HuKaShI

So I just got back from my dealer for a problem that I was having.

It seems the tires were the culprit. They were producing a whirring noise at acceleration on first gear.

I know alot of you guys here have the Falkens and was wondering if anyone else was getting this sound?

More info about my problem can be found in this thread.

https://acurazine.com/forums/automotive-news-6/chevy-gears-up-new-revolution-124895/

Let me know if I'm the only one with this issue.

ARX-01b

iTrader: (1)

I have the Ziex 512's and have to say for a tire that was rated so highly by pretty much every hp tire test done over the last year I am very disappointed. Falken must of made a sizable contribution to Sonsumer Reports as this tire is absolutely horrible. After 3000 miles the noise was unbearable and after 10,000 miles the tires are ready for the junk pile (At wearbars). I have never experience a noiser tire except the off raod tires I used to have on my truck. I put on my 17's (Pirelli P6 All Seasons) today and I can actually hear myself think.

ImaTLguy

I had the Ziex 512's on an Audi, and were also disappointed with the noise. They simply are not a quiet tire.

Since then, I have purchased KUHMO ASX all season tires on two of my family autos (including my current TL).
Very pleased with the noise and handling. They are priced very well, and just read the great reviews/ratings on them
at TireRack.com.

Don't let the price fool you....they are great tires.

HuKaShI

Thanks for the response.

I'm actually thinking of going with the Toyo Proxes 4's.

I have read alot of good things about them. I hope they last as long or longer than the Falkens did. I put about 27,000 miles on the Falkens. If the Toyo's give me 30,000 I will never buy another brand of tire again.

I also hope they are very quiet. The Falkens started giving me noise at about 8,000 miles. I can take a little noise but not the amount the Falkens are giving me now.

I agree about Falken paying off the Consumer reports people for a great review.

djskyy

1+.....I usually run these tires too, when the OEM tires run out...

ed99

They perform well for the money but they do get noiser!!! That is the only drawback for this tire.

acura101west

falkin is a cheap price point tire and any tire like that will be noisey
nittos are same,you have to go to Michelins to get quiet tires ,or any high quality tire in its class,that means mosty they cost alot

Twenties

i run nittos. no noise so far.

ARX-01b

iTrader: (1)

Just you wait. You'll soon experience what we are talking about.

Twenties

lol. ok. you may be right. i've got less than 5,000 miles so far. i know about noise coming later too, this happened with some Yokohama Nexus i ran back in the day on my Legend, the sound was so loud afterawhile people would get in and asked why my car sounded like that and what kind of exhaust was I running. the car was stock.

Scribesoft

Is anyone here an authority on Tire Siping?

I've never done it myself, so I can't speak to any possible benefits/drawbacks, but one of the many benefits is suppose to be a quieter ride. Go ahead and google it. For all I know, it could be the tire equivalent of "underbody rust prevention"..

Just thought I'd bring it up for discussion.

MattT516

Continental ContiExtremeContact. Thanks for playing.

By the way, I think when those Falkens were rated very well for Consumer Reports, they were being tested on Jettas, Corollas, and other economy/slow cars. The speed rating for the ZIEX 512 aren't suitable for TL's, just to let you know. If you like going 125 mph, I wouldn't be doing it in those tires. I heard good things about those Falken tires until my tire guy told me about the speed rating. He recommended the Contis, and they've been fantastic. Great in the rain, good grip on dry pavement, and they're even good in the winter.

ARX-01b

iTrader: (1)

Good Choice for an AS tire

kyle-wdp

No way! I put Nittos on and they were noisier than worn out Turanzas. These things howl loud....until I dynamatted that is.

neuronbob

The Falkens are indeed VERY noisy. However, this is made up for by good grip in dry, wet, and "light snow" conditions, as I can attest from my experience driving on them today. I'm on my second set for my TL and expect to replace all four again next spring, likely with Falkens, unless I find something less noisy, perhaps the Dunlop SP 5000 Sports I used on my 2G TL (I had 20k miles on them when I traded the car in and they were still quiet!) Anyone with over 10k miles on another "high-performance" all season tire other than Michelin Pilot Sport A/S? I refuse to pay $1k for a set of tires for which the replacement cost is so high.

HuKaShI

Can someone chime in on the noise level of the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S's?

I'm thinking of going with the Pilots because I want a little bit more tread life and would like better snow traction.

I just don't want the noise that the Falkens provided.

kyle-wdp

just ordered PZero Neros

but Tire rack has a killer special on F1 GS-D2s

HuKaShI

OK, now I'm torn between the Pirelli Pzero Nero's and the Michelin Pilot Sports.

The price difference alone makes me want to go with the Pirelli's. But what if they are noisy? I would be so pissed.

Can anyone chime in on the noise of the pirelli's as well?

richrath

Check this thread from earlier today -- I read someone had gone from Mich Pilot Sport A/S to Pirelli P-Zero Nero and noticed immediately that the Zeros were much quieter than the Pilot Sports. The poster was quite happy with the change! This caught my eye because I've not read anything from someone who'd used both of these tires on the TL. It's about 10 posts or so down in the thread. And ooops, it was an RL not a TL.

I've had the P-Zeros on since August, about 8,000 miles so far. For the first 1000 they are INCREDIBLY quiet on asphalt roads (nothing is quiet on a rough surface) and quieter than the Turanzas ever were. At 8000 miles the Zeros are less quiet than new but certainly not loud yet. We'll see at 20K. But I really enjoy those Zeros, man!

vp911

Pilots that I had were excellent. Pirellis were also - but snow traction really suffered. I sold my pilots and am selling the pirellis but putting on dedicated snows

When I had my TL I had the falkens and they were OK. I prefer the pirelli and pilots better; however, I did not achieve high mileage with any of them.

