Falken ZIEX ZE-912 any good?

[King Rikard]

I can get a good deal (I think) buying Falken ZIEX ZE-912. Want to try something cheaper for a change. At the same time, I´m going for 215/55-17 instead of the original 225/45´s . Should in theory increase ride comfort, and make the speedo match better. It reads about 10% too low compared to my Sony satnav. Hope they will fit without problems.

What do you reckon guys?

[Iain.Oglethorpe]

Try reading about these tyres on Black circle web site, on a personal note I would stay away from the falken brand , I used them a few years ago and would say that they were useless in the wet and gave no confidence when cornering, I then switched to good year F1 eagle and they were good , but now use toyo proxes and would never go back to either of the other brands. Hope this helps.

[stu_the_flat]

I was asking peoples views on this at the Italian car show yesterday. everyone seems to have the same view. There are tyres that are Goodyear F1 and tyres which are not Goodyear F1!

[Iain.Oglethorpe]

Stu, your right, Apparently you should buy the good years made in Germany not china or something like that, as quality of manufacturing differs dramatically and so does performance. Mad eh?.

[King Rikard]

Makes sense, but the point was to try something cheaper for once. I have Eagle F1´on now, but they are worn out by now and I have never really liked them actually. I think they sound too much.
There´s a huge difference in price compared to Falken or Nankang, which cost less than half. Could be worth a shot.

[Gustav_H]

I have Falken on my 166. 205/55/16 on the original 16 inch rims. The car is great! Good bite in the wet, and really good cornering. I have Falken FK-452, but my brother in law have Falken ZE-912 on his VW Passat, and they are not as good as the FK-452.

Although he have 17" tires, my car behaves much better in every situation with my 16".

I have driven 15000km on mine since last summer. The only bad thing is that I had real bad alignment in the front and bad bushes in the rear, so the inside of my tires are rubbish, but that's not the tires fault.

[symonh]

The Falken FK-452's are great better IMO than the Toyo and as good as the F1's, I am not sure about the ZE-912's though as it is an earlier design. Some earlier Falkens were ok but not great.

Nankangs are ok for the money, but no where near as good as the falkens.

[niallmoran]

just as a wee aside, i see that black circles have the F1 GSD3's on special (86 squid a corner)...

[AlfissimoInternational]

Originally Posted by Iain.Oglethorpe

Try reading about these tyres on Black circle web site, on a personal note I would stay away from the falken brand , I used them a few years ago and would say that they were useless in the wet and gave no confidence when cornering, I then switched to good year F1 eagle and they were good , but now use toyo proxes and would never go back to either of the other brands. Hope this helps.

They are terrible. I had them on for a week and returned them for Michelins and am very happy with the extra money spent.
I think they are worthless.

[King Rikard]

Ok, always nice with a few second opinions. By the way, good to see an Fiat Coupe owner again, simonh2000! Was a while ago....I had a 1999 20VT with BSR chip, DV dump and drilled airbox, 1.2 bars and about 260 bhp´s. Lovely car......had to let it go when we were about to have children.

Gustav H, I would be seriously worried if a Passat would beat the Alfa 166 in any way.....

I noticed you´re not far from here.....Falkenberg

[Gustav_H]

Då kan vi köra lite svenska här då

Yep, I would be realy surprised if any Passat ever comes near any Alfa in handling. It's horrible...

[King Rikard]

Det går fint! kanske lite jöttebörska kanske?

Sorry guys....he´s from Gothenburg....had to make fun of it.

[AntMat]

I can highly recommend Kumho's Ku 31 Sports in 215/50/17s which I use for touring on the Q4. They are easily a match for the 205/55/16 Toyo Proxes T1-ESs in the wet.

For you Swedish guys I'll have to put up a couple of my stories - one titled "The Sleeping Policeman" and the other "Nine Months Later"! At least the first one involves an Italian car!

[symonh]

Originally Posted by King Rikard

Ok, always nice with a few second opinions. By the way, good to see an Fiat Coupe owner again, simonh2000! Was a while ago....I had a 1999 20VT with BSR chip, DV dump and drilled airbox, 1.2 bars and about 260 bhp´s. Lovely car......had to let it go when we were about to have children.

Gustav H, I would be seriously worried if a Passat would beat the Alfa 166 in any way.....

I noticed you´re not far from here.....Falkenberg

Thanks for that mate. I am loving my coupe, its the second one I have owned the first was a 16VT.
Its one of the few non Alfa's that I really like.

Back to tyres check this out.

www.tyretest.com

and www.tyrereviews.co.uk/tyre

The second one features an article on the Falken FK-452

[bryce166]

Just had my corners swapped at the weekend by KWIK-FIT of all people - Continental SportContact3 - these are usually £179 each plus fitting from Kwik-fit and not that much cheaper on the internet. However, I got a deal for 4 fitted at my house (an absolute pleasure) for £485 all-in. I had Eagles before and these lasted 32K miles which is pretty good, but I must admit the Continentals are in a different league, so quiet and they don't track every bump and line on the road - ofcourse it comes at a cost but I'm a firm believer in you get what you pay for - so just haggle as if your life depends on it.

[purple145]

back to the F1s, the made in China ones are not poor quality as such, they are made for the SE Asia market and is optimised for their higher temperatures. It made of a different compound that then struggles with the lower temperatures in Western Europe.

This was discussed a couple of years ago, there was a batch of Asian ones that came over apparently.

Just bought some Vredestein Sportrac for the 145, seem very good and get a good write up.

[symonh]

I was under the impression that the chinese F1's were ok, it was the ones that were made in Thailand that were dodgy. The ones I had on my 156 were made in China, and had all the E-Markings for use in the EU. Apparently the Thai ones don't.

[Jimmy D]

I have been quoted £279 fitted for four Falken 912's at Demon Tweeks in Wrexham, I asked for the 452's but the chap on the phone said they were the old model and no longer available. He said the 912's replaced the 452's and that they offer more grip in the wet and better longengivity.

Is this correct or 100% bull.?

Cheers

[paintergirl]

Toyo Proxes for me - great grip at a great price

[King Rikard]

I just came back from a fast trip to Stockholm and back, about 650 miles. I went for the Nankang XR611´s the day before I left so I´ve had some time to try them and wear them in.
Have to say they´re not that bad! I upped the size a bit, now 215/55-17. Comfort improved a lot, but cornering is not as good of course. There´s simply much more rubber between the car and the road now. The car also wanders a bit on bad roads. On the other hand, F1´s this size would too probably. Road noise is no louder than the F1´s so at roughly half the price I´m quite happy with them actually. And the tyres turned out to be perfectly balanced, absolutely no vibrations....lovely!

Perhaps 225/50-17 is a better compromise, but now the speedo reads much more accurately compared to the Sony satnav I use.