Long term review: Bridgestone Potenza RE-730

[Brad Wilson]

Tires:    Bridgestone Potenza RE-730 235/45-ZR17
Mileage:  Approximately 15,000 miles (April to October, 2001)
Vehicle:  2000 Audi A6 2.7 bi-turbo V6, 33k miles
Wheels:   ATP Flash Sport (satin finish) 17x8

Please note: These tires are driven solely for street use, not track use,
and I'm an enthusiast driver, not a professional.

I ordered the tires and wheels pre-mounted and balanced from TireRack
(www.tirerack.com), and installed them around the third week of April (a
risky thing, living in Denver), and just changed back to snows today. They
took about 15k miles, and the tread seems a bit more than half gone. I'm not
sure they'll last another full season like that, so they'll be replaced
sometime around mid-to-late-summer next year.

The tires started out remarkably quiet, but grew louder by the mile. Within
a couple thousand miles of installation, they were far louder than I was
happy with (the interior of the A6 is very quiet, so tire noise can be
particularly obvious). If loud tires bother you, this is not the tire for
you! I'm told the (much) more expensive brother, the Potenza Pole Position
S-02, is a much quieter tire, but I don't have any experience with them.

The dry and wet handling were unbelievable. I've never driven on a tire like
this, on any car. I can easily add 20mph onto the speed limit of any curve,
and the tires would take it without a peep. Driving in the rain is like
driving on dry pavement. These tires inspire a TON of confidence. This could
be bad if you're not careful, and you over-extend them (never lost control
on them despite pushing them quite hard at times, I'm happy to say). Turn-in
with the tires was again as good as any I've driven.

Overall, these tires were very enjoyable if you don't mind the noise and the
middling-to-average expected tread life of 25-30k miles.

Final ratings (on a 1-10 scale, 10 being the best):

Dry grip:   9
Wet grip:   9
Anti-Hydro: 8 1/2
Steering:   9
Cornering:  9
Noise:      5
Tread wear: 5 1/5
Re-buy?     Probably not, because of noise

Pictures (mounted on the ATP Flash Sport wheels):

http://albums.photopoint.com/j/ViewPhoto?u=1532884&a=11654431&p=42149095
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/ViewPhoto?u=1532884&a=11654431&p=42149099
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/ViewPhoto?u=1532884&a=11654431&p=49891331
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/ViewPhoto?u=1532884&a=11654431&p=49891332