Bridgestone Potenza S04 Pole Position Tire Review
 

If you are in the market for some tires and you have as much power as a Z or G, you might want to read this.

After months of researching for what tires to get for the Z, I finally decided to pull the trigger on some Bridgestone Potenza S04 Pole Position's. Coming from Advan Sports, I doubted that the S04 was not as capable as the Advans because the wear characteristics were 180 for the Advans and 280 for the S04s.

The Advans were great tires and I pushed them to 25k miles before I had to replace them due to camber wear. The only thing is that these tires are about $450-$500 a piece!
In my opinion not worth buying again although it was good.

The Bridgestone S04 Pole Position really caught my eye when I was looking at pricing. They were $500 cheaper than Michelin Pilot Super Sports which is in the same class as the S04. (Max Performance Summer Tire) It was a deal I could not refuse.
Upon installing these Bridgestones, I was very surprised how much more balanced and planted the car felt. Maybe it's the 20mm wider tires I'm running now. Lol but I tried to break them loose near the limit and they just gripped for days!

Here are the specs:
S04 Pole Position
280 AA A

Advan Sport
180 AA A

Stock Nismo 370Z tire sizes are:
245/40/19 27.4" Diameter
285/35/19. 27.4 Diameter
I upgraded to:
265/35/19. 26.3"Diameter
305/30/19. 26.3" Diameter

About an inch lower all around.

I have just over 800 miles on these tires so the outer casing of the tires need to burn off a little more. It drives better every day!

These tires are priced in the Hankook V12 range but have more direct feel to them than the V12s. The sidewalls on the S04 are a little stiffer than the Hankooks. I had V12s on my old Benz and it was great riding. The only thing is that you could feel the sidewalls folding over under heavy cornering. Hankooks are more of a Grand Touring tire you can take to the track and ride home in comfort.
Since the Bridgestones have a stiffer sidewall, they are a little noiser than V12s.

All in all, I think I made a great call on these tires. Michelin performance for Hankook pricing you can't go wrong with that! The Bridgestone Potenza S04 Pole Position FTW!!

Nice review, these are going to be my next tires, same size as you. Everything I've read about S-04's has been good.

Thanks for the review :tiphat:

Why is there miles written next to the tires?
There's no correlation between tread wear rating and miles you should be able to go. And you can't compare tread wear ratings from one manufacturer to another

:iagree:

I put these on almost immediately after buying my roadster...and then switching to Nismo rims. Made all the difference in the world - especially ride quality and noise. Which in the roadster is an issue.

I kept stock size - but should have gone up. I got a great deal...all 4 for around 900 if I remember correctly.

I agree that no correlation between tread wear rating and miles you should be able to go.
That depends upon how well your alignment stays and is set. BUT the wear rating gives you a rough idea on how hard or soft the tire compound is.

I just put these one a couple weeks ago but haven't put many miles on due to the snow/car being parked. I agree, you can't beat the price of these tires and a lot of other folks seemed to be happy with them.

i still like my set!

if you guys are planning to get the S04's, get 285/35/19 vs the 275/35/19 for the rear.

for some odd reason (probably for them dumbarse scretch crowd) the 275/35/19 are quite a bit narrower than the RE050A 275/35/19. the 285/35/19 on the otherhand, is not so narrow.

i speak from experience. :D S04's are great tires.

I had these on mine, once they were wore out(7k on rear btw but I drive hard all the time) I went for PSS because of all the hype, THE S-04 IS A BETTER TIRE, I don't care what motortrend or tirerack or whoever says...I liked the s-04, if I wasnt going to be boosted soon I would buy them again in a heartbeat, but I do not think they will hold boost, going possibly to re-11 or ad08r or 888r.

yah, i dont know about you guys, but i really like sidewalls that look good. S04's definitely look good. :tup:

PSS & DW is kinda meh as far as sidewall appearance goes.

anyone have pictures of dw installed?

I am now leaning towards these to replace the advans.

I have the same setup as the OP and going on about 4,000 miles. They have held up well. The last 1,500 miles I have been boosted and they are not bad. From what I can tell from those that are boosted you are not going to get much real traction on any set of tires after about 5,000 miles if you like to burn rubber. IMHO I think if you are going to DD boosted, it's not worth the extra cash for an R rated tire. I can replace a lot of SO4s at a minimum of $100 less per tire, especially if I'm only replacing the rears mostly. :driving:

I present to you the Bridgestone S04 Pole Position:

http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/h...ps2111a20b.jpg

i put that info on there just for general reference for people in the market to buy tires.

http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/h...ps49782434.jpg
http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/h...psf976d164.jpg
http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/h...ps26298fea.jpg
http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/h...ps028c1a8a.jpg

Its such a stable tire especially +20mm all around width. #Planted :tiphat:

Plus 15mm spacer all around and Eibach springs!

I think it's misleading to anyone who looks into these tires

Revised.

I just made this same decision as well. They are sitting in my garage waiting to be installed.

I had them on my g35 and was extremely impressed. I could have bought the pss but for me the s04s were a better fit.

and look at the rim protection with a 285/35/19 SO4 on the rear nismo rim (10.5" wide)

http://www.the370z.com/members/fuct-...etarded-02.jpg

I agree with OP. These tires are too good to pass up for the price. Im running 265/305s with boost and the car feels phenomenal. Was $900 shipped from tirerack.

How are they in the wet?

Subbed.

great actually!

yah as fuct posted, they are very good in the wet. better than the DW's from my experience.

cold and wet performance is night day vs RE050A (and RE050A PolePosition) as well. :D

Pricing these tires in the 265-305 configuration now. Best price so far has been 1125.00 mounted and balanced.
That sound reasonable for DFW area?

Sent from my SM-N900T using Tapatalk

Wet performance is great. 65mph in a 1/4" of rain was not in the least bit questionable. That measurement of rain may be worth a grain of salt...But the road was covered enough to where Im positive the stock RE50s would've been sketchy above 40mph.

Yah, that's a normal price I thinks. :)

I paid 1200 first time around. 2nd time I took advantage of tirerack's sale and $50 gift card and came out 850ish for 255/285 config for my G35C. :D

I need to stay off the juice, I am seeing triple.

Nice pic.

Back when I only had Meisterschaft axelback it was fun! Im the grey Nismo in that pic LOL

I just AutoX a few weeks ago in the rain and I had trouble finding the limit because there was just so much grip I did not know when it would end. LOL S04 FTW

You can buy a spare rear set for the track with the money you save buying the Bridgestone S04 Pole Position Potenza over the Michilen PSS! What a long *** name LOL S04 FTW! :icon23:

I've had mine for almost a year now - I love 'em, they're way better than the OEMs (especially in the rain)!

http://www.the370z.com/wheels-tires/...-position.html

I just installed a set of 4 today. What PSI is everyone running for even wear on the so-4? I know Nissan recommends 35 psi but from my experience running around 32psi for softer than OEM tires tend to prevent premature mid-section tire wear.
FYI I am aware of normal inner tire camber wear

I've kept mine 33-35 and have even wear. Its more about getting the alignment spot on to keep that uneven wear down. I've got about 22k on the rears are at 3/32". I got about 17-18k on the oem RE050s.

Just when I convinced myself to go for the Michelin PSS. Now you have me thinking about the Potenza S04s.

My cold pressures are 33-34 rear and 38 front with my s04.

i pumped mine to 45psi cold on my G.





well, for hibernation dat is. lol :D