Falken Tyres

[Ne0]

What do ppl think of the falken ze-502 and the azenis st115 silent sport tyres which is better and hw do they compare to other mid spec tyres

[coyote]

Both shite.

FK-451 or Azenis Real Sport would be better bets.

[Nick]

Coyote: My shitheap has ST115's on it. The ZE502's are shit. St115's are better than the GRB2's I had on the car.

[coyote]

Yes mate,

In all fairness, the ST-155s are only crappy. If your want pure shit then go for the ZE-502.

[Ne0]

Need something half decent got any other suggestions for half decent tyres and reasonable price

[Nick]

Coyote: Why you say crappy? Perhaps they might not be suited to a wrx? They stop VERY well in the wet and dry and have great levels of grip.

[coyote]

I have only driven wrxs with the ST-115s and I would describe them as very good compared to tyres that cost the same amount of money. I would definitely not describe them as a performance tyre though.. and this is performanceforums.

[Nick]

Lets explore this, what would you define as a "Performance Tyre"? What is the line between Non and fully sik bro.

[EvilChief]

OK i am driving ST115 and i am really happy with them (coming from dunlops :()

anyhow

FK451 are th upmarket version of the ST115

ST115 are the sports tyres which still give u some road noice reduction compared to the FK451

if u wanna go mad that u should use the AZENIS (Real Sports), but there u will have pure road noise :)

in gerenral if u can effort it go for FK451 otherwise ST115 so just fine.

My handling of the car improved by like 400% when i got them on on they are still "Sticky" :)

[coyote]

Good question Nick! I'm not sure how to answer it but I'll give it a go.

I suppose simply I'd be looking for a tyre that when braking hard for a corner gave you grip and feedback as to what was happening at the surface of the road without the tread blocks squirming too much. Then when you turned into the corner it not only gripped but let you place the car precisely while still trailing on the brakes and feeling what the tyres are doing. At mid corner it would have to handle bumps and small directional changes without the tread deforming or the sidewall flexing making you wonder if it was about to peel off the rim. I'd like to know slightly before I reach the point of letting go that the tyre is just about at it's limit rather than having to compensate after the limit has been reached. This means giving feedback as to tiny bits of slippage which is usually masked by flexing of the tyre. I'd also like the tyre to be able to do this over and over again without these handling characteristics changing drastically. Basically I want a tyre that makes the car feel like it's going a whole lot slower than it actually is. I wouldn't choose a Hyundai over a Ferrari because one was quieter and it doesn't come into calcuations with tyres either.

Given the choice of driving a car with $150 tyres but thousands spent on suspension and brake mods or a car with $400 tyres but otherwise stock.. I'd probably prefer the former on most occasions. Of course both would be better ;-) If anyone knows of a $150 tyres that do all of this as well as a set of S-03s then let me know because I hate spending money at least as much as the next guy!

[BigFella_73]

I'll tell you one to stay away from, and that's Falken's altogether. In my last car I had them fitted, and if you wanted to take a corner even at 60km/h (in the wet), you'd find yourself having some real adventures - albeit on the other side of the road....

All the Falken's I've tried are famous for sliding in the wet, but stick like fly-shit to a blanket in the dry.

Your call, your cash.

[Ne0]

i have a set of slicks i use for track days and the like looking for something that i can drive from central coast to sydney in 3 times a week but also have some fun on the old pac on weekends so its gotta be good but gotta last

i know is not easy and every has the stories and preferences i just wanted to here some more ppls opinions

[Kinks]

I'd be immediately vetoing any tyre that doesn't perform well in the wet. Especially once they get half worn, it just becomes unsafe.

[BigFella_73]

Well Kinks, that's exactly what I did. I had the tyres on my old car for barely a week before I took them back and ordered them off my car, banished for life. I heard some bad stories about Falkens before I bought them, but I figured everyone had an opinion, so I bought them under the advice of the guy selling them that they were the best thing for my car. He ought to be taken out the back and shot. :mad:

I got some Michelin MXP's for my instead (I figured ANYTHING but Falken's in my size tyre had to be better), and I had those on it till I sold the car. I don't think I had one complaint about them. They must have had a different compound to the Falken's, as the Falken tyres were hard as dried bird shit (and almost as brittle too), but the Michelin's were a tad softer and suited the conditions.

[coyote]

Sorry Bigfella, but on what grounds do you make those statements? They sound a bit like the owner of a Toyota echo saying that a Supra or Lexus is shit because his car is. I've driven on 6 different kinds of Falken tyres and can say that I thought they ranged from absolute crap to very good. Your opinion of any tyre you've actually tried is of course valid but if all you've tried is a non-silica budget tyre then perhaps just state what you thought of that particular tyre?

