Firestone FireHawk 500
 

Hello,

Hope you are all doing well today. Already searched up the topic, however, not much information on the actual characteristics (handling wise etc) of this tire.

I would appreciate it if someone could tell me their experience with this tire thus far.

Not popular here,but just think,Tyres are just 4 small contact patches on the road,should get a better set of tyres.

People here seem to lump ultra summers in with all seasons for some reason. Maybe because the car came with max summer they see ultras as a downgrade?

If you are just driving around on the street you should never notice the difference between an ultra, max, and extreme summer tire aside from wear. With ultras, like the firestone and bridgestone re760, you give up some ultimate grip from a max summer with comparable levels of noise and ride quality.

I purchased a set of these tires a month ago. Have yet to put them on as my stock tires will have some life on them. Will report back after they are installed.

As to this comment:
Not popular here,but just think,Tyres are just 4 small contact patches on the road,should get a better set of tyres.
It is the most meaningless statement. What is your definition of a "better" set of tires? Did you personally have experience with these tires? Useless comment.........

I dunno, a lot of us oldtimers remember the "Firestone 500" debacles from way back, myself, I don't want to revisit.

Barnco, the new firehawk indy 500's are in no way related to the old indy 500 tire and are in fact just rebadged bridgestone re-003 which is the succesor to the global re-002 which was known as the bridgestone re760 here in the states. I have been running the firehawk indy 500's for the last few months and can personally say i love them and they are very grippy and communicate really well to let you know when they are at the limit


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I had these tires put on yesterday. All I can say is why did I waited so long. These tires so far are much quieter and provide a more comfortable ride than the stock Bridgestones. Traction is excellent on city and highway driving. For the price of less than $600 for the set you can't go wrong. The only unknown is how well they will last and if there will be any decrease in performance as the tires wear down. Will definitely report back.

Thank you for that heads up! I already got the tires installed, I live in Toronto, so the tires set me back $884 taxes in, balance and installed.

The tires so far have been fantastic! Grippy and responsive! I look forward to a good time with these tires! Tread life will have to wait, have only 100 km on them so far!

treadwear of 500(MPSS 300) those tires must ride hard and will never wear out,,,Im too old to worry about mileage:rolleyes:

I am one of those oldtimers. I had a set, and 3 of the 4 went bad--two out of round to the point they couldn't balanced and one starting to separate IIRC. No relief at all from Firestone. By the time the feds ordered Firestone to make amends, mine were all long gone. I would have been gold if I had kept the old carcasses.

I'll never buy another Firestone product, regardless of what is underneath the badge.

I don't know if I could stomach "firestone" on my tires, just my .02 worth.

Knowing that they are a rebranded Bridgestone is the only way I will even consider buying them. However, I will be getting them as my next set as the Federal's I currently have are heat cycled out at half life and one of them is now shaped like an egg. I will never buy the 595 RPM's again, or recommend them to anyone. I at least know Bridgestone knows what they are doing with quality control unlike Federal.

So far, I have around 200 km on the tires and they are doing great (then again it is extremely low mileage). Only time will tell how these tires handle when the tread gets to around 50% or so.

The grip is fantastic, the ride isn't smooth but it is better than the stock RE50s I had on, *shivers*.

I know they had a history, but that's like bashing Takata, Toyota, Honda etc for their recalls and so forth. Mistakes happen and the loss of lives that occur are extremely sad. However, if mistakes by corporations are brought to justice and they learn not to make the same mistakes again, then we can all move forward in the name of progress.

I gave these tires a chance because of the word of mouth referrals and testimonials, not online reviews and so forth. Maybe I could "relate" to the tires, I mean I had a bad reputation in the past and someone finally gave me a chance and they were beyond impressed with my performance, so why not do the same with tires? Weird I know, but hey, no regrets here.

Love the tires and with Bridgestone at the helm as the parent company what's not to like?

So I just had a set of these put on this morning. Only driven about 70 miles but here are my impressions:

Soooo much quieter than my OEM tires. Granted they were worn (28,000), but night and day. It was tough to have a conversation with the stock ones - even when new added to the FI exhaust. Wish I had done a dB meter, but definitely a noticeable difference.

They do have a little more 'thump' to them over bumps, but maybe I'm just noticing it more because the others had so much road noise.

Wheel guards - pretty much non-existent. Don't get too close.

Haven't pushed them yet - want to wait until the goo dries & all, but responsiveness seems fine for the couple of exit ramps I took.

But the big thing is the noise. Feels like a completely different car. I always thought that the noise was the exhaust. Nope. The tires.

$706 plus $46 tax at a Firestone Service Center.

They are just about as stiff as the set of S-04's I had on the Z at one point. I'm happy to be back on a Bridgestone tire. I'm 600 miles in so far and they are almost as good as the S-04's in the dry, but not as good in the wet hydroplane-wise.



