A new flagship model for Bridgestone’s comfort-oriented Turanza family goes on sale today
SINGAPORE
One the quietest tyres around has arrived in Singapore to much fanfare. The Bridgestone Turanza T005A, the brand’s new flagship touring tyre, was launched today at Gardens By The Bay during an event to celebrate the 17th anniversary of Bridgestone Tyres Sales Singapore Pte Ltd.
The evening also marked the launches of the Battlax T31 and A41, a touring and adventure tyre for motorcycles, respectively.
As for the Turanza T005A, Bridgestone says the new tyre was designed in Europe with comfort, quietness and safety in mind, and has already been chosen as original fitment by a number of “premium car brands”. Audi, BMW, Lexus and Mercedes-Benz are some of the manufacturers fitting the tyre to their cars.
It goes on sale in Singapore in 36 sizes, with prices starting at S$130 for a single 15” tyre. The largest 20-inch rim size versions start at S$350 per tyre.

The T005A was engineered specifically to cut noise, improve ride comfort and improve wet weather performance. “It’s much better than the Turanza GR-100 in terms of performance,” says Krado Low, the editor of Rev Magazine and Rev.com.sg. The GR-100 is the new tyre’s predecessor. With other motoring writers, Mr Low assessed the T005A alongside the older tyre at a private test track in Thailand earlier this month, and found that it delivers notable improvements in overall grip and behaviour in the wet.
 
Other news from Bridgestone
At the Turanza T005A’s launch, managing director Michael Tan (below) also highlighted the following:

– A new website for Bridgestone tyres has gone live, at the same URL of Bridgestone.com.sg. The new site is more mobile friendly and aims to help drivers choose the right tyre model and link them with a nearby dealer
– A new online initiative by Bridgestone will let dealers order stock digitally, reducing lead times and cutting down on ordering errors
– Bridgestone’s Pink Tyre Valve campaign raised more than S$34,000 for the Breast Cancer Foundation last year, a third more than in 2016
 
The T005A’s performance gains are the result a number of clever ideas, one of them involving the tyre’s design on a molecular level.
Some of the measures to quieten the tyre are designed into the tread pattern. A variable pitch design makes the treadblocks hit the road at an uneven interval, which prevents noise from building up at a certain frequency. The water-draining sipes are also cut at a steep angle, which apparently softens the tyre impact on the road.
The sipe edges are chamfered (or gently rounded off) to help the tread blocks deform less under braking, and keep the rubber in flat contact with the road.
The contact patch (the tyre’s basic footprint on the road) has also been optimised to help the tyre apply consistent pressure on the road, which reduces shock and impact noise.
Bridgestone says the tyre’s redesigned sidewall improves its ride comfort, while the T005A’s compound has been reformulated to provide more grip in rainy conditions — internal tests show a car fitted with the new tyre able to stop in shorter distances in the wet.
The Turanza line of comfort-oriented, touring tyres has traditionally been a strong seller for Bridgestone in our market, which augurs well for the T005A. “We’re very excited to bring our latest Turanza tyre to Singapore and believe that it will fulfill premium car owners’ high expectations on the ride comfort of their vehicle,” says Michael Tan, the managing director of Bridgestone Tyre Sales Singapore Pte Ltd.
It’s an important enough product that it was launched at what was a boisterous party for Bridgestone staff and dealers attended by nearly 200 people. Given its quiet design, however, its launch party is likely to be the noisiest thing about the Turanza T005A.