[gti6]

Yep - a bit like how a Bridgestone RE-92 budget family car tyre might suck a little, but the RE-010, RE-711 and from what I hear RE-540 are all good. You couldn't say Bridgestone tyres are a crap brand from only driving on the RE-92s. Hell, if I based my opinions on the OE Michelins on a standard Liberty RS I could very well say Michelins suck.

[T99]

Tyres like suspension are a very subjective topic. To me, you have three factors, price, performance (how much wet/dry/lateral/straightline grip etc), comfort (noise, ride etc). Every tyre listed above is probably a great tyre given any one or even two of those criteria. But all three and its a different matter.

Tyres are also often more suited to a particular type of car (ie front engined, FWD, RWD, AWD). Just like a slick (a real slick not a R-compound grooved tyre), some brands work better on FWDs, others work better and RWDs. And we won't even get into compounds.

With the Azenis RS, there are about 3 compounds (which were available to the Oz market) from memory, and certainly bears almost no resemblance to the ZE502. I recall buying a set of Falken Digneo recently for the VS wagon, and given my knowledge of the ZE502, was very tentative. But for their purpose, they work well. Good wet weather performance, very quiet, acceptable dry weather grip, decent wear.

Even on the TypeR, my road wheels have the A539. A tyre which is great (for the money) on a RWD was awful on the FWD. But a bit of work with Yokie on tyre pressures, resulted in a decent street tyre. Not near the std RE010 for wet or dry performance, they howl like a banshee in the dry, but for the price I cannot complain. I am comparing it to tyres which cost twice as much. So for the A539, I would say great price, average performance, decent ride. Compare that to the RE540S, bad on price, excellent performance, poor ride.

[BigFella_73]

Ok, point taken GTi6 and Coyote. My bad. But I also base my comments on my sister's Mini which had Falkens on it as well. It was stock as a rock, she didn't drive it fast or otherwise unusually, but the car still had poor wet grip. I drove it once in the wet, and besides almost feeling like you're sitting on the tarmac because you're so low in this thing, I even slipped around a T-intersection bend coming out of first gear, which I thought pretty unusual, considering the Mini's were FWD's. I don't remember the code on the tyres, but they were 12" Falkens.

Coyote, interesting you should use a Toyota analogy. I based my original opinion of the Falkens from driving on a $250 per tyre set. Now I don't have money growing off me, and I don't have a money tree out the back, but I wanted good value for my buy, and the Michelin's gave me what the Falken's coundn't. And my mum's car (a Daewoo Espero, or a glorified Holden Camira) is also riding on the same tyres I had on my last car, and she has no complaint about them either. Good value for money, fairly quiet and good wet/dry performance, overall a decent middle-of-the-range tyre.

Right now on my Toyota RAV4, I'm riding on Dunlop GrandTrek's (215/70R16) the OEM tyres for pre-00 RAV4's, which I would say are very comparable to the Falken's I had earlier, and frankly I can't wait until I get my new set of Bridgestone D-680's (of which a few of my mates swear by, one has a CR-V, another a Kia Sportage), and mine will be 255/50R17's and will have a wider track for better handling. They're a medium compund with a silica component, and have a pretty good wet-weather grip.

[BigFella_73]

almost forgot - my Dad has been using Bridgestone's on every car he's had since the 80's - from SuperCat II's to the newer ER-50's. So there's a 'broader stroke' of my opinion of tyres anyway...

[Steve]

Now, I dont know if anyone has tried the Goodyear Eagle F1 before, but I HAD a set on my commodore (= heavy car) for 55000 km before they were shagged, and I thought they were the best tyre.
Then I tried what's on my car now, the Falken FK451 GRB and I tell you what, they are even better.
Provided suspension is up to it, they are really predictable in dry conditions, will drift nicely, not much kick when losing traction.
Run a bit more pressure in them than you would normally, and the wet becomes the dry. And they plough through deep water, say up to 1/2 inch at 100k and the car goes straight ahead.
Love 'em.
Plus I've got a set of Michelin slicks I run in sprints. But thats a different story.;)

[rj-astra]

This is my opionin.... but I reckon that european manufacturers just seem to be able to produce a better wet weather tyre.

Is there as big a difference in price between japanese and european tyres as there use to be??

I do know that the Toyo Proxes T1-S gave great alround grip for the price.

[gti6]

hey RJ Astra - I remember when you had those on the GTi6 - where they a knockout improvement over the P6000s?

The only good aspect about the P6000s I've found is wet weather performance - quite good on the brakes.

