Anyone ever hear of them? Are they any good? http://www.falkentire.com/#/Home/ Anyone using these?
Falken Tires...
- Thread starter SoCalSizzle
- Start date
I use 452's for daily driving and change to Pilot Sport Cups for track days. I can't complain about the 452's decent wear/grip/noise and half the price of Michelins. On a bit of a tangent I hear that Toyo are introducing the R888's in 265/30/19 so I'm gonna buy a set of them for the next track day. They already make them in 235/35/19 for the front but never made 265's for the rear. Obviously they've realised there's a market for Beemer drivers. Hope they're cheaper than Cups!
Thanks guys for the info guys 
The Librarian
Member
I run Falkens on 18" rims. They took quite a bit of scrubbing in, the first couple of hundred miles was like driving on ice. I think they are not noticeably better thatn th eRFTs other than being half the price.
Well I just bit the bullet and bought some Falken 452s. I was at the FBR open in Scottsdale, AZ this weekend and discount tire was running 10% off. I needed new tires anyway and wanted to try a non-runflat. $560 installed with lifetime rotations and balancing and full replacement in case of a flat. Can't beat that for 4 tires! I'll post my impressions soon.
The Librarian said:
I have just had my set of 452's fitted by a local outfit (after the stealer refused to fit them when I had the front pads were changed) and the driving on Ice is true, very little throttle and the DTC lights up
. As I have an Auto I will try the instant tyre scrubbing method tomorrow :evil:
First impression is the joy of a more supple ride over our pot hole ridden roads, but at the loss of the initial 'bite' on steering turn in that the RFT's give
I too just got my fitted the other day. The ride difference is instantly noticeable. Instead of that thud when hitting my drive or a pot hole, there's a nice supple cushy feel. Haven't pushed them yet but we see how they feel soon.
So what is this scrubbing in thing being discussed?
So what is this scrubbing in thing being discussed?
I'm interested in getting a set myself, so would be interested in knowing you got yours fitted as you're not too far from me. There's not many places near me I'd trust with my alloys...lotusdmc said:I have just had my set of 452's fitted by a local outfit (after the stealer refused to fit them when I had the front pads were changed) and the driving on Ice is true, very little throttle and the DTC lights up
scoop said:I'm interested in getting a set myself, so would be interested in knowing you got yours fitted as you're not too far from me. There's not many places near me I'd trust with my alloys...lotusdmc said:I have just had my set of 452's fitted by a local outfit (after the stealer refused to fit them when I had the front pads were changed) and the driving on Ice is true, very little throttle and the DTC lights up
I used the local Formula 1 Autocentre £10 per wheel (fitting balancing & disposal)......however after a further road test to 70mph there was a very bad vibration :x . As I had it booked in the next day to the stealer for a set of pads I got them to re-balance all the wheels again (another £10 per rim) as I was worried that they had bent the rims. Turned out this was not the case and now it is fine, but cost me £20 per corner to have them fitted correctly
Just as a note I had a long conversation with the stealer re fitting non RFT's and they did not recommend it as it would adversely affect the ride :lol: , (Do these people actually know what these things do to the cars ride????) they also did not recommend using the mobility kit. However they then decided that they would fit them for £40 per corner (along with a written disclaimer) as opposed to £10 that they had originally stated! I pointed out the Z4M has non RFT's with a mobility kit to which they had no answer....
So anyone else chiming in for these? I'm |_| close to going and buying a set. In fact probably will with 24hrs. How is the ride noise compared to OEM runflats?
*edit*
Ah screw it. I'm jumping.
Looks like if I wake up early enough tommorow I'll have new rubbers. Well provided the store has em.
So my next question, scrubbing in.....could someone translate the racing theory previously mentioned in easier terms for me?
Basically am I just burning off the silicone or should I try to get the tires heated as per the race advice?
*edit*
Ah screw it. I'm jumping.
Looks like if I wake up early enough tommorow I'll have new rubbers. Well provided the store has em.
So my next question, scrubbing in.....could someone translate the racing theory previously mentioned in easier terms for me?
Basically am I just burning off the silicone or should I try to get the tires heated as per the race advice?
You're lucky you've got a huge distribution center in Nevada. 
Aebous said:
"Scrubbing in" is much more than getting rid of the release agent. It's a method of gradually building up the heat in the tyre. This has several purposes, firstly it creates a chemical reaction between the layers in the tyre which bonds them together. It also scrubbs off the leading edges of the treadblocks. Another point is that a new tyre is designed to have perfect surface contact with the ground when it's perpendicular to the ground. Problem is that many cars including Z4's use slight negative camber in the steering gometry. This means that new tyres will run primarily on their inner edge until they adapt to this setting ie the inner edge wears a little allowing the rest of the tyre to make better contact. This is probably the most likely reason that new tyres don't grip very well until they bed in a bit, think of it like fitting new brake pads to old discs/rotors.
