Tire Rack Consumer Reviews

Initial Review, 500 Miles on Tires
November 25, 2012

After much research and review reading I finally purchased a set of Bridgestone Potenza RE970AS to replace the Michelin Pilot HX MXM4s that were the original equipment on my 2007 Acura TL and I couldn’t be happier. The Michelins are a grand touring tire that had decent wet traction and a quiet ride but were absolutely horrible in any depth of snow. They were also a little stiff on concrete highways and had a definite ‘ring’ sound when hitting the seams, bumps etc. (which I had always attributed to the stiffness of my car’s suspension).
Believe it or not even though they are an ultra high performance tire the Potenzas are almost as quiet as the Pilots and actually have a little softer feel on concrete roads. There is a little more hissing sound on macadam, especially under hard acceleration, but I suppose that that is to be expected with any tire with superior traction. As far as the traction, the improvement with these new tires is just amazing. I recently drove home from work through a 3 inch slushy snowfall and you would have thought that the road was actually dry. In all conditions the road feel and responsiveness are top rate. There is a quickness and predictability to these tires that I had not felt with the Michelins.
The bottom line is if you want superior handling, excellent traction in wet and dry conditions and don’t mind a little additional road hiss then these are the tires for you.
Kudos also to Tire Rack for their unbeatable prices, excellent website and for having a network of local installers to get me and my new tires quickly and affordably on the road.