I am replacing the crappy Nexen N3000 tires that came with my wheels with some Falken Ziex ZE-912s in 225/40-18. Anyone used them before?

 

all i've heard is that its good. lol but then again you can never go wrong with falkens

 

I have the 512's.....GARBAGE!

Tread life is horrible, they're rated for 30,000.....more like 10,000 with proper rotations, balances, etc.

Road noise is very noticeable, dry traction was better with the stock tires, wet traction was too.

Then again these are the 512's so maybe the 912's are better, this was my frist experience with Falken and it will also be my last.

 

Pretty unimpressed with the 912's that I have. I have run them for a couple of years. OK on dry, so so on wet... absolutely and totally useless in even an inch of snow. They arent the worst tire in the world by any means, and are definitely a lot better than the stock tires the tC came with, but I had also heard some good about them so I was dissapointed.

My previous Avon Tech M550's were worlds better and cost less.

Now, the Falken 615's (Azenis) is a hell of a good tire, but it is a performance summer tire. It was at the top of the heap for a while in autox street tire classes. Still a good tire but has since been trumped by some bridgestone and dunlop models.

 

Just bought the 912's a month ago, and only have 2k miles on them so far, but here is my short-term impression. Ride quality is good so far, and they handle good on dry pavement for a tire that is not a directional high-performance tire. Hasn't rained since I bought them, so can't say anything about wet weather performance. Time will tell on tread-wear, but they have a 40k manufacturers mileage warranty. My one big complaint is that some of the concrete surfaced freeways I drive on have longitudinal grooves to help with rain water. The 912's track with these grooves, making the xB wander with them, no matter how hard you hold the steering wheel or try to steer through it. I have learned that it's best to just hold the steering wheel normally, and let the xB wander with the grooves until I get to the next freeway surface. I will probably try the new Continental DW (Dry/Wet) tires next, which are also about 5 pounds lighter per tire than the 912's.

 

Well, I have dedicated winter tires on seperate wheels, so I am not worried about snow traction.

I am mostly worried about wet/dry traction and tire life. Well, I don't care if they only last 400 miles, as long as they are under warranty.

I have used the Falken RT-615 before, I have them on my Fiero. However, this is my DD and tire life and price are a factor. I am interested in the 912 because of the 40k warranty, apparently the biggest in the size of tire I need. I am just worried that they will be "soft" compared with the Nexens I have now.

Is there anything out there in the same size with a decent treadwear warranty?

Thanks for the advice so far.

 

I have been running my 912's for about 6,500 miles now. Awesome dry traction and excellent wet. I never have issues with water even in deep situations. Never felt like I was ever loosing control or hydroplaning.

Tread wear looks good so far. I would estimate I will get 30-40k out of them before they are shot.

Ride quality is good, road noise isn't bad. Better then OEM for me at least.

 

They are only "good" compared to oem. They are far from awesome in dry traction, trust me. Mine suit me ok for just the normal daily driving stuff. But traction is not stellar, especially once you drive on good tires and know what "awesome" traction really is. And just give up on them in the snow. IF you know how to drive in snow well, you can make them work ok, but I typically just drive my old saturn in the snow anyways. My 912's probably have about 12,000 miles or so on them now (would have to go look in my maintenance records to see exactly). Going by them now I would say 30,000 is about where they would be ready to replace.

Like I said, I was MUCH more impressed with the Avon Tech M550 A/S I had previously. Dry traction was better, wet traction was worlds better and they did better in the snow. Still all seasons, so snow performance will never be great, but thye did pretty well IMO.

And the OP says that the warranty is all the matters, but that doesnt make much sense really. If the tire wears out before 40,000 miles, that does not mean they simply give you a new one. Hard driving, poor alignment, etc can wear the tires out. The warranty covers tire failure (outside of normal wear and tear). So they have to determine why it failed.

 

The mileage warranty allows prorating of the value of the tire against a new set. If I pay $400 for a set, and they have a 40k mileage warranty, but I only get 10k miles out of them, I get $300 off of a new set.

FYI, these falkens have the same wear rating as my current Nexens...which with proper rotation and even wear, have made it ~11k miles.

 

Unfortunately, the treadwear ratings are often inflated(the manufacturer does the testing), which makes it tough to compare, and the test is complete after 7200 miles.

It is more helpful to use the rating for tires within the same brand, not different brands.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treadwear_rating

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete...jsp?techid=48&

 

Wow...thanks for the heads up...I didn't know there was so much interpretation in a "uniform" measurement.

 

i'm not sure where the dislike of the 912's came from. I have them on my ride Ciondie helped me get them. They are AWESOME. Great traction and i hit on ramps doin 40+ with no squealing. So they are sweet for me and i've had them for 20,000 or so now maybe a lil less. and they were fine in the snow from what i remember/

 

You are one of the very few that bought them and actually liked them. I live in MN and a lot of the locals I know bought them thinking they would be great due to experience with other Falkens. I can honestly say that if you think they are good in snow, it is compared to TERRIBLE (aka OEM) tires. I dont think they are the worst, but they just get by at best. Taking on ramps at 40 isnt much of an advertisement by the way.... that should be like a sunday drive on decent tires, I could take a small roundabout at those speeds without issue

Regarding the tire ratings, unfortunately as mentioned they are not nearly as uniform and standard as they should be. Usually you can assume that a Falken with treadwear of 300 will out live a Falken with a rating of 200 for example, but you cant necessarilly compare it to another brand of tire directly by rating. I wish there was more of a standard out there but it really isnt. Just like the width measurement. There are a few different interpretations around that as well. Azenis in a 225 will be wider than a lot of other tires in a 225 for example.

 

I actually know a large number of people with the 912's who are very happy with them. Granted, I am in California and none of these people use them in the snow. Additionally, they purchased them to get a good tire at a good value that would outperform the OEM tires. If you want to push a performance oriented car to 9/10's or 10/10's of its ability, then this is definitely not the tire to get; but that's not what it was designed for, and neither was the xB. I can see being disappointed in it if you drive your tC hard, but for xB daily drivers I see no great problems.

 

I dont have a full in depth review of the 912s, but i did have them for about 7k miles on my xD. They are SOOO much quieter and more comfortable than OEM. They do grip better in rain and dry compared to OEM but they are much better tires out there. Since I had an xD I really didn't run the car hard so I can't really tell you how they react when pushed hard. But they are for sure a comfortable quiet tire compared to OEM.

For the price of 93 dollars (18s) when I bought them, I would say I was satisfied with the purchase.