how good are falkens

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i been looking on places like tire rack and i cant find no reviews on falkens...i forgot what brand i was looking at here, but they were going for a decent price.

thats why i want to research falkens and how good they are, not sport tires, normal tires..

anyone care to help.
 
Their ZIEX-512's are fantastic all-season tires...if your willing to make the sacrifices that all all-seasons do.

Their better then the mich pilots, and can sometimes be found for almost 1/3 the price. One of the most general recommendations for most of the mazda 6 owners, is if they blow or damage a single mich, its almost the same price to just replace all four tires with Falken ZIEX-512's...not to mention the ZIEX-512's are better in almost every single catagory of performance.

Falken's Azenis Sports, are one of the grippiest street tires you can ever purchase. They can be a bit noisy, have poor wear (last 10k-15k miles), and mediocre wet traction...but their dry traction is to die for. Put a set of these on your car, and you'd think you were driving on ice previously.

As for most of their other tires, their kinda of mediocre. Toyo makes a better all around performance tire (as far as noise, longevity, and wet grip, but no where near as much dry grip).

I don't know much about other all-seasons...as I recently learned about the whole folly of running them in the first place. Anytime you compromise with a catch all solution, your losing performance...no matter how expensive or "flashy" the catch-all is.

If you want maximum performance and live in a climate area which gets snowfall/ice...you want two sets of tires. One set for winter, one set for summer. The difference is so incredible vs standard all-seasons (in snow or in summer dry) that you'll get on your own podium and try to convince everyone and their mother to do the two tires...then of course everyone wants to save money, and doesn't seem to care until after they've plowed into another car...which could have been avoided if they had spent more money on tires which grip better...
 
I have had the Ziexs 225/55/17 on my G35 sedan about 4 1/2 months now, 6-7K miles. These replaced the GoodYear 215/55/17 RSAs that came as OEM (a small side note: in Florida, law enforcement uses RSAs on all their cars).

When comparing the Falkens to the GYs, the Ziexs have:
- better grip in the dry
- much better grip in the wet
- are more comfortable, slightly softer ride
- look very sporty and aggressive, both the sidewall and tread pattern (I like this feature a lot)
- do not balance as well as the GYs, a little shimmy at highway speeds, even after 3 balancing attempts
- are very slightly noisier at speeds 25-55mph, the same above 55mph, but way noisier at speeds below 15mph (in the parking lot)
- are unidirectional (may contribute to the noise), can only rotate front to back on the same side only (e.g. can't switch front right with left rear)
- so far, high wear does not seem to be an issue, but it's still early in the life of the tire

These are only my opinions based upon my personal experience. Another Ziex owner on another board agreed with me mostly but mentioned that his set were not noisy at all; but noise can be a subjective quality. For instance, I think the G35 sedan has too much wind and tire noise intruding, most other owners comment that it's one of the quietest cars they've owned. I think it's quiter than my 96 Altima, but WAY louder than the 02 Acura TL it replaced,... and WAY, WAY noisier compared to the coffin-like silence of a Lexus ES I test drove. But if you like playing your stereo, you may not even notice the tire noise.

Hope this helps... did I leave out anything?
 
wow guys, haha alot of info! thanks...yeah these tires are pretty decent when i looked at them. i can get all 4 for 220 tax everything.

right now i currently have michellens mxv4 energy and i hate them. only lasted me 30k and i don tlike the grip. this tire is no where near a sports tire, its a tourin tire.

and its fall towards winter here, so i really need new tires soon, mine are down to the limit wear marks.
 
digitaldrifter,

Those mx4 mich's are horrible tires. Not only that, their overpriced a rediculous amount. If you were to place an actual value on what the tires were worth, I'd put the mich mx4's and mich pilots about about 1/4 the value of the ZIEX 512's.

