Tire: Turanza EL42
Category: Standard Touring All-Season
UTQG (treadwear): 320 B B / 300 A A / 260 A A
The Turanza EL42 is another mediocre tire in the standard touring all-season line up for Bridgestone. Developed to be used as an original equipment (OE) tire for sports cars and luxury sedans, it is sometimes even found on crossovers and small SUVs. I think when you look across the Bridgestone stable of tires in this performance category the only thing you might notice here is that this tire seems to have been fitted to a slightly more upscale car, not that that fact actually has a huge bearing on the traction capabilities it has. Not too much technology or research has gone into the development of the Turanza EL42 to differentiate it from the others, so I'll just skip all the technical talk.
While not displaying class leading traction capabilities, this tire actually has decent treadwear. I've had plenty of drivers tell me that they passed 90,000 miles without issue, and I think quite frankly that an OE tire going that far is great. Makes this tire a value play, just don't expect this all season tire to do a great job in snow. Outside the snowbelt and northern climates you'll definitely find this tire to be adequate in most situations. So if you think that you'll be keeping your vehicle around for awhile, these could definitely be worth the investment. Just don't expect to be setting any cornering or speed records on the autobahn.
