A buddy of mine works as a new tire distributor. For awhile he only carried Chinese made stuff (Triangle) that I was never really interested in, but he recently started carrying Bridgestones and assured me I can buy them off him at cost. I've read mostly good things about Potenzas, but wanted to know if any of you have had any experience with these tires or brand. I'd likely be needing 215/45R17 to fit the wheels I want to buy.

As you may well know, my top priority is dry performance.

Bridgestone tires are a hit or miss. Some ppl love them and have no issues while others hate them. I think they are a good tire. Their name couldn't of become so big if all they made were crappy tires

If they sell Khumo tires they make some nice tires, Nitto would be way better though. BFGoodrich also makes some nice summer tires and is what I have mounted on my summer set.

I'll have to ask him, but I highly doubt he'd carry Nitto's. I've yet to see any tire place in my city selling those.

I'm currently running on Toyo Extensa A/S and they're horrid. Poor dry grip, too much flex and turns my car into a slip-n-slide in the wet. Can't handle snow either.

There name is all in the marketing. They've become so big because they provide rubber to lots of other brands including Michelin. I worked for bridgestone, because of the way they treated their employees, their sales tactics, and constantly killing off good tires to make room for tires that would wear faster so they could make more profit I will never buy a bridgestone product.

When I went to buy my cruze I told them it's a make or break if it has bridgestone tires, I wanted them changed or I wasnt buying the car. Luckily it had Goodyear tires.

Potenzas were a sticky tire that got good handling but wasn't odd to see a wore out set with only 30k km on them. They've probably made longer lasting ones since I worked there but if I were you I'd buy Michelin.

The Sexy Electrician

I've only had one set of Bridgestone tires, the side walls were very stiff and made my car drive likea forklift. Didn't have them on the car for very long because I ended upflat spotting all four in and emergency braking incident. (Some cop thought that because he had his lights on that he could cut people off). I then installed a much better BFGoodrich Comp T/A. But am getting a set of Michelin Defenders this week for the red Cobalt $743 minus a $70 mail-in rebate. So $673. Expensive yes but safety comes first for my girls.

Michelin all the way!!

The Sexy Electrician

If you have the money Michelin tires are always the best.

I'll take a set of NT05's over anything Michelin makes so...

That's for the money anyways.
I also just found these so I might have to eat my own words.
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....cleSearch=true

I've heard Michelin tires don't last because they dry rot in hot climates like California and Arizona. I've heard good things about hankook tires from people that live down south (quality vs $)

The Sexy Electrician