[EvilChief]

Originally posted by Steve
Now, I dont know if anyone has tried the Goodyear Eagle F1 before, but I HAD a set on my commodore (= heavy car) for 55000 km before they were shagged, and I thought they were the best tyre.
Then I tried what's on my car now, the Falken FK451 GRB and I tell you what, they are even better.
Provided suspension is up to it, they are really predictable in dry conditions, will drift nicely, not much kick when losing traction.
Run a bit more pressure in them than you would normally, and the wet becomes the dry. And they plough through deep water, say up to 1/2 inch at 100k and the car goes straight ahead.
Love 'em.
Plus I've got a set of Michelin slicks I run in sprints. But thats a different story.;)

yes i have been driving the F1 on my old car: Falcon Futura Classic and i thought on the dry: they were awsome but as soon u hit some water (even just of a sprinkler) say good buy to traction!!

now on my car i got the ST115 and they handle in the dry even better than the F1 and when u hit a wet spot on the road u can get a very nice controlled drifft, but i haven't been able to test them in rain yet, because it hasn't rained here yet for about half a year (typicall TSV). However i except them to be shitty in the wet because they got a fairly hard compound of rubber compared to the F1, which mean no traction whatsoever in the wet. Anyhow since living in TSV and 99% of the ppl living here can't even spell rain (:p ) the ST115 are just perfect.

In general i would say when choosing ur tyer the climate zone and the average weather condition are very important factors, which need to be considered.

Like if u live down south u will find heaps more rain and it will be lots colder, which will require u to get a tyre with softer compound, whereas living the sunny north u can play ur cards with hard compound tyres, because the expectancy of cold and wet weather is far not as likely.
That comes from a driver who started driving in country with snow (let me tell u: that is scary shit!!) :)

Anyhow enough talk - that is my opinion :D

[Nick]

VERY Strange, I have found the ST115's to be very good all round, they seem to stop rather well in the wet. Just ask EDO.

I do have a large land boat that is heavy (Supra).

[coyote]

Originally posted by Nick
VERY Strange, I have found the ST115's to be very good all round, they seem to stop rather well in the wet. Just ask EDO.

I do have a large land boat that is heavy (Supra).

Ahhh Nick,

Edo will correct me if I am wrong but I think what impressed him most (besides the Outback) was the way that your land barge was halted, not so much the actual stopping distance (with may or may not have been so good). That could have been caused by your freakish driving talents, good feedback from the tyre or a combination of both. Either way it does suggest that the combination of you, your land barge and its tyres are a competent package. I stand corrected. ST-115s are a decent tyre on a Supra with Nick driving ;-)

[rj-astra]

I remember when you had those on the GTi6 - where they a knockout improvement over the P6000s?

Not really....

They were a tad quieter and smoother running.

The best bit they were nearly $80/tyre cheaper than the P6000.

Do you have V rated P6000 on the GTi-6 (they should be). Hrated aren't as good.

[Glenno]

I have a set of Goodyear Eagle F1's on the Liberty which are down to the wear bars and have a fair bit of shoulder wear, being AWD I find it hard to lose traction even in the wet my old Khumo Power Racers (with heaps of tread) managed none the less. With the F1's I find loss of traction impossible although the Khumos were 205/60/14 and the Goodyear are 205/50/16. Traction seems great in the dry as well, the tires previous owner may be able to speak about his experience with them with a much higher KW rating than I posess.

[coyote]

What do you mean shoulder wear?

You can still read the brand name on the side can't you?


And it's tyre... with a Y!

[Boxer]

Nick,

You'll find tyres can be different to each critic depending on how they use them, driving style and in particular the car they drive. Also many people believe a tyre to be fantastic compared to the models they previously used - but the previous tyres might have been shite

Many people bitched about the Michelin MXF sports on WRX's but I found them a good compromise between grip and durability.

Now I am using motorsport tyres albeit a fairly low end one, but very good compared to high performance street tyres. In hindsight many of the tyres I thought were decent enough - I now see perhaps weren't that crash hot

[Nick]

Yes this is what I beleive. For a few people to call a tyre crap because it didn't suit the car or how they drove it is silly imo.

Now the poster asked for a good mid spec tyre which I beleive the ST115 is. The ZE502 I would call a low end tyre you put on a VL because they want to look impressive that they are getting wheelspin everywhere. Yes there are heaps of better tyres on the market than the ST115 but it's a good compromise. Unfortanly tyre choice only really comes up every 12-15 months and to change a brand is a big gamble. I'm going to try something different next time.

Now if your talking "Street Slick" the barely legal road tyre then that is something I do not have experence myself..

[Glenno]

'y' 'i' bah I'm an Engineering student not an arts student.

I wasn't complaining about the wear just making a point they were good tyres in the wet :D. Just wondering what you thought of them in the dry.

[coyote]

Whilst the outright levels of grip were only average, they did seem to provide good feel. I'd take the latter anyday.

Engineers should be able to spell tyre! Unlike arts graduates, they can afford them ;-)

[FLI355]

They have fairly good grip, but I always thought they wore out a little quick.

[Boxer]

Originally posted by coyote
Whilst the outright levels of grip were only average, they did seem to provide good feel. I'd take the latter anyday.



Its all about 'good feel' for you isn't it coyote :D

[coyote]

Goxer,

A good grip will get the job done but a good feel is far more enjoyable!