By Gerald Yuen

Lenspeed’s staff car gets a new set of rubbers

RE050A

60,000km done on the Citroen DS3, and I must say that one of the most outstanding takeaways from the car would be the OEM Bridgestone RE050A rubbers. With dimensions of 205/45/17, it has the tyre width of a base spec 122bhp VW Golf, and yet its an inch up on size – probably to complement the DS3’s “anti-retro” image. Slapping on rubbers with vital stats of 205/45/16 would certainly make more sense considering the DS3’s ability to maintain a fluid rhythm with the road. But to be honest, I’m not complaining about the ride quality one bit.

With a treadwear rating of 180 (similar rating to the Yokohoma Advan AD08 semi slicks), I was expecting it not to last beyond 30,000km. But simple visual inspections reveal that there is still plenty of thread left. It might be due to my driving style (erm, wheelspins can be counted with one hand!), but even then the rubbers did not show signs of hardening and losing grip even though they often bask under the heat on weekdays in an unsheltered parking spot. But one nagging issue with the front right tyre was all it took for me to decide on a new set of rubbers. High time for a change, perhaps?

It came down to two choices – Michelins’s Pilot Sport 3 and Bridgestone’s RE002. We had the PS3 on the MkV GTI, and apart from the brilliant treadwear (we did 80,000km with pretty hard driving), I did not feel that in tuned with the car. Steering response was numb, and it was even noisier than the Pilot Sport 2 – a tyre supposedly designed for sportier driving. That left me with only one option – the Bridgestone Adrenaline RE002.  I’ll be fitting this on later in the week. Let’s see how this will work out.