Bought two Falken Ziex ZE-612+ 245/45-17 for the rear of 2004 Honda S2000. The fronts are Kumho 4X still have 6-7/32" tread remaining, the inside rears were down to little less than 2/32" after 11,8xx miles, the outside and center were a little more than 2/32".
Since the S2000 eats rear tires at twice the pace of the fronts, I need to buy only 2 rears this time. Searching for replacement took me a while because I like to increase the aspect ratio from 40 to 45 to reduce the ride harness a little while performance/handling does not suffer too much. Also, try to reduce rear tires expenditure a little.
I found Falken Ziex ZE-612+ for unusual low price of $67/ea plus tax and installation from America's Tire and it is $90 at DTD with free shipping and no tax. So I bought 2 Falken Ziex ZE-612+ 245/45-17 from local AT store. They gave 40% prorate for Kumho 4X for unused 8k miles out of 20k miles tread life warranty, Kumho warranties only 1/2 mileage for staggered tires. Out of the door cost was $92.xx installed for 2 Falken tires.
First I had it inflated to usual 36 PSI while the front was/is 38 PSI. That pressure was too high for 245/45-17 such that only about 2/3 of the rear tread made contact with pavement. The performance/handling was very bad and the ride was very hash too.
I reduced the pressure of the rear tires by 2 PSI, it improved both performance and ride somewhat but still not acceptable. I keep reducing the pressure by 1 PSI each day to find out when it will make the car perform as it should be. The final pressure at 28 PSI (32 PSI is on door placard for 245/40-17)) was the best compromise in term of performance/handling and ride. Less than 28 the ride is softer but handling isn't as good.
We had some good rain last night, the car had no problem with 80+ MPH even while it passing some standing water. The performance on dry surface is adequate since I had no problem keeping up with a Corvette on a winding mountain road, but so far not as good as Kumho 4X probably because the Falken's just have few hundred miles on it, it may take another 500-1000 miles to totally break-in. And usually full tread depth is not good in term of performance, the less tread the better.
Noise: the car engine is fairly noisy and the soft top is not very good at noise insulation, so that the tire noise is not in play with this car. I tried to listen to tire noise while coasting to a stop and didn't hear much.
Conclusion: There isn't better tire in size 245/45-15 with W speed rate that not made in China for less than $70. Falken is a budget tire made by Sumitomo, it's a Japanese Tire company. This tire is made in Thailand.
I think if you are looking for 245/45-17 tire you should consider Falken Ziex ZR-612+. They are better than the $67 they cost.
Since the S2000 eats rear tires at twice the pace of the fronts, I need to buy only 2 rears this time. Searching for replacement took me a while because I like to increase the aspect ratio from 40 to 45 to reduce the ride harness a little while performance/handling does not suffer too much. Also, try to reduce rear tires expenditure a little.
I found Falken Ziex ZE-612+ for unusual low price of $67/ea plus tax and installation from America's Tire and it is $90 at DTD with free shipping and no tax. So I bought 2 Falken Ziex ZE-612+ 245/45-17 from local AT store. They gave 40% prorate for Kumho 4X for unused 8k miles out of 20k miles tread life warranty, Kumho warranties only 1/2 mileage for staggered tires. Out of the door cost was $92.xx installed for 2 Falken tires.
First I had it inflated to usual 36 PSI while the front was/is 38 PSI. That pressure was too high for 245/45-17 such that only about 2/3 of the rear tread made contact with pavement. The performance/handling was very bad and the ride was very hash too.
I reduced the pressure of the rear tires by 2 PSI, it improved both performance and ride somewhat but still not acceptable. I keep reducing the pressure by 1 PSI each day to find out when it will make the car perform as it should be. The final pressure at 28 PSI (32 PSI is on door placard for 245/40-17)) was the best compromise in term of performance/handling and ride. Less than 28 the ride is softer but handling isn't as good.
We had some good rain last night, the car had no problem with 80+ MPH even while it passing some standing water. The performance on dry surface is adequate since I had no problem keeping up with a Corvette on a winding mountain road, but so far not as good as Kumho 4X probably because the Falken's just have few hundred miles on it, it may take another 500-1000 miles to totally break-in. And usually full tread depth is not good in term of performance, the less tread the better.
Noise: the car engine is fairly noisy and the soft top is not very good at noise insulation, so that the tire noise is not in play with this car. I tried to listen to tire noise while coasting to a stop and didn't hear much.
Conclusion: There isn't better tire in size 245/45-15 with W speed rate that not made in China for less than $70. Falken is a budget tire made by Sumitomo, it's a Japanese Tire company. This tire is made in Thailand.
I think if you are looking for 245/45-17 tire you should consider Falken Ziex ZR-612+. They are better than the $67 they cost.
