Originally Posted By: ram_man
Just for conversation sake how good are falken tires? Aren't they made by sumitomo?
Falken tires are awesome! I have the Ziex ZE950 on my car, and they have been good so far. My tire size is 205/65-15, and the ZE950 is the only tire in my size that has a speed rating of W, which is awesome. A W-rated 65-series tire is cool!
Easily one of the best lower-priced tires out there.
And yes, Sumitomo is the parent company of Falken.
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Sumitomo owns Falken, just like Michelin owns Uniroyal, and look where that got you.
Falken is a lower end brand.
There is a MUCH bigger difference between Michelin and Uniroyal (Michelin makes their tires differently than everybody else, including their own subsidiaries BFG and Uniroyal). The Michelin system cannot be done in other factories, and the standard production cannot be done in Michelin's plants. For example, you won't see Defenders and Pilot Super
Sports made in the former Uniroyal/BFG factories. And you won't see Tiger Paws and Comp-2's made alongside Michelin-branded tires. I remember Capriracer talking about this before, but I can't find the post.
BF Goodrich tires are decent. However, Uniroyal is garbage even by lower end brand standards. And they were even worse before the Michelin takeover
---NOTE----
Uniroyal is owned by Michelin in the US, but in Europe, Uniroyal is owned by Continental. The Conti-made Uniroyals are not sold in the US by anyone under any name, not Michelin, not Conti, not General, not anybody.
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The difference between Sumitomo and Falken is essentially zero. In fact, Sumitomo sells relatively few tires under its own name, as the Falken brand is much more popular. The summer tires for both brands are mostly made in Japan (Sumitomo HTR Z III, Falken Azenis FK510, RT615K, etc), while the all-seasons are mostly made in Thailand and Indonesia. But Sumitomo does own Goodyear's old Tonawanda factory now, and they have started making Falken tires there now; it is their only US factory. I don't know exactly which tires the will be making there, but I'm sure some of the OE tires will come from there.
In fact, the ZE950 I mentioned earlier is also sold as the Sumitomo HTR AS P02. The only difference is slightly different siping. And another twist, DT/DTD sells a private/exclusive version of the Sumitomo version under than name Falken Pro G4, but it is actually a Sumitomo HTR P02, not a Falken ZE950
Other low end brands are better than Uniroyal. For example, Goodyear's Kelly and Cooper's Mastercraft are better than Uniroyal. Plus, most Kelly tires are US-made, and so are the Walmart Douglas tires (also Goodyears).