I returned my sucky Falken and got Potenza G-009s, thank God!

Win · Nov 8, 2005

"I put a set of the Falken 512's 225/60/vr16 on our Jaguar Xj12 a few weeks ago.

It's early days, but so far I have no complaints with them."

.......

I now have about seven months / 3000 miles on the ZX 512's and still have no complaints about them.

They seem like a good value for the price.

Thatwouldbegreat · Nov 8, 2005

I have Falken 512's in 225/45-16 on my BMW 325es.

They replaced Dunlop SP8000's in the same size. I think the Falken 512 is quite agood daily driver tire, at least on my car.

Maybe other cars need a different tire design.

kreigle · Nov 8, 2005

I've had a set of Falken ZE512s on my Prelude now for almost 3 yrs (30k miles). Admittedly they seemed like good tires when new, but they never had good snow traction, even the first year. After the tread wore down a bit (5-10k), the wet traction started to disappear. Pulling away from stops became difficult in the rain, as the tires would spin every time the pevement was wet; nothing like trying to pull into traffic and the tires break loose the moment you hit the gas and then having to back off the gas and treat the accelerator like an egg to keep the car moving.

I need to get new tires this winter, because the tread is finally gone on these. I just don't know what I'm going to replace them with yet. (probably the Yoko AS430)

Audi Junkie · Nov 9, 2005

I will post a pic of a Falken I had with two bubbles on the same tire. Tried some Fuzion HRis, I like them a lot, $57 insatlled for 205/60-16 wow. I just ordered Yoko Avid TRZs for the CR-V, they might be good, for a 70-series.

cos · Nov 10, 2005

I just purchased set of Falken Ziex ZE-512 (195/65-14) for my Ford 5 weeks ago. So far they're a great tire for the money - handle well, are quiet and smooth.

Audi Junkie · Nov 10, 2005

ccs2k1 · Nov 13, 2005

Posted by A-J

quote:

Tried some Fuzion HRis, I like them a lot, $57 insatlled for 205/60-16 wow.

How is the HRi's steering response and stability compared to the Falkens? Are the sidewalls any stiffer? I read a few complaints about their sloppy feel at tirerack.com.

Audi Junkie · Nov 14, 2005

They are good, Falkens were nothing special. If you want the nice Bridestone turn-in, get the G-009s. Conti Extremes are def worth the money. I generally like the Yoko TRZs better than the Fuzions though. Can't complain too much about the Fuzions, they were $57 for 16"s. I will get the TRZ next time for the Audi.

ccs2k1 · Nov 14, 2005

Thanks for the info, but IMO, the G009s are overkill for a minivan (Odyssey). I presume the HRis are still a little stiffer than the 512s, correct?

I was hoping the HRis could fit the bill (the ZRis did it for my car). I just cannot stand imprecise handling tires like the Falkens and personally, I cannot imagine the combo of weak sidewalls, strong cross winds and a minivan on wide open interstate. My wife is busy enough shuttling bratty kids.

Safety of the family is paramount, but the wallet dictates the expense limit. I just cannot justify the steep diminishing returns of spending $600 plus for 16 inch Michelins (if I'm spending $600, I'll buy Nokian WRs!). Back to searching I guess. I suppose the Traction T/As are on top of the list.

glennc · Nov 16, 2005

Looks like the ZIEX-512 is pretty controversial in this thread!

I didn't have any quality problems with mine, no balance or construction issues. What I found was that their performance was about equal to other inexpensive sport-oriented tires (Dunlop Sport A2, Yokohama Avid H4), but a little greasy at the limit. For the price, they would have been fine - EXCEPT that they wore considerably faster than such other "decent" tires. Also the wear was not even, in my case, while other tires have been fine on the same car.

Premium tires are definitely better, in subtle ways - tracking accuracy, noise control, stuff like that. Other inexpensive tires give a better balance of performance and mileage. Hence my own negative opinion on the Falkens.

MHO.

- Glenn

Audi Junkie · Nov 17, 2005

!!!GET THE TRZs!!!

seotaji · Dec 5, 2005

quote:

I just cannot justify the steep diminishing returns of spending $600 plus for 16 inch Michelins (if I'm spending $600, I'll buy Nokian WRs!).

if you want to spend $100 a tire and get substantially better performance, may i reccomend bridgestone turanza ls-h or v. pro: one of the best tires i've owned, save for some small cons (slightly noisy on some surfaces - softer compound gives you a slight vibration in the mornings.

Audi Junkie · Dec 5, 2005

My buddy, who is very picky about tires, had them and said they tramline. I dunno. I am off Bridgestones as they tried to charge me for a rebalance for tires with 3000 miles on them, the G-009s. I dunno why the needed it, but they ALL were off.

Blue_Goose · Dec 7, 2005

TRZ''s a good choice for a Matrix? How are they in the snow?

Audi Junkie · Dec 7, 2005

Pretty good in light snow. They bit down hard during braking. I can't say that about the Bridgestones.

Master ACiD · Dec 7, 2005

i have falken 512's on the back of my car and they work great. they are only half ounce out of balance on 1 tyre, and 1/4 on the other. very quite, wear well and the sidewalls look great.

my dad bought falken 512's for his car based on my recomendation. they are working great for him. no issues and they hardly needed any wheel weights to balance them.

the 512's appear to me to have relatively soft sidewalls. whiel they are not a hard core performance tyre, they seem to be a comparmise between a performance tyre and a passenger car run of the mill tyre.

auto junkie, may i suggest the possibility that perhaps youre sucky falkens were damaged by the tyre installer. the way they are bubbled it almost looks like they damaged the sidewall with an overzealous tyre iron tool.
i have a tyre changing machine and i can tell you that if you abuse a tyre while putting it on that sidewall bubbles are only 1 thing which can go wrong.

Audi Junkie · Dec 8, 2005

Nope. This is with 20k and I got the bubbles a few weeks apart. I have not had a sidewall bubble in 10 years, now I get 2 on the same tire???

williar · Jan 5, 2006

AudiJunkie, you must have gotten a bad set or a bat tire shop. My Ziex 512s worked great on my allroad, even as speed. Much better wet/dry performance than OEM Pirellis. It was a great 3-season tire. However, the set wore out at 17K miles. Too much wear on the outer/inner edges. I've been told that I didn't run enough air pressure for the weight of the car (4300 lbs, dry). Should have run 45 psi; I ran 38/40 psi.

bheinz57 · Jan 6, 2006

My 512's are still hitting the pavement with my satisfaction. Bubbles in sidewalls like that indicate either a manufacturer defect or hitting potholes of some nature, don't they? Have you hit anything hard on the roads at all?
And regarding the Conti-Extremes in teh above posts...That is why I went with the Falkens, the Conti's were having a big problem with flattening/balancing. I researched both tires very well and went with the Falkens with no regrets. The Conti-Extremes were next on the list but had way, way more complaints than the Falkens.

Just my too scents.

Brian

Captain Howdy · Jan 6, 2006

I have the Falken 512s on my SpecV and have been very pleased with them from the start. Wet and dry grip is excellent and pretty decent in snow also. Agreed, the tread life isn't going to be that great. I'll probably only get 25k out of them and that's with rotating them fairly often.

I'm considering getting the Pirelli PZero Nero M&S next time but then again I might get another set of Falkens since I know what to expect.

I returned my sucky Falken and got Potenza G-009s, thank God!

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