Bridgestone Tires Review: Brand Guide

About Bridgestone Tires

Launched in 1931, Bridgestone is currently the largest tire manufacturer in the world. It accounts for the majority of tires sold in the world, eclipsing brands like Goodyear, Continental, Michelin and Pirelli.

In 1988, it acquired Firestone, and it has since propelled it to become one of the biggest tire manufacturers globally. It’s also the parent company of other tire companies such as Dayton, Fuzion, and Primewell, among others.  

It has approximately 180 manufacturing plants, based in different parts around the world. Today, Bridgestone produces tires in almost all categories.

It sells tires for different seasons and terrains such as summer tires, winter tires, all-season tires and all-terrain tires, just to name a few. Bridgestone also sells puncture-resistant tires, popularly known as run-flat tires.

Whether you drive a passenger car, a high-performance car or a passenger car, it shouldn’t be hard to find a Bridgestone tire that fits your vehicle.

Most Popular Bridgestone Tires

Bridgestone sells tires in almost all categories. Whether you are looking for performance tires, winter tires, summer tires, or all-terrain tires, it shouldn’t be hard to find the right Bridgestone tire for your vehicle.

Its tire collection features six major brands. These are Potenza, Turanza, DriveGuard, Ecopia, Dueler, and Blizzak. Some of the most popular tires from these brands include:

Potenza RE980AS

Launched in 2018, the Potenza RE980AS is an ultra-high performance tire, engineered for both sporty and luxury coupes, sedans as well as two-seaters.

If you are looking for an all-season tire that offers maximum grip, handling and stability in different weather conditions, then the Potenza RE980AS may be an ideal fit.

All-Season Performance

All-season tires should perform well in different weather conditions and surfaces. And the Potenza RE980AS is no exception.

Bridgestone has outfitted this tire with an asymmetric ribbed tread design, featuring full 3D sipes. This tread design, combined with the sipping pattern helps to increase the tire’s biting edges, thus boosting the tire’s traction on wet surfaces, dry pavement and winter weather.

Maneuverability and Control

Tires are the sole point of contact between the vehicle and the ground. Therefore, they play a vital role when it comes to a vehicle’s handling, control and safety. So, how does the Potenza RE980AS perform?

As noted above, this tire features an asymmetric ribbed tread design, which ensures the tire maintains surface contact at all times. And as a result, you are assured of enhanced steering responsiveness, driving stability and excellent maneuverability.

Treadlife and Durability

The Potenza RE980AS features a durable tire compound, which has been formed into its asymmetric ribbed tread pattern. This combination helps to extend the tire’s tread life. Furthermore, the ribbed tread pattern helps to distribute the vehicle’s forces evenly on the surface, thus ensuring uniform tread wear.

With the Potenza RE980AS, you are getting a tire that will deliver excellent and dependable performance on wet roads, dry roads and winter conditions. Also, it has been built with wear-resistant tread materials, to ensure longevity.

Turanza QuietTrack

The Turanza QuietTrack is a grand-touring all-season tire, engineered for luxury vehicles, sedans, coupes, crossovers and minivans.

It’s designed to deliver a refined and luxurious driving experience, without sacrificing comfort, safety, traction and handling. Some of the key features of this tire include:

Long Tread Life

Bridgestone’s tires are known to come with a long tread life. And the Turanza QuietTrack is no exception. It comes with an 80,000 mileage warranty, which is one of the longest in the class.

All-year Traction

With the Turanza QuietTrack, you are assured of excellent traction on dry and wet roads as well as a dependable grip when you are driving on light snow.

And this can be attributed to the tire’s unique all-season tread compound, featuring an asymmetric tread design. The asymmetric tread pattern will grip the ground, keeping your vehicle moving well, even when you come across wet and slippery surfaces.

Furthermore, you will not encounter issues of hydroplaning, thanks to the tire’s circular contact patch. This patch helps to dissipate water, mud, snow, slush, or sand, which may have accumulated on its surface.

Quiet and Cozy Ride

Just like other tires from this company, the Turanza QuietTrack has been equipped with Bridgestone’s Cruise Technology.

If the tire comes across potholes, bumps or other surface imperfects, the force is spread uniformly across its surface, thus minimizing vibrations.

