Falken Tires

[Steve777]

Gettin some new tires this week - I have heard both good and bad things about the Falken Ziex ZE-512s. A few people told me they are a really good tire and others told me they are garbage ...not sticky, etc. I think they look good, and the 360 tread-wear rating sounds reasonable for the price. Anyone have them? Opinions on their traction/performance?

 

[jaidedeye]

falken azenis......

 

[MaxxMundo]

I just put them on my car a couple of weeks ago (ZE-512's). So far I haven't had anything negative to say about them. To me, they have excellent wet weather traction. It rained flood levels here this last week (might have heard about it on the news) and I didn't hydro-plane once through the puddles. Made me confident in the wet. They are pretty quiet. No harsh road noise like I had at the end of my Goodyears. The dry traction does seem a little less than the Goodyears, but nothing to make me afraid of taking the cloverleafs here any slower.

 

[Steve777]

I just put them on my car a couple of weeks ago (ZE-512's). So far I haven't had anything negative to say about them. To me, they have excellent wet weather traction. It rained flood levels here this last week (might have heard about it on the news) and I didn't hydro-plane once through the puddles. Made me confident in the wet. They are pretty quiet. No harsh road noise like I had at the end of my Goodyears. The dry traction does seem a little less than the Goodyears, but nothing to make me afraid of taking the cloverleafs here any slower.

Cool, thanks for the review ...how about dry straight line acceleration? Do they stick pretty good when you run 'er up hard?

 

[MaxxMundo]

Unfortunately I haven't had much of a chance to see how they hook up during dry straight line accleration, with the rain and all. I've only had a couple times of driving during dry conditions, and then the traffic was too heavy to do any quick acceleration. Sorry.

 

[seany425]

i got falkens a couple months ago, i was all set on another tire brand but my dads freind owns a tire warehouse and told me he could get me falkens cheap and i was like uhhhh i guess ill try them. i checked out the ratings on tire rack and they were great for the price and i got em and loved em since

 

[Steve777]

i got falkens a couple months ago, i was all set on another tire brand but my dads freind owns a tire warehouse and told me he could get me falkens cheap and i was like uhhhh i guess ill try them. i checked out the ratings on tire rack and they were great for the price and i got em and loved em since

Nice ...so they have good dry traction? Because like I said earlier, that is the only grey area ...someone at NTB told me they don't warm up quickly and aren't real sticky

Just as long is the traction is good, I am leaning towards getting them. 275/40-17s for the back and 255/40-17s for the front..

 

[Kilgore Trout]

I got the Falken Ziex ZE-512s three months ago and have driven them in all conditions; rain, snow, dry, etc. I like them a lot and will probably buy another set.

They are Consumer Reports rated #1

They are about $99 each on tires.com

 

[seany425]

i had goodyears before and they had worse dry traction than the falkens but thats my opinion

 

[Steve777]

thanks ...anyone else

 

[hotdog71]

Sorry I had G,Yrs before and just changed to Fusions HRi 245/45/17 so far 600 miles and they are great in the wet & dry and much quieter then the G,Yrs before..

 

[mrshl13]

I went from Sumitomo HTR+ to the Falken 512s and SFCs. 60' times dropped .10 and I'm not scared to turn in the rain anymore.

 

[Gearbanger 101]

I'll be going with the Falkens for my ride too. I've heard that they're built a little narrower than the rest though, so keep that in mind if you're squeezing them onto a wide rim.

 

[SilverGTV8]

I had Falkens 512s.....on my Honda.....

They were nice tires. Took a couple of weeks to get nice and soft, near the end of there life they will start to get noticably harder. Lasted about 20,000miles

Nice tire, went with Goodyear GS-D3s this time and so far I am not dissapointed.

 

[nickthegenius]

I had the 512s on a set of summer wheels for my daily driver. They were quite possibly the best all-around budget tire I've ever bought. They gripped well and were great in the rain. Also, the built in lip protector for your wheels is nice in case you're married to a curber like me.

 

[302GT]

I just ordered the fk-451's and they will be on today so I'll be able to give an opinion on them shortly.

 

[topgunz_1]

I had them on my old car, make sure you rotate them...alot. I didnt and in 6K miles they were nearing the end of the life...this was on a FWD car so the front tires did take a pretty good beating. They gripped well though, great in rain until tread depth declined.

on the bullitt I have a set of ze502's, I think they were the precursor to the 512's. They arent quite up to the demands the car can put on them, but I think it'd take alot of tire to keep it hooked.

 

[Steve777]

I'll be going with the Falkens for my ride too. I've heard that they're built a little narrower than the rest though, so keep that in mind if you're squeezing them onto a wide rim.

I have 17x9s ...gonna get 275s for the back and 255s for the front. I'm sure the 275s will fit real nice, hopefully the 255s will too

I had the 512s on a set of summer wheels for my daily driver. They were quite possibly the best all-around budget tire I've ever bought. They gripped well and were great in the rain. Also, the built in lip protector for your wheels is nice in case you're married to a curber like me.

that sucks, curbing is just one of the many gifts of marriage I guess ...and yeah the lip protector will be a plus with my new black wheels. They do sound like a great budget tire like you said ...looks like I am going to give the Falkens a shot

 

[Gearbanger 101]

I have 17x9s ...gonna get 275s for the back and 255s for the front. I'm sure the 275s will fit real nice, hopefully the 255s will too

I hear ya. I think fit is going to be my problem. I don't see any issues with running 274/40/18's on the back, but I wanted to go a little narrower on the front, while retaining the stock ride height. The only alternative is 245/45/18's....of which I hear are a tight fit on an 18x9 with other brands of tires. If the Falkens are actually a little on the narrow side in comparison to the rest, as I've heard, I don't think the 245's will work up front for me?

 

[BDaddyK]

I had them on my old car, make sure you rotate them...alot. I didnt and in 6K miles they were nearing the end of the life...this was on a FWD car so the front tires did take a pretty good beating. They gripped well though, great in rain until tread depth declined.

I too can attest to the frequent rotations w/the XE-512's. I have had to rotate them frequently also, maybe it's only a FWD (I have them on my winter car a Ford Probe GT) thing w/em' For the price, IMHO, they are the best all season tire. Good dry tracton, great wet traction and decent in the snow, even with 225/50/16's on my 16x8 wheels.