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was thinking about buying some re003's in the current bridgestone 4 for price of three deal.mainly because we have a lot of potholes around here.
if anyone has run this size,your thoughts would be appreciated.
Mick

I have, on the old RE001

Works out to be about a 3% difference to the standard 195/50

Personally I wasn't a fan, the speedo was out enough that at an indicated 100kph I was travelling a real life 102kph
Acceleration felt a little slower, but no more than with other things that change how the car feels (warm days, etc)

I would only buy them if they were substantially cheaper than the regular size.
As far as potholes go, the regular 195/50 is plenty meaty to deal with them.

Are they not available in the 50 profile or are you chasing a specific rolling diameter? Standard size for NB8A is 195/50R15, a taller side wall will make your speedo read slow ie road speed will be faster than shown.

just for a little extra sidewall,already bent one wheel on potholes,already got 195/50's.
I drive on a lot of the rougher roads around here.(hunter valley)
the increased rolling diameter will make my speedo correct(its a little out)and have a td04 turbo to go on which should help with the acceleration.
any other experiences happy to hear them.should probably make my mind up by tomorrow.
Mick

If you're going turbo why not also consider some extra width?

the profile is a measure of sidewall height as a percentage of tyre width, so a 195/50 sidewall is 50% of 195mm, or 97.5mm (roundabout, the measure is never precise)

the sidewall of a 195/55 is 107.25mm, which is about identical so if you went for a 215/50/15.

More width for traction, more sidewall for potholes.




I have my doubts that an extra 10mm of sidewall will keep the wheels much safer though.
if the potholes there are large enough to buckle wheels i'd expect you'd be wanting a LOT more protection.