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Are Falken tyres OK?
v8kid - 26/9/13 at 12:53 PM

Need new tyres on the tin top. XF's eat tyres they only lasted 18k!

Are Falken ZE914 ok? they are medium price and the stats look good - but so do they all

Any recommendations/ horror tales?

Cheers!

loggyboy - 26/9/13 at 01:10 PM

Had 912 ziex ze's quite a few times in recent years, found them to be a good midrange tyre.
Not tried the 914s though.

PS 18k on tyres is pretty good in my experience, depend on brand of course. But the Falkens wont last as well as say Michelins or high end pirellis.

[Edited on 26-9-13 by loggyboy]

DavidW - 26/9/13 at 01:32 PM

I had similar tyre issue when I had a BMW 530i doing lots of miles.

I found Falken FK452 tyres better than many more expensive tyres for wet and dry grip althouh the 912s didn't seem as good.

David

v8kid - 26/9/13 at 01:33 PM

Thanks - I got 30k out of tyres on the mondeo and never realised it was good!

loggyboy - 26/9/13 at 01:51 PM

quote:
Originally posted by DavidW
I had similar tyre issue when I had a BMW 530i doing lots of miles.

I found Falken FK452 tyres better than many more expensive tyres for wet and dry grip althouh the 912s didn't seem as good.

David


Funny I found the opposite! on my IS200 the 452s lasted half as long as the 912s!

DavidW - 26/9/13 at 02:37 PM

quote:
Originally posted by loggyboy
quote:
Originally posted by DavidW
I had similar tyre issue when I had a BMW 530i doing lots of miles.

I found Falken FK452 tyres better than many more expensive tyres for wet and dry grip althouh the 912s didn't seem as good.

David


Funny I found the opposite! on my IS200 the 452s lasted half as long as the 912s!


This possibly makes sense - I thought the 452s had better grip than the 912s but maybe they were softer. I can't really rememeber how they lasted.

mcerd1 - 26/9/13 at 02:42 PM

quote:
Originally posted by v8kid
Thanks - I got 30k out of tyres on the mondeo and never realised it was good!

depends how you drive and how hard the tyre compound is

as a general rule the ones with lower rolling resistance should also last you longer, but they might not give you same grip - the cheaper the tyre the more they compromise one or the other....

Michelins do seem to last longest in my experience, but you pay for it


once upon a time I was getting less than 6k from a set of front tyres (they were very small tyres and I worked them hard )
currently I get about 10 - 12k out of my front tyres on the focus with soft(ish) vredestein's and my mate gets 25 - 30k out of michelins on his astra (similar tyre size and car weight etc..)

loggyboy - 26/9/13 at 02:49 PM

quote:
Originally posted by DavidW
This possibly makes sense - I thought the 452s had better grip than the 912s but maybe they were softer. I can't really rememeber how they lasted.


I didnt read you rpost correctly to be fair, i thought youd said the 452s lasted longer! lol doh.

nick205 - 26/9/13 at 03:27 PM

quote:
Originally posted by mcerd1
quote:
Originally posted by v8kid
Thanks - I got 30k out of tyres on the mondeo and never realised it was good!

depends how you drive and how hard the tyre compound is

as a general rule the ones with lower rolling resistance should also last you longer, but they might not give you same grip - the cheaper the tyre the more they compromise one or the other....

Michelins do seem to last longest in my experience, but you pay for it


once upon a time I was getting less than 6k from a set of front tyres (they were very small tyres and I worked them hard )
currently I get about 10 - 12k out of my front tyres on the focus with soft(ish) vredestein's and my mate gets 25 - 30k out of michelins on his astra (similar tyre size and car weight etc..)



I used to manage ~8k on (fronts) on Bridgestone Potenza my old Leon Cupra diesel. It was a co. car and used very hard indeed . The Kwik Fit guys new my on first name terms as I was covering ~35k miles a year at the time.

mcerd1 - 26/9/13 at 03:41 PM

quote:
Originally posted by nick205I used to manage ~8k on (fronts) on Bridgestone Potenza my old Leon Cupra diesel. It was a co. car and used very hard indeed . The Kwik Fit guys new my on first name terms as I was covering ~35k miles a year at the time.

I wouldn't touch Kwik Fit with a barge pole....

but the local company I use doesn't even ask which ones or what size I want any more...
they just ask winter or summer ? and how many this time ? :lol:

nick205 - 26/9/13 at 03:54 PM

quote:
Originally posted by mcerd1
quote:
Originally posted by nick205I used to manage ~8k on (fronts) on Bridgestone Potenza my old Leon Cupra diesel. It was a co. car and used very hard indeed . The Kwik Fit guys new my on first name terms as I was covering ~35k miles a year at the time.

I wouldn't touch Kwik Fit with a barge pole....

but the local company I use doesn't even ask which ones or what size I want any more...
they just ask winter or summer ? and how many this time ? :lol:


No choice on Kwik Fit as they had the contract with the vehicle lease company. They did what was required with minmal fuss so OK by me.

britishtrident - 26/9/13 at 03:57 PM

Back in the dark ages with the original Michelin X I know cases cases where a pair did 90,000 miles on the rear of Hillman Hunters and still had 1mm left and on the swing axle back of Mercedes fin-tail a pair that lasted 75,000 miles.

The more recent Michelin E is almost as long, 48,000 miles on the rear of Rovers and still OK for MOT in not unusual but they are lethal in the wet.

keithjardine - 26/9/13 at 03:58 PM

Not long put a full set of them on my Octavia VRS tdi 170bhp, it had conti sport 2's on previously.

Noise is no worse, not span off into the ditch either and MPG is slightly better (~5mpg) with these BUT they are narrower than the same profile continentals.......... 225/40/18 profile on the continentals is ~30mm wider than 225/40/18 profile on the falkens tread!

Decent tyres for the price and grip is comparable to the continentals but check the actual width, they have a rim protection bead but not as good as the continentals.

PAUL FISHER - 26/9/13 at 05:55 PM

I put set on my SRT6 with 360bhp no problem, great tyres

stevebubs - 26/9/13 at 07:40 PM

Had a couple of sets of 452s on my old E34 v8...superb tyres...but, as above, they don't last as long as the more premium makes...

[Edited on 26/9/13 by stevebubs]

matt_gsxr - 26/9/13 at 07:56 PM

Got ze912's on my A6 2.0TDI.
Fronts have done 20k and are getting close to the wear bars. Rears have lots more left.
I bought from Black Circles.

Dry grip is good (compared to what was on before), wet grip not that great, seemed to work fine in the snow.

I would buy again based on cost, but my A6 is a motorway barge, so I am no tyre connoisseur.

snapper - 26/9/13 at 08:39 PM

Got Falkens on my Mondeo, grip ok but more noisy than others

v8kid - 26/9/13 at 10:51 PM

Thanks chaps I'll give them a go