HuKaShI

So the Pirelli's don't have as good snow traction as the Pilots, correct?

But are they good enough. I would rather save the extra 50 bucks per tire if that means I drive 10 mph slower in the snow. I mean often does it snow in NY.

Wouldn't you guys agree?

vp911

1.5" snow and I was sliding around in the RL - sh-awd.

HuKaShI

Such a hard decision.

I think I only have one more winter to endure. I'll be moving to California by next September.

I just want something that will get me through this winter with minimal impact to my wallet.

HuKaShI

Ok, I'm sorry i'm so wishy washy with this tire purchase.

I decided to not go with the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S because I don't think I can afford it right now as the holidays are here. My Falkens are now down to the wear bars. Luckily it hasn't snowed yet.

I've narrowed it down to the Pirelli Pzero Nero M+S and the Toyo Proxes 4.

Does anyone know how either of these two tires fair in the snow?

Remember, I don't need to be driving 65 mph in the snow. As long as I'm can do about 25 mph in the snow, I'm happy. Just don't want to get stuck.

Thanks again guys, what would I do without this forum.

ARX-01b

iTrader: (1)

Why don't you try ebay. Do a search by tires size. I purchased four Pirelli P6 Four Seasons for $140. The tires were almost new and I'm very satisfied with their performance. Very quiet and the tires have performed well in cold 35* rain.

TL_S_Driver

i just replaced my contiextremes with the falkens and i too am dissappointed. great gripping tires so far but noise levels are a bit high, my mistake for trying to save some $$$

joseph_99tl

i have these cooper xeon.
these are great tires.

Modeler

You should never listen to that "guy", cause he's a moron!

The ZIEX 512 comes in different speed ratings depending on the tire size. Yes, Consumer Reports tested the H-rated version that was not low profile, and found it to be great. I have the 512's in TL's OEM 17" size - 235/45 and they are W-rated. The tires that CR tested were quite different from the ones on my car; and that's a bad thing.

I found the 512's to have absolutelly exceptional performance in wet and snowy/icy conditions. But these bastards flat-spot almost as badly as the EL42s after 7,000 miles.

They also are somewhat noisy, but not as noisy as some people make them out to be. Everything is relative! I replaced the 512's after only 7,000 miles with OEM Michellin Pilot tires that come on the 2005 Navi TL. I got them new on stock wheels super cheap off E-bay (was looking for 2 replacement wheels for bent ones, ended up with 4 new tires). The Pilots are actually noisier than the Falkens. And their performance in wet is total crap compared to Falkens; they're really totally worthless except for one big caveat: they don't flat spot!

MDOC

I have the BF goodrich G-force t/a!! The best tire I have ever had!! I will take some pictures of it! Til then here is a link to see my car!


http://milo.smugmug.com/gallery/1007946/1/46645452

RyanCHICL

iTrader: (1)

i have the ziex and they have been an excellent tire. I would definitely reccomend them.

VelfarreClubber

I like the tires but i only have one complaint and the tread life is not very long. the tire is not noisy as some would say but the worst sounding tire i heard is the yokohama avs in the same exact tire size as our TL, on my dads 2000 mb e430 has this fawkin annoying whriling sound.

I wouldn't go back to the ziex due to tread life but i think its the best bang for your buck, i got mine for 400 otd w/ unlimited balance/rotation, mounting and insurance. the next tire im considering is the pirrelis or michelin sports maaybe toyo

Modeler

How long have you had them? I loved mine for the first 3-4K miles too...

RyanCHICL

iTrader: (1)

I've had mine for about 2 months. I just had them repaired over the weekend because the place that installed them didn't seal off the wheel, so i was filling them up with air. BTW how does the tread look so far.

Modeler

I've replaced mine after about 7,000-8,000 miles. I didn't yet intend to replace them, but I was looking for replacement wheels on E-bay and it so happened that wheels with new Michelin tires were dirt cheap, so I got them. The reason I ended up doing it is that I have been unhappy with the Falkens for the last several months/thousands of miles. This was primarilly because of really bad flat-spotting. Once I took the tires off, I also noticed that the tread was more worn than I would've expected it to be.

cullal

I am on my second set of Falken Ziex 512's and am happy the performance except for the tread life. My first set lasted apprx 22K miles....

MIKELB

When my stock tires wore out I replaced them with Falken ST-115's. At first they were exceptionally quiet. As time went on they started to whine. It became annoying at 30k miles and more than annoying by the time I replaced them at 45k miles. I now have Pirelli PZero's. The PZeros are quiet so far, but the jury is still out. One side benefit is that my gas mileage has improved by 1-2 mpg.

neuronbob

Since I wrote my previous post in this thread, I've secided on new rims. I've decided to move on from the Falkens after having owned two sets, more to try something new than anything else. So far, it's between the Toyo Proxes 4 and Kumho Ecsta ASX. The Kumhos have longer wear (400) but softer sidewalls. The Toyos have shorter wear (300) but better grip. Decisions, decisions....

Modeler

Have you considered good tires instead, like Michelin Pilot Sport A/S? Next time I'm not buying cheap crap anymore!

neuronbob

No. Cleveland roads are so bad, and I have to drive 18-20k miles a year on them for work, that a tire with low replacement cost is mandatory. While I can afford $235 + a tire (for the 235/40/18 size) tire replacement cost, I simply don't want to pay that much every time I damage a tire, which has happened to me three times in the last year. These danged low-profile tires are awfully fragile....

Modeler

What about all these "roadside hazard" warranties that every tire place plus Costco and Sam's include with the tires. Wouldn't they cover repair and replacement of damaged tires?