After months of procrastination, I finally broke down and bought Falken 512's. I also had the tranny and coolant flushed, new cabin filter installed, synthetic oil change and 4 new brakepads. The couple miles I drove it home in the rain, I noticed a huge difference. Wet traction?? What a concept!

 

How much did those tires cost ya?

 

I love my Falkens... are ya running in spec tires? ie 225/50/17?

 

i'm gonna milk my potenzas for another 3,000 miles and then get me some falkens. can't wait.

how many miles you got on your max that you had the tranny flushed? and how much was the in cabin filter? oh and last question...where did you have this done?

 

think my next mod is going to be some new tires. hows the noise level on the high way? and does it have better Dry traction than the potenzas?

 

The Falkens have better traction period than the stock Potenzas... at least that's the case in my experience... dry, wet, snow...

But they are loud... not so much on the highway (yet), but definitely at the lower speeds... I'm sure the more I wear em, the louder they're gonna get on the highway....

 

man, i should get rid of these summer kumho's and get some all season falkens...

getting caught in the snow with summer tires sucks...

 

From my experience all season tires aren’t much help in the snow.

 

I Bought A Set Of Winter Tires 215/60/16 And American Racing Rims For Winter Driving And Its Like Day And Night. You Can Drive Through Snow And Ice Without Floating On The Snow.well Worth The Money If You Live In The Snow Belt States.buy The Way I Replaced My Brigestones With Nitto 450 Extrems Nice Ride Quiet Great Traction Dry And Wet Though Sidewalls Are A Little Softer So Cornering Off A Bit.

 

My car has 50K on the clock. I bought it with 12 miles on it and have not done anything to it except oil changes. I figured I would get everything done at once and not worry about it for another 50K (except oil changes). Everything including the tires cost me $1000. I probably could have gotten everything a little cheaper elsewhere, but my family has used this mechanic for years so I trust him.

 

I had these tires for about a month, they felt great for a few days but then noticed they started to pull hard to the left no matter how many times they were re-balanced and rotated. They also wobbled at speeds between 40-80 mph and balancing did not help. I returned them and got Turanza's. Good luck with the Falkens, hopefully I just was sold a defective set.

 

where can you return tires?

 

Can't be any worse than the 512s. The worst feeling tire I've ever owned. Felt like the tires were going flat.

 

Sears gives you 30 days. I purchased the Falkens, they re-ballanced them 3 times plus aligned my car twice. I was not satisfied with the tires so they allowed me to return them and credit my money towards new tires. They ordered me the Turanza's from tirerack and only charged $15 more per tire which is pretty much what the shipping cost from tire rack is anyway.

 

do you get all your money back if you return the tires or do they charge a restocking fee? i'm also not sure how much i want to go with sears since i found a place online i can get the tires for about $15 cheaper per tire.

 

I got my entire purchase price returned and credited towards the Turanza's. There was absolutely no restocking fee.

 

Are you noticing any mpg loss with the Turanza's? Many people report this on Tire Rack's reviews of these tires. Doesn't really make sense to me though but enough different types of drivers, cars, etc. report this.

 

Sounds like everyone is happy with Falken's. Anyone have anything bad to say about them? Just curious.

 

some people say they're a bit loud. what size should i get to replace the stock 17s on my GLE?

 

I'm not a fan of the Falkens. I bought a pair last year and they lasted about ~6 months or so. I was very unhappy with the tread life i got out of them. Sure they gripped and handled nice. But i cant afford to to buy new tires every 6 months. They were kinda loud at some points as well. But i can deal with that.

 

I owned a set in the 225/50R17 size and I hated them. I took them off after only 3300 miles. I couldn't stand the vague feeling the 512s gave my car, even when I took them up to 47 psi cold. The 512s rode comfortably, but the car felt like the tires were either going flat or something broke in the suspension every time I turned.

IMO, the positives (excellent wet/dry grip, comfortable, low noise and good resistance to hydroplaning) did not outweigh the negatives (lousy steering response and no cornering stability). In 3300 you shouldn't really be able to tell wear characteristics, but they wore off about 1/32 (even more on the outer blocks), which meant to me that they would have only gone to 20K-25K miles at best.

 

what did you go with as an alternative?

 

I "bought time" and got a set of snow tires (Dunlop Winter Sport M3s) and put them on a set of 16 inch steelies. About three or four weeks ago I bought a set of Fuzion ZRi (those are summer only) in 235/45R17 and put them on the OEM SE wheels (calculated risk).

So far, so good. The ZRIs are nice and grippy in the dry, I haven't pushed them in the wet yet (but I did spin the inner front wheel (no LSD) too easily on wet pavement making a right turn from a stop, which has me worried a little. Maybe it was the white stripe on the pavement). What I do like the most is those have very nice stiff sidewalls, so steering is sharp and there's no mushy, wiggling feeling in the turns as with the 512s. On the down side, they are noisy at low speeds (a "wurl" sound), follow every road imperfection (even my wife noticed it and she's clueless when it comes to cars) and the ride is rough because of the stif sidewalls (but hey, it turns when I want it to turn...). The ZRis also pick up every piece of grit they come in contact with, a product of the soft rubber I suppose (which is also sandblasting the underside of the car). I also think I may have lost a little gas mileage (1-2 mpg), but that may be just me enjoying the tires...

BTW, paid $525 out the door for the ZRis.

 

are turanzas better than potenzas? cuz that's the tires that came on my GLE when i got it used from the dealer. they're also bridgestone.

 

From what I see Falkens are not a worthwhile tire to put on a Maxima. I am constantly flabbergasted that people try to compromise their ride for the sake of a few dollars. I have read too many negative comments on Falkens to even consider them and I am in the market for new tires.

 

It's a line. Which turanzas? The EL-42 were OEM on the GXE and GLE, IIRC. Those pretty much suck as bad as the RE92s (they are 10-15 year old technology). People who've tried the LS-H and LS-V like them.

 

they'd probably cost me an arm and a leg.

rmurdoch, let me know what tires you decide on. because i've got about another 2,000 or so left on my stock tires but i'd like to have replacements within the next 3 weeks or so. i had a whole thread where people were suggesting tires i just can't seem to find it right now.

edit: FOUND IT!! http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=384083

 

They do have that deal going to get $100 back on their purchase of a set. I haven't checked into it (though the wife's minivan needs shoes), but a $25 a tire break may make them more competitive.

 

who has this deal?

 

XGaSpAcHo, the $100 discount on the Turanza's are available everywhere. You may want to check because I think the offer is only good for the month of April. Tire rack sells the 225/50/17 Turanza LS-V tires for $145. Subtract $25 a tire from the regular price and they are really close to the cost of the Falkens plus they are a far superior tire to the Falkens. Trust me on this, I had the Falkens for 3000 miles and traded them in for the Turanza's.

 

i have turanzas on my gle right now. not sure which ones though. i'm not too thrilled with them. i'll have to look into this more.

right now i'm really liking the toyo proxes 4 but the closest size to mine is 225/45. not sure how that would look.

 

You have the Turanza EL-42s which much worse than the LS-H and Vs. If I were to go the Proxes 4 way, I'd try 235/45, even if off spec.

Listen to martin, he put 300 miles less on the Falkens than I did. Those tires sucked a$s.

 

actually 245/45 is the closest to my tire. and that would still make my speedo be off by 1.4 miles for every 60.