They also wail like crazy if you actually start driving your car at the limit. Mine lasted a whopping 9k miles before I had to replace them...the sidewall tore itself completely apart in chunks.
 
yea mine falls apart taking high speed turns...u can see it wear..

i paid 109 each off of a price 140 each..

what an idiot. i guess any tire is better than the one i got, maybe even cheap brands like doral hahaha

though these mich are nice at about 120 mph...good control, but cornering, lol no match at all...its just a touring old man tire...

i always thought they were good cause they came OEM for my honda...1991 lol..what a fool i am
 
I replaced MXV4's with the 512's on my wife's Passat. Although I had decent luck with the MX's you can't beat the price of the Falkens. I have to give them the thumbs up. We'll see how they do this winter. My only complaint is that they are a pain to detail with the grooves and channels. The other thing I didn't realize when I bought them is that they are directional; no biggie, but a need to know thing if rotating.
 
Yeah, MXV4+ Energy are terrible, mainly geared towards comfort, not performance. You should be much happier with the Falken 512s. You may even consider Falken 451 or ST115 if you want more performance and don't need the all-season capabilities.
 
quote:

I'm looking to replace the MXV4s on my Accord, but don't want a softy mushy handling tire.

Then why would you consider an all-season tire in the first place?

If handling is your primary concern, throw all-seasons out the window. Get two sets of tires/wheels. One set for winter (snow tires) and one set for spring/summer/fall (summer tires).

Its the only way to maximize traction and handling in all situations.

If your looking for maximum traction and don't need snow/mud rating...

Toyo T1-S (being replaced by T1-R's next year)
Falken Azenis Sports
Kuhmo Mx's

The falken ZIEX-512's do grip better then the MX4's...but their all-seasons. Shouldn't expect miracles from them, or expect them not to chunk apart in high heat situations (like an autox). The BEST all-season on the market, is still second to the WORST summer performance tire available (in regards to dry traction and lateral stability). M+S is actually translated to "mostly slow"

If your looking for a step up from the Falken-ZIEX 512's, look at the Toyo Proxy4's. They aren't anywhere near as cheap as the Falken's though.

(Btw I have ridden on all above mentioned tires in both street and highly aggressive situations (autox)
 
512s are awesome. I buy them now in sizes the Conti Extreme does not come in. If you want mushy turn-in get Dunlop A2s...they are good in snow though. I would rather pay for Falkens than use another crappy tire that was free. (is that a good endorsement?) I have used EVERY modern tire multiple times. MXVs blow in everything except wear. Horrible ride. The 512 is everything the Potenza RE950 should have been.
 
quote:

Originally posted by 98AV6:
Falken Review
http://www.1010tires.com/tirereviews.asp?manufacturer=Falken&model=Ziex+ZE-512
Any feedback from Ziex owners in this forum about this tire's handling?
quote:

are more comfortable, slightly softer ride

There are a lot of comments about "soft" "marshmellow" and "soft turn in"?
I'm looking to replace the MXV4s on my Accord, but don't want a softy mushy handling tire.


I'd got the impression from the reviews page you linked, x-ref'd with other ancedotal reports, that the "soft/squirmy" comments may be due to these factors:
  • All brand-new tires are coated with some amount of residual "release lubricant" (used by mfrs to get them outta the mould) which will lend a slightly slippery quality to handling until worn (read: driven) off;
  • These Falkens have a relatively slinky sidewall and seem to do better with PSI towards the high range (e.g. 40ish PSI) approaching the tire's rated max PSI (less a thermal-expansion safety margin, natch);
  • The soft/squirmy issue may affect some Falken Ziex sizes worse than others (got the impression that the lower-profile ones got more complaints about this?).
However, my main concern with the reviews of these tires regarded their apparent poor wear characteristics over time, so initially-favorable impressions by customers and magazine testers alike were not sustained in the long run -- i.e., much like early Jaguars offered "grace, space and pace" at a price much lower than a Rolls or Ferrari, they were somewhat designed to impress in the showroom and testdrive and early phases of ownership, but over time, the cost-cutting required to meet that competitive price became significantly more apparent.

