Tire Rack Consumer Reviews

Initial Review, 20,000 Miles on Tires
April 27, 2012

I replaced the OE Continental's on my 2003 Passat GLS sedan with a set of Bridgestone Potenza G 009 Grid's and was very pleased for the first few thousand miles. But then they started to get noisy. By the time they reached 20,000 miles they weren't just noisy, they were downright loud so I went back to the Firestone dealer to discuss the issue. They admitted to having similar complaints from other customers and subsequently offered to provide me with a partial credit under warranty towards the purchase of another set of tires. By this time Bridgestone had introduced the Potenza G 019 Grid to replace the G 009, and the dealer told me the noise issues had been resolved with the new design. Instead of following my initial instinct I bought a set of the Potenza G 019 Grid's. That turned out to be a very bad decision as my experience with the G 019's has been exactly the same as their predecessor - they were fine for the first few thousand miles, but then they started to sound as if the belts were beginning to separate. With 20,000 miles they’re now so loud I can hardly stand to drive the car for anything but short distances. So it’s time for another set of tires, which is too bad because the performance of the Potenza G 019’s is very good – they’re perfectly acceptable to me in most wet and dry conditions, as well as light snow. But the noise is a total deal breaker. Sorry Bridgestone – I’m moving on.