Reaper Man

I just noticed something- while at an auto-x test and tune the other day, I noticed that my "spare" tire that I bought from a member had Potenzas mounted, which are different from my car. Then I just happened to notice that the consensus is the car comes stock with Potenzas.

here's the interesting thing- mine came with Dunlops from the dealer with 8 miles on the car. Anyone else find somehting like this with their car?

marcj1

I also have Dunlops; bought with 2 miles on the odo.

Southsider

I was told at delivery that I had Dunlop tires, and given a brochure for Dunlops warranty. When I got home I noticed i had Potenza's. 14 miles on the odometer, delivered 6/29/04.

zoom44

someplaces were/are getting dunlops. i never asked why. although i believe canadians are getting dunlops

brothervoodoo

Early on, all cars were getting Potenzas RE040's... The tire performs well in summer but has bad tread-life and gets rather noisy as you put more miles on them. Another very important thing to note is that the tire above is absolutely useless in moderate snowy and icy conditions, very dangerous and not recommended to drive on.

The dunlop, 8090 I think it is, is the replacement for the potenza's. I'm not to sure how they do in the snow, but the tire has a much better tread-life and should last longer than the old potenza's. I'm not certain whether all markets are getting the dunlops fitted but many have been getting them for the past couple months.

Xyntax

What the? I have Potenzas and was made in January.

arattle

Well, I got Bridgestone Potenzas with my car, built 9/03, delivery 7/04.

-arattle

vegas RX8

Yeah that sucks to hear...I have potenzas and 10500 miles....have feeling that they might only make it to 13500 hoping 15000. Then I will probably replace w/ 245/40 haven't decided what manuf. yet.

Mag66

Build date 04/04 and came with Dunlops. According to my dealer.. all the 04/04 builds they received (20) came with Dunlops and they don't expect any further '8's to come with anything else for the time being as the Dunlops gave better overall performance than the Bridgestones for a longer period of time.

Old Rotor

I've got about 12k on my Potenzas and just rotated them. I hope to get 25k from them. Most of my driving is hwy, if it was twisties they would probably be about gone. I'm looking at the Potenza RE750. Should be able to get 50k on them if I'm not to hard on them.....

LiveBlues

I'm in Idaho, and the 8 I test drove had Dunlops on it. My 8 is coming from Montana (I hope to get it this weekend) and I am guessing from what I have read that I hope that it also has Dunlops on it.

The mileage on the Potenzas seems very very low to me.

twisty7867

My 8 was delivered to its orignal owner last September, and it has the Bridgestones on it, and they still have a ton of tread left. Maybe it says good things for the way he drove it

Here in LA it doesn't even rain often enough to worry about it, I could all but run racing slicks

chad

Mine came w/ Potenza's but, my dealer had a "tires for life program" that came with the car for free. So...whatever they decide, I'll probably go with......FREE 18inch TIRES!!!! WOO HOO!!!!! Watch'em smoke!!!

Chad

Xyntax

Ok, this doesn't sound so bad at all. When my Potenzas wear out, I can go for wider tires :D

Is 275/35/18 the maximum we could go? I wont be lowering my car anyway.

Reaper Man

you may want to see if there are stipulations to that of course though- if they think you're beating on the tires, I'm sure there is an escape clause somewhere in there.

as for car build time- mine was built 11/03. and I'm sure the Dunlops will be just as useless in the snow- but then again, from a performance aspect- there is no tire that is better than snows for the condition- I think no-seasons are a creul joke for those that don't know any better

thanks for the replies guys

RX8Drvr

Just a bit of input on the tire thing, mine has the Potenza's on it and I am happy with them, although I am a little disappointed with the tread life I am hearing about. I had to replace one of my tires the other day and found that this is a customer release tire which means if you dont own one of the vehicles that were originally fitted with these tires, you dont get them. The guy at the Firestone store came out got my VIN and some other stuff and called in the order in front of me, I even had to talk to the dist. center. Kinda crazy if you ask me. I suppose they do that so they can charge 270 a tire. From what I hear Yokahama has a great Z rated 255/45/18 for around $200 retail. I haven't really done any research on it as of yet, so if you have let me know.

Atacdad

Build data 11/03...delivered 05/04 with Dunlop 8090's. Excellent dry holding, can get loose in the wet, but nothing that DSC can handle as yet. No snow in my part of TX

I have a friend with an S2000 that came with OEM Potenza S-02's and it is undrivable in wet weather at 13K miles...No control over the backend. He drives his beater truck if it even looks like its going to rain.

gusmahler

It seems to be random. I bought my car in June and it has Dunlops. Other cars on the lot, that came off the same truck, have Potenzas.

Parmer8

I've got almost 17k miles on my Potenza with plenty treads left. They should last until the next oil change at 20k, but I'm trying to burn through the tire sooner so I can get newer ones. I also have the "Tires for Life" program. The stipulation is you have you do your services at the dealership. No problems for me since I get free service for the life of my warranty.

NavyDood

Firestone needs to get off their dead beat butts and get the Firestone Firehawk SZ-50's available for our cars.

RX8Drvr

That's funny, I actually traded an S2000 (2001) in on my RX8 and it had Dunlops on it originally, when those ran out rather quicky, I went Nitto's... BIG mistake. those things wore out fast as hell and had NO grip in the corners after like 10k. As far as the Firehawk series, I had those a long time ago on a 3000GT, they were actually realy good tires although I am not sure which designation they were. Either way I am sure they have completely revamped the tire since then.

PS Please don't kick me off the forums because I drove a Mitsubishi, I was young, I didn't know what I was doing!

Reaper Man

since we're on the topic of tires- I've heard from Falken reps that the GRB 451's have been out performing the Azenis in drive times, plus they have much better traction in the wet....

Old Rotor

I have 12K on my Potenzas and think they will get to 25K if I dont chicken out as they get thinner and thinner. They are wearing pretty even. Front a little on inside, Rear alittle on outside. So the rotation the dealer just did for free should do well. The last part of the tread is alot more watching out for pot holes and sharp objects, but since they are shaved down they are better...

JonnyT

This is an interesting thread...

If you look at www.tirerack.com you will see that the Dunlops received a much better rating then the Potenzas. I was wondering about this when I got my 8 (about 3 weeks ago)...the other 4 RX-8's on the lot had Bridestones and mine had the Dunlops. Build date of my car is 01/04. I guess now I'm fortunate that I got the Dunlops.

RX-Dreamer

Anyone got P-Zero Neros?