Also, this tire comes with Bridgestone’s proprietary QuietTrack technology, which helps to reduce road noise, thus ensuring a quiet and comfortable ride.

Regardless of whether you are driving on wet, dry or light-snowy roads, everyone in your vehicle will enjoy a cozy ride.

With the Turanza QuietTrack, you are getting all the features and technologies present in previous iterations. It also comes with some of the latest Bridgestone technologies, to deliver great, all-year-round performance, across all types of surfaces.

DriveGuard

Run-flat tires are designed to keep your vehicle moving, even when the tire has been punctured.

However, one of the main drawbacks of using run-flat tires is that their ride quality is poor, making the vehicle uncomfortable.

And Bridgestone wants to change all that, with the introduction of their new, premium run-flat tire, known as Bridgestone DriveGuard.

With the DriveGuard, you can continue driving your car up to 50 miles, moving at speeds of up to 50 mph, even when the tire has completely lost its air pressure.

And unlike other run-flat tires, the DriveGuard doesn’t compromise ride quality.  It’s designed to deliver better ride quality and comfort, than most of the other run-flats on the market. So, what sets this tire apart from the other options on the market?

Quiet and Comfortable Ride

Unlike other run-flat tires that result in poor ride quality, you will continue enjoying a comfortable ride with this tire, even after it has completely lost air pressure. It rides almost like a standard tire.

And while you may still notice a few vibrations when you encounter uneven surfaces, the difference in ride quality between the DriveGuard and conventional tires is minimal.

Apart from minimizing vibrations, this tire also suppresses road noise extremely well. Its overall ride quality is one of the best when it comes to run-flat tires.

Great Overall Performance

Besides its great ride quality, the DriveGuard also delivers excellent performance in both wet and dry conditions. Its traction on light-snowy surfaces is equally impressive.

It has been designated Wet Grip A in EU labeling, which is currently the highest wet grip performance.

However, its braking performance in winter conditions tends to drop off, especially when there is a thick layer of snow or ice on the road.

Its softer handling performance when you are driving on the highway at highway speeds may also be a concern for hard-core driving enthusiasts. But for most drivers, this may not be an issue.

Solid Guarantees

Bridgestone has backed this tire with several solid guarantees. First, it comes with a 60,000-mile limited treadwear warranty.

Second, Bridgestone offers a 30-day trial period. So, if you are not satisfied with this tire, you are free to return it and you will get a refund.

Third, Bridgestone offers to completely replace the DriveGuard, if it cannot be repaired after a flat, within its first 12,000 miles or its first year, whichever comes first.

If you normally use run-flat tires and your current ones are old or worn-out, then the DriveGuard will be a solid replacement.

Dueler H/L Alenza Plus

Designed for high-performance SUVs and crossovers, the Dueler H/L Alenza Plus is an all-season tire that can perform well in a wide range of weather conditions.

It also delivers a comfortable driving experience as well as enhanced fuel efficiency. Let’s take a closer look at some of its key features and technologies.

All-Season Tread Compound

The Dueler H/L Alenza Plus comes with an all-season tread compound, featuring a symmetrical tread pattern.

The symmetrical tread pattern features lateral notches, wide circumferential grooves, as well as a high number of sipes. This combination helps to improve the tire’s gripping ability on dry pavement and wet surfaces.

Bridgestone has also used a silica-based compound on this tire’s tread, which helps it to maintain flexibility and suppleness, even when you encounter cold, winter weather.

And considering that it also comes with a symmetric tread pattern, you can expect this tire to deliver effective, dependable, and safe performance on roads covered with ice or snow.

Great Handling and Control

Tires should be precise and quick in their controllability since they are the only point of contact between the road surface and the vehicle.

Fortunately, the Dueler H/L Alenza Plus comes with a sturdy internal structure, as well as a performance-optimized tread design, which will work together to boost your vehicle’s driving stability and steering response time.

Comfortable Driving Experience

With the Dueler H/L Alenza Plus, you are assured of a comfortable driving experience. The tire’s optimized tread design and the reinforced sidewall structure work together to improve its contact surface area.

Therefore, it will follow the road closely at all times, while helping to absorb potholes and bumps. And as a result, it will minimize vibrations transmitted to the vehicle’s cabin, thus providing a comfortable and quiet ride.

