Anyone running these tires who may be able to compare them to their stock runflats??

I am currently running the stock ContiProContact SSR's and I hate them! I want to stick with A/S runflats, but I think I am denting the rims with every bump I hit. The roads here are horrible and I'm looking for a softer ride. I read reviews that the 960's are very close to the comfort of non-runflats so I'm thinking of giving them a try. However, the Conti's also claim to offer a comfortable ride at least as far as runflats go. The treadwear and other ratings between the BS and Conti's are about the same except the BS have a W speed rating while the Conti's are V. (205/45R17)

Also, would there be any problems with just replacing my front tires with the Bridgestone's as long as they are the same size? My fronts are worn and have 3 plugs between them, but the rear tires still look brand new (except for one plug). I'm pretty sure the Conti's have a magnet in them that suck in every nail/screw I pass! At least I can say that the SSR technology definitely works very well!

The RE960 A/S Pole Position Runflat is in my opinion, the best runflat tire out on the market hands down. I tested it on the road, with and without air pressure. I also drove it on the track wet. It was OUTSTANDING! Check out the test results here. I would not mix the H or V speed rated Pro Contact SSR with the W rated RE960 A/S Pole Position A/S Runflat.

I love how you always have links for me to click Alex...more reasons to run all over the tire rack website.

My semi-related question is what is the difference between the RE960 A/S Pole Position Runflat and the Potenza RE970AS Pole Position as far as performance goes? Also, what weight does miles driven have?

I see the DWS and Pilot Sport A/S Plus have fallen on the list to the Bridgestone Potenza RE970AS Pole Position. But with 200k vs 6M vs 12M vs 19M for the 960....
How does one choose?

Personally I will pass on the DWS, I had myself convinced I wanted it but with possibly softer turn-in there are other choices out there.

So 960 vs 960 RFT vs 970 vs DWS vs Pilot Sport A/S+ ...I wanna pull my hair out and I don't even need tires yet...always shopping though.

The biggest difference between the 2 is in tread pattern. The 970 features a center rib that the 960 does not have. This helped the dry cornering feel noticeably. The intermediary tread blocks we also changed. Rather than the 960's longer and thinner edges, the block-y triangles of the 970 are set up to interlock each other. This will contribute to sportier dry cornering feel, and likely less noise due to more even wear. These changes gave the 970's a slight advantage over the Michelin in a few sections of our last test. The cornering feel was quicker with 970 than the 960 particularly on the slalom portions of our course.

Miles driven - When tires are new their survey data is allways more favorable than it will show with more time/mileage. Not sure what explains it, but I have seen it with multiple tires.

How does one choose? Use your trusty resource who has driven all of them.

If your picking between the MPAS+ and the RE970 - you can't really do any better. You'd be happy with both. The runflat decision is personal.

I'd be targeting 970's, I like their modulation feel at the limit. Ride quality is also a factor for me.

Just a quick update in case anyone is interested .... I LOVE THESE TIRES!!!!!!!

I had a sidewall blowout after hitting a pothole and ended up having to replace the tires a little sooner than I had intended. The runflat still got me the mile or so home, but it was really starting to smell like rubber and made the same flopping noise that a normal flat makes. So anyway, I ended up using TireVan to come to my house and install the new 960's (little more expensive, but oh so convenient when you can't drive on your runflat!)

I've been running these tires for a thousand miles or so now and they are an unbelievably more comfortable ride than the Conti's! Handling has been great too!

I upgraded three years ago from the 195-55R16 Conti stock runflats to 205-55R16 RE960AS Bridgestones, and ABSOLUTELY loved them: they were solid performers, comfy and quiet on the highways, great on the twisties, and always held, even in crappy weather.

Anyone else make the switch to the pole position RFT's from the stock Conti RFT's? Especially interested in 17".

Any thoughts when these will be going back on sale? I seem to remember them being quite a bit less expensive last summer.

I replaced my original runflats with RE960AS and haven't looked back. Nice tire!

hi


I'm looking at the 960's for my 2005 cooper S, my 2nd set of Dunlop sp sport 5000 dsst's are on their way out 54K on each set, does anyone have much experience in cold weather/slushy conditions with the 960's


I'm 95% close to getting these but was hoping for the 970's to come out with a run flat

Hi,








I just got the RE960as RFT and I can only say they are amazing! Just drove home from the shop and right away on the highway I can tell a huge difference in smoothness, ride comfort and very quiet. I will see how these work out I drove through a patch of 2 inches of snow and they are decent, breaking was also good. Everyone is right about how good these are.