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Just got these installed 3 days ago all around replacing the stock S001's which had 26k. First Impression is they are more quiet than the stock ones. Went from Los Angeles to the Zdays meet are were really comfortable. On the way back it was pouring in some sections where i passed a 15+ Sti and Evo X by the Grapevine cruising around 75-80 mph comfortably. So far about 500 miles and I am Happy and have yet to try these on the canyon.:tup:

Post again after the canyons... I'm really curious how it goes. I've heard good things about these tires. Considering them for my next 4.
Thx

No issues with mine. much quieter than stock, and Plleeennty of grip for the street.
I'd buy them again.

Just got these mounted the other week. Coming from Continental DW in size 265/35F and 285/35R, I went back to stock sport Rays sizes due to the $150 difference in price for these sizes in the Firehawks. Without a doubt I can say these are the better tires. A lot more initial bite than the DW and much quieter to boot. Plus the aggressive tread pattern is more visually appealing.

So far they’ve only been street driven with some spurts of hard cornering and acceleration, but the steering wheel feels lighter in my hands and the response is better.

Will have more input after autoX.

Not many long time user commenting. So on my second set of rears, still running the same fronts. For daily/spirited driver it's a good tire for the price. Good grip on launch and plenty of feed back on it limits in a corner cause they are very low compared to some tires but not bad since you get set for the price of rears for the "real" tires. Was quite surprised how well they do in the rain tread life defendant ofcourse. I switch between the indys for street and re11s for track there's a night and day difference between them but 700 bucks or 1300 bucks for driving around town and a little mountain fun I'll take the indys all day they make tracks for pushing the limits

Well, it's been almost two years since I have had these tires on my car, have about 10,000 km on them now.

Dry: Great response and grip. They stick to corners well and the ride is pleasant, note, I'm on coilovers so that may add to the whole experience.

Wet: Good! I don't go crazy in wet weather to begin with, but, the tire sticks and I've gon 140 kmph - 160 kmpnh and notices very little hydro skimming.

Overall this is a fantastic tire for the price point. Remember, these are rebranded Bridgestones RE003, a good tire that gets the job done when you want to let loose on the twisties.

Thanks for all the awesome first hand reviews. Very helpful!

It's what friends do! You're welcome:hello:

I have been running them for 1 year now and they are holding up great.
I think I have around 25k miles on them now.
I also have 6 passes at the dragstrip on them and they hook up pretty well.
They are showing very little wear on them which is amazing for everything I have put them through.
Can't beat the price either!

I have them on my Fit and love them, def buying another set as my next tire

The Firestones compared to Bridgestone S04s - The S04s win

Heres why:

I hit the track as well as get out in the mountain passes. For the track, im using Federal 595 RS-RRs ( good for the price but there are better) ...

But, I wanted good street-able traction for the mountains etc.

The OEMS for the 15' Sport where grippy but snap out of traction with no warning... When they were toast, i gave the S04s a try for the price and some reviews. The compound was slightly less than the OEMS but were MUCH more predictable on the traction limits. The braking traction was very good and over all a good tire, but certainly just a mid range and not a top tier compound.

I did take the S04s to the track for some light runs and here is what i noticed: Brand new, the tires were scary over 110mph until you burn off the slick top bit off the tires. About mid- wear, they were good at 155+ good reliable traction advertising and braking performance. Again though, a mid tier tire for all of these in my opinion.

The Firestones.
They are a very sexy looking tire on the car, especially since i got some 15' nismo rims to throw them on.

The break-in period was a bit quicker than the S04s and the price could not be overlooked (why i went for a go with these) So far ( and i still have them on, I noticed that they are not happy on the track at all.. The top speed is good and they they too like the S04 have some predictability as far as advertising traction loss...

But the traction loss threshhold is less. A highway speed emergency brake on S04s is solid (using oem brakes or stop techs) On the Firestones, you get chirp on ABS using 80% braking. Turns are the same... the snap out threshhold for the Firestones is less.

On a drift note, The Firestones, will hold a fishtail coming out of a turn very smoothly... Not that I do that often..I dont like buying tires every week

Summary:

The Firestones are actually great daily tires .... But if you plan to get aggressive with them, the S04s will out perform, and of course, a variety of tires on up to PS4s , re-11s. re-71s etc if you want to get up there in max traction. etc etc.

Good review!

Thanks for the solid and un bias review, it is greatly appreciated. I use my car as a daily driver, I never have, or will, take it to the track, but that's just me. The next tires I grab will be the S04's. I am aware that some tire manufactures have a different sizing for the same type of tire. For example a 275 from Mich may be wider than a 275 from Pirelli.

When it comes to S04 sizing vs the Firehawk sizing are they S04's wider or skinnier? Thanks in advance for your assistance, it is greatly appreciated!

I did have the S04s on 15 sport rays, and the Firestones on 15 nismo rims, so I couldnt tell you how the s04s would sit on the rears compared to the Firestones, but the fronts seemed slightly (if at all) skinnier per width (... i am being picky though (very close to how the oem Bridgestones sat)

Hope that helps