I've seen these in my size (185/65R14) going for as cheap as $37(+S/H+mounting) each online (at http://edgeracing.com/ IIRC), and occasional sales at Sears for $~45(+tax+balance+stems). However, the BFGoodrich Traction T/A is not much pricier (similar $~45+extras occasional sale price at Sears and competitive all-inclusive out-the-door price everyday a local chain) and seems to have MUCH more favorable and consistent reviews overall -- 1010Tires, TireRack, TireRack Hi-Perf. A/S tire survey comparo -- specifically regarding longer-term wear and crisper handling/ride (likely due to a much firmer sidewall; I'd thought the display model on the wall at Sears was INFLATED at first, compared to the slinky-walled Ziex next to it!); as a bonus, the tread design certainly looks more snow-capable and IMHO more olde-skoole aggressive (big, geometric blocks vs. the Falkens' swoopy channels). Check more discussion/info in the BFG Traction T/A thread here:
http://theoildrop.server101.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=44;t=000054
 
Sorry for the thread jack.
From what I read ,CR said Falken 512 was the top dog but the 2nd rank Bridgestone was a better handling tire.
Tyson F Nuss & crossbow , good points.
cheers.gif

I have reached the same conclusions.

The most expensive and desirable pkg is snow tires for winter(Michelin X Ice) and change to summer tires(Yokohama ES100) when the weather warms up.

Right now I can't afford the big $$ so I'm leaning towards BFG Traction TAs or Toyo Proxes 4 and maybe the Bridgestone Turanza.
Tyson F Nuss you're lucky,Arizona ? You can run summer tires all yr round!
 
Looked around, picked up the 205/60-15 Falken Ziex 512s. These are nice tires. Totally outperforms Michelin MXV4 Plus Energy and totally transformed my Acura Legend into a "point and shoot" vehicle.

They are a tad noisier at higher speeds but the surefootedness is at a totally different level. They need higher pressures. The Michelin would ride very hard at 32psi. The Ziex 512 are just perfect at 35 psi.
 
quote:

Originally posted by 98AV6:
...Tyson F Nuss & crossbow , good points.
cheers.gif

...snippity...
Tyson F Nuss you're lucky,Arizona ? You can run summer tires all yr round!

Thanks, yr welcome, and y'all can just call me Tye.
cool.gif


In theory, yes, I could run summer tires year-round... if I was quite certain I'd never drive anywhere that snow falls, such as up to Mt. Lemmon where a skiing facility usually operates for a couple-few months each winter (Tucson is hemmed-in by Rocky Mtn. ranges, one to each cardinal direction), or up to Northern Arizona (e.g., Flagstaff gets snow), or other parts further north like back home to visit my folx in Wisconsin, nevermind if I move away anytime soon (not likely if I can help it!
grin.gif
)...

Snow tires are an extra cost/storage issue I can't swing right now, and it'd be darn tough to find a set of spare rims for my Lancia Beta Zagato (4x98mm bolt pattern with 34mm offset)! I'll hafta go with the best all-seasons I can afford for now, and I gotta say, this baby handles impeccably even with the dodgy Bridgestone Potenza RE92s that were on it when I got it. If I really need new tires and am pinched for funds, I might just mailorder a set o'these Falken Ziex 512s (which have pleased other Beta owners); otherwise, I'm going with the BFG Traction T/As.

-Tye
 
quote:

However, my main concern with the reviews of these tires regarded their apparent poor wear characteristics over time

This is my only complaint with these tires. I have ZE512s in a 225/50R16 size on a '99 Grand Am GT. These were installed in April, and have been faithfully rotated. The car was aligned shortly after installing the tires.

Right now, they have 18k (mostly highway) miles on them (We did a lot of driving this year). At the rate they are going, I think they will be pretty much done at 30k miles. Neither me, nor my wife, drives in an extremely agressive manner (although not like grandma either
wink.gif
). I'd guess we'd be hard pressed to get 30k miles if we drove the car harder.

All-in-all, for the price, I can't complain. I just wish they would give a bit more life, but I guess the old adage "you get what you pay for" holds true. I think I liked our old Futura Ultra Z's (the previous tire) a little better, as they had a stiffer sidewall and comparable life.

Oh... one more thing. On this car, they (ZE512s)are noisy at lower speeds (<40 mph).
 
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