If are looking for all-season tires for your crossover, SUV or light pickup, then it will be hard to find a tire that can out-perform the Dueler H/L Alenza Plus.

It handles light snow, dry pavement and wet surfaces exceptionally well. Also, it’s a durable and long-lasting tire, which will not disappoint you.

However, its pricing is somehow on the upper end. But if your budget allows it, then you should buy this tire. It’s, without a doubt, one of the best grand touring all-season tires on the market.

Ecopia EP422 Plus

The Ecopia EP422 Plus is a grand touring all-season tire, designed to deliver a solid all-year-round performance and great fuel economy. It’s also an environmentally-friendly tire, thanks to its smaller carbon footprint.

Engineered for sedans, minivans, compact SUVs and coupes, this tire is available in a vast selection of sizes, ranging from 15 inches to 18 inches. So, what makes this tire such a great all-season performer?

All-season Tread Compound

Similar to other all-season tires from this brand, Bridgestone has equipped this tire with an advanced all-season tread compound, featuring its exclusive NanoPro-Tech.

This technology helps to increase the tire’s rolling resistance, leading to better fuel economy on all types of surfaces and conditions.

According to Bridgestone, the EP422 Plus will give you an extra 20 miles of gas per tank.

Symmetric Tread Pattern

Bridgestone has outfitted this tire with a symmetric tread pattern, which helps to improve its dry handling and traction.

It also features independent center blocks and a notched shoulder design, resulting in better steering response.

Circumferential Grooves

Its tread features four circumferential grooves, which help to channel water away from its surface, thus reducing hydroplaning risks.

On the other hand, the inclusion of numerous sipes gives the EP422 Plus additional biting edges, for enhanced grip and traction on ice, snow, and slush-covered road surfaces.

Overall, the EP422 Plus provides almost everything that you would want from a grand touring all-season tire. Its traction on different surfaces and conditions is outstanding, it’s supremely comfortable and quiet and it offers great fuel economy.

Blizzak WS90

Heavy winters can make it almost impossible to move from one point to the other using your vehicle.

And this is where the Blizzak WS90 comes in. It’s designed to keep your vehicle moving, even during the harshest winter conditions. It delivers top-notch grip, control and steering responsiveness on snowy and icy roads.

So, unlike other tires, the Blizzak WS90 will not lose traction even when you encounter freezing temperatures. Bridgestone has utilized a couple of technologies to make this happen. They include:

High-tech Multi-Cell Compound

Bridgestone has equipped this winter tire with its exclusive high-tech Multi-Cell compound, featuring bite particles.

This compound helps to remove the thin water layer, which tends to develop between a tire’s tread and snowy surfaces, leading to increased traction.

Symmetric Tread Design

The Blizzak WS90 comes with asymmetric tread design, featuring increased block stiffness. This tread pattern delivers increased steering responsiveness as well as longer tread life.

Also, the tire’s tread design increases the contact area between it and the road, thus increasing overall traction on ice and snow.

Furthermore, Bridgestone has furnished this tire with plenty of small zig-zag sipes, which provide additional biting edges.

Silica Enhancements

This Bridgestone winter tire comes with a high silica content, which helps it to remain pliable and soft, even when you encounter freezing winter conditions.

Therefore, it will continue providing traction in such conditions, where other types of tires would normally struggle.

If you are looking for a winter tire that will provide maximum traction on icy or snowy roads while delivering a comfortable and quiet ride, then you should add this one to your list.

It’s available in numerous sizes, ranging from 14 inches to 20 inches. It’s also compatible with a wide range of vehicles.

Bridgestone Tires versus Other Brands

As earlier noted, Bridgestone is one of the oldest tire brands in the world. It also produces some of the best tires that you will find on the market.

But over the last couple of years, Bridgestone has been facing increasing competition in various tire categories, from other companies like Michelin. So, what sets it apart from other brands?

Traction and Handling

Every Bridgestone tire that you buy, whether it’s a Turanza, Dueler, DriveGuard, Ecopia, Blizzak, Potenza, offers superior traction and handling.

For instance, its all-season tires deliver responsive cornering, braking and accelerating, even when you are moving at high speeds.

The winter tires, on the other hand, provide excellent traction, grip and great handling stability.

Ride Quality

Bridgestone has always focused on ride quality. Due to this reason, each tire that comes from this brand offers a quiet, smooth and comfortable ride, regardless of the weather conditions or the road.

