i'm shopping for tires for my mom's 95 SE. i got a bit carried away and installed progress springs, RSB, FSTB and AGX shocks. i'm trying to choose a responsive all season on the cheap. personally i've had good experiences with dunlop sport A2s on my old 97 with a similar suspension (eibach springs). dunlops generally have stiff sidewalls for passenger cars. the falkens are about $10 cheaper each. i'm confident both tires offer good traction wet, dry and light snow. what i'm looking for is steering and handling response on falkens. i don't want a mushy sidewall. i would like opinions on the sidewall flex with the falkens from people who have switched to or from dunlops. thanks.

 

Run as fast as you can from the Falkens. The 512s have the sloppiest sidewalls of any tire I've owned. Steering response and cornering stability were horrid, even if granny driven (the Dunlop snow tires I switched to after the 512s had stiffer sidewalls, even having a series taller size...).

Check the sticky out for a wide range of opinions.

 

ah yes, the stickies! i'm such a newb for being a 6yr member +1 lurking lol. i had a feeling the falkens weren't up to snuff. thanks

 

Yeah, if it's your mom driving the Max, I guess it'd be okay to get the Falken 512's, but you'll if you drive it.

 

hey, i was wondering, exactly what symptoms were you experiencing with the falkens? so far, i've put 60 miles on them...and they don't seem bad at all....very quiet, cornering is great...and steering response seem all normal...i haven't pushed them to the LIMIT...but i have taken some semi sharp corners at like 30mph...feels better than the average all season tire, if u ask me

btw, i'm running eibach springs with tokico shocks...also running them at 38psi...never tried anything below...after hearing all the bad stuff about soft sidewalls with these tires...i immediately went to fill them up after i left the tire shop...americas tire put them at 34

 

I only put 3300 miles before I got sick of them and took mine off, but in that short time I grew to hate the overall feel they gave the car.

The 512s were quiet, had far more grip than the crapenzas and didn't hydroplane. That said, the squirmy sidewalls gave ZERO feedback. They gave the car a very slow steering response and nasty yawing in the turns. Even cross winds would make the car wiggle.

That's just on normal driving. If I pushed them agreesively, you can't tell if you're near the limit since there was no way to tell what was really happening. The the car would just be yawing as the tires rolled in the rims. Just me, but I want to know what's happening before I plant the car onto a retaining wall or a ditch.

 

were these happening to you right when you put on the tires? as for me, i'm not experiencing any sort of yawing....i mean, they respond right when i jerk the steering wheel...

 

Wait.... what? Cornering is great? Mine feels like my wheels are on sponge, not rubber. Have you ever tried other tires besides Falken 512 and Potenza RE92?

 

Within the first mile of driving it. Here's my first review on them after a day or two driving on them.

http://forums.maxima.org/showpost.ph...4&postcount=73

 

sure...i've own two pairs of yokohama avs es100....i also owned a set of pirelli pzero nero M&S....i've also driven on falken 452s....and countless other tires on friend's car....and the falken 512s, SO FAR, don't feel any different than other performance tires i've driven on...

exactly what mph are you taking turns at? like i said earlier, i have NOT pushed these tires to the limit....maybe you are asking too much of this tire, and running corners at like 80mph? haha, jk...but forreals...at 35mph corners, they feel just like any regular performance tire, as of now...but obviously, the best set of tires i've ever owned were those yokohamas...the grip was absolutely insane....treadware sucked tho

 

I'm hoping that since ppl have bad things to say about the 512 series, doesn't mean that all Falken's series are "bad," because I am looking at some 452's and haven't heard too much about them, so any imput on those would be great. Sorry for hi-jacking

 

of course not...thats like the same thing as sayin "Bridgestone" is a bad company...becuz their RE92's blow...although their RE-01R, RE050A, and many other tires work marvelousely

 

You must have got a defected set .

 

Well, sorry if I had been too harsh on the 512. Maybe it's not that bad.... they'r just okay for grandma drivers. My advice is: if you're looking for performance, the 512 ain't got it.