Anybody used Falken Ziex ZE512 or BFG Traction T/A V's???

[Robert K]

I need to get a new set of tires for my beater (1986 Ford Tbird Turbo Coupe with 5.0 HO Mustang engine). I've used Michelin XGT all season high performance tires for years and have really liked them. But, I only get about 30,000 miles from a set and they're a bit higher than other tires. Both the Falken Ziex ZE512 and BF Goodrich Traction T/A V tires have been getting good reviews at Tirerack. Just wondered if anyone had any experience on the board that they'd like to share.

Grace and peace,

Robert K
1991 535i

[PatrickPGH]

blah

[Phil M]

falken tires are great

[kjbcpa]

I installed Traction T/A's on wife's 1994 Volvo 850 about six weeks ago based on Tirerack comments. Moved away from overpriced Michelins which got about 35K miles under an extremely gentle driver (not me). We took the car on 1,500 mile road trip immediately afterwards, fully loaded and speeds up to 85+ mph.

I have no complaints so far: the tires perform just as well as the Michelins. At one stretch we encountered very heavy rain and the car always felt completely in control. The tread pattern is directional and might look too aggressive on some cars, but it's real effective at handling the rain and our mostly around Atlanta driving. We will have to see if they get better than 35K miles, but the price is way less than the Michelins.

[Elekta]

I need to get a new set of tires for my beater (1986 Ford Tbird Turbo Coupe with 5.0 HO Mustang engine). I've used Michelin XGT all season high performance tires for years and have really liked them. But, I only get about 30,000 miles from a set and they're a bit higher than other tires. Both the Falken Ziex ZE512 and BF Goodrich Traction T/A V tires have been getting good reviews at Tirerack. Just wondered if anyone had any experience on the board that they'd like to share.

Grace and peace,

Robert K
1991 535i

If you buy the Michelins at Sears, then they are under warranty. Bsaically the warranty provides you a discount trade in value, when they're done at 30k of the 40k warranty. Been my game plan for years.

[AllanS]

I have a set of the ziex 512s right now, and I'm getting another one come tomorrow- I absolutely love them, and I can't really think of another make that comes close. They're incredibly cheap, they have great traction in all weather (I drove all winter on these tires on 17" wheels, and I live on a ski mountain in NY), they're relatively quiet, bla bla bla. I've put on over 5k on this set, and there's hardly any visible wear.

The only weird thing is that the sidewall slopes in a little more than, say, an AVS dB or a Pirelli, making the actual width a few millimeters smaller. And, Tire Rack doesn't sell them. Other than that, they're just great. Although, from what's on Tire Rack, the Pirelli Pzero Neros look to be pretty damn good too, but they're not in stock, anywhere, until the end of the month, and the price is supposed to increase from 120$ ea to ~150$ ea.

[Robert K]

I have Michelin XGTZ4 tires on my 1991 535i right now and really do love them. I've run Michelin all season high performance tires on all my cars for about the past 15 years and have been very pleased with them except for typically getting 30,000 miles from them. The old models tended to be a bit slick in the rain, but the latest Pilots are a vast improvement. The things I've always liked about the Michelins is that they typically have stiffer sidewalls which provides quicker steering response, and they are usually very round and well balanced. I have one or two 235/45-17 XGTZ4's mounted on style 5 wheels right now that required either no weight or very little weight to balance. That's a testiment to the quality control both at Michelin and BBS though. All of these reasons and my years of experience make it difficult to move away from Michelins, but they are almost always higher in price than all other brands, especially in the larger diameters. The new Pilot A/S tires in 235/45-17 are darn near $200 each from Tirerack. That's why I was looking at other tires. And after reading all the reviews on the Pirelli P Zero Nero, I am definitely ready to switch to them when I run out of tread on the current set of Michelins. I am disappointed to hear that they will be raising the price though. That's one disadvantage to the consumer feedback through Tirerack and others. The manufacturers can read it too and decide that excellent reviews mean they can charge higher prices. Darn!!!

Grace and peace,

Robert K

[AllanS]

Yeah, the people I talked to seemed to suggest that they were trying a "trial run" and didn't expect sales to this level. I don't know how much sense that makes though. I'd rather just get my Falkens on a week or 2 earlier, and be done with it.

[Gooch]

I'm using 225/60/15. I'm very happy with my purchase so far. They're a stiff, hard tire so they're not wearing rapidly. Since the 225/60 size is kinda a balloon on a 15 inch rim, the stiff side wall gives a firm feel on the road. Great in the rain.

[ryan roopnarine]

if you are looking for long wearing tires for a beater, may i suggest the goodyear regatta and regattaII touring car tires. my mother had them on the rear wheels of a ford taurus for 60 k miles without rotation, and they weren't nearly worn out. i just put them on the back wheels of the 525i, thinking that they wouldn't be grippy, and that the out of round noise would annoy me to death........well, the car stops quite nicely in the rain now, they are much quieter than performance tires, and the out of round noise must have been cancelled out by putting them on the wheels whitewall-out. they also have a commendable amount of grip (for hi speed freeway ramp entrances. if they weren't originally out of round, they would be perfect. they are also cheap, as you can go to any goodyear and pick up a set. my only problem now is finding a way to color in the whitewalls, as it isn't befitting of a bmw to sport that kind of tire :D


ps......i don't think that goodyear tires sold in the store are out of round. i believe that my uncle the mechanic got some kind of deal on these originally, which is why they became out of round later in life.