I would have done before I got these Potenza's.
I've got those too. Bought them at an independent tire shop for my 2004 WRX. I've got about 20K miles on them and I think they still have enough tread to qualify for California "snow tread" status after one rotation. My torture test for them was my 2007 trip to Yosemite National Park and back. They handled snow nicely, although I did slide once taking a turn too fast; I was going 20 MPH when 10 MPH was more appropriate for the conditions. Took out a piled snow-bank, and a park ranger later joked (when I told him) that I had to pay for damaging Park Service property. I had fun trying to drive through a snow pile deposited by a plow; nothing quite like spinning through loose snow. On the way home (taking the scenic route) I went through a very rainy Highway 49 from Mariposa to Sonora. That road has some prime twisties which those tires handled nicely in the rain.
I was going to get them at a Firestone service center. They had a buy three, get one free special. I came in for an alignment (lifetime) on a Sunday and they noted I needed new tires, which was pretty obvious after they showed me the interior shoulder wear on my set of Pirelli P Zero Nero M+S (don't **ever** take them in anything more than light snow). The weekend manager said he locked my name in the computer system and I should be able to get that deal on Monday if I talked to the weekday manager. So I get there, ask for the deal, and the weekday manager says I can't get that deal unless I **paid** for them in advance. So I get ticked off and have them ordered from a local independent tire shop. The tires took over a week to arrive, and I also need a repair of a nail almost at the sidewall (most tire shops won't touch that repair). He gives me a discount on the repair and says it shouldn't be a problem if I get new tires in less than a month. I've brought my business back to that Firestone shop; it was just a temporary disgust with the manager.