cheetor

I'd like opinions please on the tires mentioned above. I've heard some good things about both, and there's certainly a price difference, $198 for the Michelins and $109 for the Falkens in the stock size at Discount Tire Direct.

How much better is the Michelin, if at all? Wet and dry performance is all I care about, forget front wheel drive in the snow w/o dedicated snow tires.

-Eric
'02 Maxima SE, auto
'98 Subaru Outback wagon

irish44j

iTrader: (38)

OK, we've played this discussion out a million times, so what's one more?

I have the 512s (17/225's)on my maxima now for a few months now. I had Pilot A/S's on my Accord coupe last year (15/205 I think)...

falken has similar tread patter and grips just as well as pilots in the rain, in my opinion.

Dry, grip is similar/same, though Pilots have stiffer sidewalls and therefore less body roll into corners...I think the pilots were maybe slightly better in hard cornering grip, but not by much (and my accord was lighter than the max)....

More bang for the buck = 512's
Slightly better tire = Pilots

On a scale of 1 to 10 (10 best) all-weather conditions, 512's get an 8, Pilots get a 9..

that said, they were on different cars, so it is not an exact comparison.

IWNTMORHP!!

iTrader: (5)

after reading reviews on the 512s i decided to put the new ones on that were included with my new 2k2 instead of selling them on ebay and buying snows for my factory wheels. the reviews said they were pretty good in the snow...i am not feelin that. my sp5000 were better. as for dry traction: in the cold the 512s suck. i pushed through a corner today and ended up drifting like the max commercial where the car is sliding on the dry lake bed. good thing traffic was light and there was no one commin the other direction...so for the 512s-not very impressed. i cant compare the michellins other than hearsay.

2001SE

trust me people, you dont pay 200 bucks a tire for nothing. You get for what you pay. In the rain i dont even feel the water on the roads, its like driving through dry weather. Simply the best A/S tires out there i think. Even though next time I gotta put new tires I dont think it will be the A/S anymore since everytime you put 4 new ones on your car ...its about 900 bucks compared to any other tire which will still perform good at around 500

irish44j

iTrader: (38)

I also noticed today for the first time that on really cold, dry roads the 512s slip a little (it was a high of 14 deg F today here)...only did it once, while accelerating hard around a sharp corner from a light....when i got home inspected the road surface, and there were little ice crystals down in the cracks between the asphalt stones....hence slippage.

I've driven in snow several times with the 512s and they were fine...not awesome, but decent for a directional tread...you're never gonna get great snow grip with an A/S tire in the 17/225 size....too wide and too stiff sidewalls...that's why alot of guys get snows on 16in rims and 205 width..... But this guy didn't ask about snow conditions....so I am off topic

although gotta wonder about "forget front wheel drive in the snow without snow tires" Why? FWD is fine in the snow....of course 4WD is better, but I have never had problems with FWD in deep snow. Hope you dont think RWD is better!?

As to "get what you pay"...yeah, the Pilot AS is the best AS tire out there. But I will save my 70+ bucks a tire (280 total is nice money) and get 512s again next time...I can deal with the slightly less performance. And I can deal with my dollars not being paid to those French P*ssies (although they make a great tire)

If you can afford a 800-1000 bones for a set of tires, BY ALL MEANS get the Pilot. If you can't (or don't want to), get the 512s...and just slow down a little when its temperature in the single digits...I got them for rain performance....we set rain records here during 2003!

2MuchMAX4U

iTrader: (7)

I have two of the Pilot AS in the front and potenzas in the rear. They were a bit expensive, but they will be my potenza replacements when the time comes. I drive alot and have been impressed with the Michelins! You can't go wrong.

Robert

Ammi

iTrader: (26)

Hehe, every other post is about Falken tires.

People say falken tires just as good as michelin w/ fraction of its cost

Ben

You get what you pay for? Don't forget the barage of michelin advertising. You are paying for that as well.
Anyway, I'm happy with the 512's. They could stand stiffer side walls, but it makes for a nice, quiet highway ride. I've heard the michelins lack that. I don't know first hand though.
The Falkens rock in the rain, they are smooth and quiet, and they didn't kill my buget.
Personally, I will never buy anything but the Falkens for my max again.

Maxnut

why don't you check out the Continental Contiextreme contacts? Go to Tirerack.com, they compare tires on their website.

SEmy2K2go

iTrader: (10)

Also, try checking out the "Tires" forum on here. There is tons of information if you just dig a bit.