Ok well an update. I got the tires swapped (and the good ol tire guy tried to tell me one rotor was bad) and for the most part was fairly calm with the car for the first week. Well now i've probably put a good 100 or so miles on the tires and my right foot is just itching like crazy....so I went out.
Sunday, figured I'd take a cruise up to Lake Mead. While in that area I see a sign that says Valley of Fire. Neat. So being that the tires are semi-scrubbed in I went for it! Stayed behind a truck that made me chuckle on the inside that kept to a speed around 70-75mph. I thought about passing him many times but didn't because he was keeping me honest (well ok, the speed limit is 50-so not that honest :evil: ) So anyways, I'm chuckling to myself while at the same time semi impressed at the driver of said full sized truck as he was doing pretty decent in the corners for a full size. Where was I? Oh right, tires. At this point the tires are performing great, the few bumps on the road are...well...bumpy
but I felt/noticed ZERO tramlining. ZERO. The car was going around the corners with way more confidence than the runflats (though my runflats did have the minimum tread on the rears). So halfway through I get a phone call from an old flame, so figuring a break to be a good idea I pull over to talk. So a good while longer I make my way to Valley of Fire and have henceforth declared it my new favorite driving spot. Although it was dusk at that time so I kept the speed low as visibility just plain ol sucked. I was still moving at a speed well above speed limit though 
So, tonight (just got back) I needed to blow off steam and relax so I went for a midnight drive to Lake Mead. After the Valley of Fire run and various all out accelerations on city streets, i'm feeling pretty confident with the 452's. So I'll cut this story shorter and say that I kept the damn good car up around the 80mph range. (Oh *waves hand like Obi-Wan* FNI...disregard that last statement I was doing the posted speed limit) Most of the curves around the scenic side of Lake Mead were nothing even at that speed. Or rather, they weren't hard-severe cornering, the Z4 and the tires loved it and begged for more! But I kept it sane (is 80 sane?) So off to the back side where I know it tightens up some. Well it tightened up, a couple of curve signs stated 35mph. I think one of them I took at the uh safe speed of cough75cough. Most I stayed pegged at 80mph. Those Falkens gripped hella good. A slight tire chirp made me slow down a little on a couple of curves. Overall I never felt the car was near its limit. I probably could of eeked out another 10-20 mph and been there, but i'm only doing that on closed courses.
So Long story short....
Falkan 452's kick major arse! Very minute tramlining on 03 Z4's with sports package. Very quiet tire. Difficult now for me to get the traction control light to say hello. Well not that difficult, but I have to really floor it in the middle of a turn now.
Sunday, figured I'd take a cruise up to Lake Mead. While in that area I see a sign that says Valley of Fire. Neat. So being that the tires are semi-scrubbed in I went for it! Stayed behind a truck that made me chuckle on the inside that kept to a speed around 70-75mph. I thought about passing him many times but didn't because he was keeping me honest (well ok, the speed limit is 50-so not that honest :evil: ) So anyways, I'm chuckling to myself while at the same time semi impressed at the driver of said full sized truck as he was doing pretty decent in the corners for a full size. Where was I? Oh right, tires. At this point the tires are performing great, the few bumps on the road are...well...bumpy
but I felt/noticed ZERO tramlining. ZERO. The car was going around the corners with way more confidence than the runflats (though my runflats did have the minimum tread on the rears). So halfway through I get a phone call from an old flame, so figuring a break to be a good idea I pull over to talk. So a good while longer I make my way to Valley of Fire and have henceforth declared it my new favorite driving spot. Although it was dusk at that time so I kept the speed low as visibility just plain ol sucked. I was still moving at a speed well above speed limit though So, tonight (just got back) I needed to blow off steam and relax so I went for a midnight drive to Lake Mead. After the Valley of Fire run and various all out accelerations on city streets, i'm feeling pretty confident with the 452's. So I'll cut this story shorter and say that I kept the damn good car up around the 80mph range. (Oh *waves hand like Obi-Wan* FNI...disregard that last statement I was doing the posted speed limit) Most of the curves around the scenic side of Lake Mead were nothing even at that speed. Or rather, they weren't hard-severe cornering, the Z4 and the tires loved it and begged for more! But I kept it sane (is 80 sane?) So off to the back side where I know it tightens up some. Well it tightened up, a couple of curve signs stated 35mph. I think one of them I took at the uh safe speed of cough75cough. Most I stayed pegged at 80mph. Those Falkens gripped hella good. A slight tire chirp made me slow down a little on a couple of curves. Overall I never felt the car was near its limit. I probably could of eeked out another 10-20 mph and been there, but i'm only doing that on closed courses.
So Long story short....
Falkan 452's kick major arse! Very minute tramlining on 03 Z4's with sports package. Very quiet tire. Difficult now for me to get the traction control light to say hello. Well not that difficult, but I have to really floor it in the middle of a turn now.