Anyone riding on falken ZE-912/ZE-512 tires? yes i searched -_-, I think these tires have what Im looking for but I want opinions Options

[enderswift]

hey everyone, I've been doing alot of research on tires lately and I think i've settled on falken ZE-912/ZE-512 tires. According to the interwebs, the falkens are UHP tires that wont kill me when it snows. They seem to offer really good performance (z rated) and tread life but tend to be noisy. I'm a bit suspicious because they sound too good to be true, and their description on falkens website simply gushes about their technical prowess blah blah blah. I've read reviews all over the place BUT i know that most online reviews suck because the reviewers hadn't given the tire any time to break in. Thats why i want to see if anyone here has had these tires for an extended period of time. Do they really grip that well? How much worse do they make our already bad road noise prob? What is snow traction like? Is it true that the sidewall is actually softer (IE handle worse) than on the older 512's?


Im stuck between choosing these falkens a set of toyo proxes or khumo ecstas. I've had the proxes before on a different car and they were AMAMZING even when almost worn out. help me out here

This post has been edited by enderswift: Nov 26, 2008 - 11:54 PM

[notacelica]

Hi,

Sorry to bump this old thread (although I did search!). I found this thread in Google while searching for Falken 512s vs 912s and I thought I'd share my experience.

I don't have a Celica (hence the username) but I have been using Falken 512s for the last 5 years (not the same set, obviously).

I have a competing FWD car from another Japanese manufacturer from 2002 (are we allowed to mention that on this forum? ) that came with some horrible Firestone tires stock that would hydroplane on a drop of water, and would spin when starting from a stop if the ground was wet from a normal start, I'm not even talking about "launching" or flooring it. Just casually pressing the pedal down would spin the tires. Worst tires I've ever used in my life. So around 20,000 miles I started doing research and around that time (2006?) Consumer Reports was saying that the 512s were like the best all season tire at the best price and since I live in Chicago and need all season tires, I figured I'd give them a try.

I got a set of Falken 512s in 205/60/15 size (they were like $42 each back then) and they were better in every way than the stock Firestones. They handled better in water than the Firestones did when it was dry.

Dry traction was excellent. Wet traction was very good. Traction in the snow was decent, but keep in mind you have to drive differently in the snow. I was totally happy with these tires.

But, as everyone else says, the treadlife kind of sucks. Around 20-25,000 miles, I noticed I was starting to spin my wheels when starting from a stop when the ground was wet. There was still some tread left on the tire, but I don't care what it looks like; I care how it performs. I know it says they last for 50,000 miles or whatever, and there might technically be tread left up to 50,000 miles, but the grip goes long before that.

So it was time to get new tires again and after doing some more research, I decided to go with another set of 512s. Same results. Awesome grip everywhere for 20,000 miles or so.

When those wore out I did more research and found that, as others have mentioned, the 512s appeared to be "discontinued." I emailed Falken and asked if anyone still carried them and they said Discount Tire did, so I saw they were like $70 each at Discount Tire. I was like whoa, that's quite the price increase. Then I found Discount Tire Direct (their mail order division) and they were like $52 or something, so I had 4 shipped to me and had a local place mount them. I was happy to see that they were still available since I like these tires and didn't want to risk changing to something else that might suck and then I'm stuck with it.

I got a third set after about 20 or 25k miles or so, which I am currently on.

Honestly, when those need to be replaced (which will probably happen within a year or so), I will strongly consider getting another set.

Keep in mind, I don't really drive "hard." While I floor it sometimes, I don't throw my car through corners, I don't go to the track, and I don't autocross. So I'm wondering if some of you who said your tires only lasted 10,000 miles do these things. I just drive like a normal guy and like I said, living in Chicago I need all season tires cuz we have everything from really hot weather to lots of rain to ice to light snow to 8+ inches of snow over night. I've been really happy with the Falken 512s overall. But as I mentioned before, obviously in the winter you have to drive like it's the winter; with all season tires, your lightweight 2WD car isn't going to handle like an AWD SUV with snow tires, so I don't think it's fair to be like "these tires suck in the snow!!!" lol. For all season tires I have been very happy with them.

Hope this helps.

Anyone here still using these tires?

This post has been edited by notacelica: Nov 1, 2011 - 12:28 PM