Its tires are equipped with Resonance Noise Attenuated technology, which helps to reduce road noise and increase ride quality.

Fuel Efficiency

Tires come with something known as rolling resistance, which is the amount of effort a vehicle requires to keep them running at a consistent speed on the road.

And as you may expect, the higher the rolling resistance, the higher the amount of effort needed, which translates to higher fuel consumption.

To this end, Bridgestone equips all its tires with NanoPro-Tech. This technology helps to reduce the tire’s rolling resistance, thus helping the vehicle to save fuel.

Cost of Bridgestone Tires

Bridgestone tires are on the high side when it comes to price. The higher cost can be attributed to the company’s use of premium quality rubber, innovative technologies, as well as rigorous testing standards.

For instance, a 17-inch Bridgestone Blizzak WS90 goes for approximately $200 per tire. If you were to purchase a similar-sized winter tire from Continental such as the VikingContact 7, you would spend approximately $167.

A Goodyear 17-inch Goodyear WinterCommand Ultra will cost you approximately $135 while Yokohama iceGUARD iG53 winter tire will cost you around $145.

The same price difference applies when you compare other Bridgestone’s tires with other brands.

Warranties and Guarantees

All Bridgestone tires are backed by various warranties and guarantees, designed to protect the buyer against loss.

Just like other tire manufacturers, Bridgestone offers materials and workmanship warranties as well as mileage warranties. Bridgestone also offers customer satisfaction guarantees.

Platinum Pact Limited Warranty

Bridgestone’s materials and workmanship warranty is known as Platinum Pact Limited Warranty.

This warranty covers all light truck and passenger tires from this brand, apart from spare tires and winter tires.

Under this warranty, Bridgestone offers to replace the tire with an equivalent one, if the tire becomes unused due to materials and workmanship defects.

If the tire is damaged within the first 3 years after the purchase date, then you will get a free replacement. The replacement will also include free mounting and balancing. After the first 3 years, the replacement will be done on a prorated basis, up to 5 years.

For the tire to be replaced, the remaining original tread depth should be more than 2/32 of an inch.

Winter tires and spare tires will be replaced with an equivalent new one on a prorated basis. Coverage for these tires extends for 5 years, from the purchase date.

The determine the prorated amount, Bridgestone will multiply the percent of used treadwear on the tire, with the dealer’s current selling price.

Applicable taxes, balancing, mounting, disposal fees as well as various service charges may be added to the tire’s replacement amount.

It’s important to note that tire damage or irregular wear caused by road hazards, improper operation or use, improper or insufficient maintenance, degradation or contamination, and improper repair is not covered under this warranty.

Supplemental Mileage Limited Warranty

Bridgestone also offers a limited mileage warranty. Under this warranty, Bridgestone will replace the tire with an equivalent one free of charge, if its tread wears out before it attains a certain number of miles.

For the tire to be replaced, it must wear uniformly across the tread, down to the last 2/32-inch of the tread.

Unlike the materials and workmanship warranty, Bridgestone’s mileage limited warranty doesn’t have a free replacement period limit. Instead, coverage will extend up to the first 5 years from the date of purchase and be done via a pro-rated basis.

This warranty only covers light truck tires and passenger tires. Therefore, OEM tires and tires used in commercial vehicles will not be covered.

Mileage warranties range from 40,000 miles to 80,000 miles. Tires must be purchased through an authorized dealer and installed properly for them to be replaced under this warranty.

Customer Satisfaction Guarantee

Bridgestone also offers a customer satisfaction guarantee of 30 to 90 days on some of its light truck tires and passenger tires.

Under this guarantee, Bridgestone will replace the tire or offer a full refund, if you are not satisfied with the tire’s performance.

Bridgestone Tires Pros

• High-quality, durable and long-lasting tires
• Excellent handling
• Superior wet grip
• Comfortable and quiet ride

Bridgestone Tires Cons

• Higher price tag than other brands

Our Take

Bridgestone tires are among the best performing on the market. Its tires offer excellent grip and handling in both dry and wet conditions while delivering a smooth, comfortable and quiet ride. Also, Bridgestone tires have outstanding longevity, backed by extended warranties. However, its tires come with a higher price tag, which may dissuade some potential customers.