Falken Ziex ZE-512 - Any Good?

Looking for a decent DD tire for my rex. Nothing too aggressive, but something that is generally a good all around tire. Decent ride and noise level is important. What say you?

Cheap, wear out quickly, feel mushy, but have decent dry grip for an all season.

Have a set on the Miata as the dd tires. Works well enough for dd purposes. My daughter that dd's the Miata says they're alright and good for the price and thinking about getting another set when these wear out. They seem to be wearing well though and won't need replacing for a while yet. Even with the aggressive alignment on the Miata.

They aren't the greatest in the rain. Had 'em on my MX-3, stopping was mediocre on wet pavement.

UGH. I HATE them, but i'm usually the minority in that opinion.

They don't really do anything well in my experiences.

The worst was that they transformed the Escort with all it's 300k miles of stock motor glory into a wheelspinning machine that wouldn't turn, stop, or go, but would be entirely happy spinning through most of 3rd gear at half throttle.

I could live with them if it never rained where i lived, but only if given to me for free.

How about the Kumho Ecsta ASX?

Miata #2 came with them. I liked them well enough. Two wore out, one went flat, and the last one is sitting in a garage in Maine, unmounted. They were good to drive on, though. Wouldn't want to autocross on them, but for street driving a fun car, they were just the ticket.

I had them on a DD E30 and they were ok - you won't find them sporty at all though. They did wear out quickly ~15k or so but IIRC they were also less than $50 a corner.

bravenrace wrote: How about the Kumho Ecsta ASX?

I like those much better, personally.

I put a set of ZE912s on out DD Astra. They were $5 more a tire, and so far I'm happy with them. We currently have about 7,000 miles on them with no issues. For a daily driver tire, they seem pretty good.

I like the Bridgestone Potenza RE960AS a lot. But they ain't cheap.

I have them on my 733. On the big sedan they are good for DD duty. Not sporty, but comfortable, and very affordable. The Kumho ASX is a better performer for around the same money, but the Falken has served me well.

Had them on the Rolla. They were OK. Cheap.

I had 512's on my Miata, for about 1500 miles. I didn't like them, they felt mushy and bouncy, so I sold them to a buddy who put them on his sunfire. He thought they were great. Now I have 912's on the Miata, and its much better. I even like them better than the 615's, cause the car feels lighter, but does have less grip. Get the 912's, you wont be disappointed.

Joey

Been really pleased with the Continental DWS on my daily and the wife's car. Not too bad in the dry, aboslutely ridiculous grip in the wet, and pretty good in the snow.

If you want something a little less all seasony and more grippy the DW is also pretty good.

I've got a set on the 'vette. They've pretty much had it, but they weren't in the greatest shape when we bought the car. They were OK for DDing the car but I'm currently waiting until BFG's gForce Sport become available again in the right size.

I've got the 912's on my Miata, too, and they're fine. Didn't fall to pieces during an hour of being over-driven at the track. Not a ton of grip, but the car feels very composed. Also had them on my B5 Passat and had no complaints. Decent tire for the price.

In reply to bravenrace:

Thanks for the opinions. Okay, how about these three:

Dunlop Direzza DZ101
Yokohama S Drive
BFG G-Force Sport

I have the Yoko S-drive on my Miata and so far they have been great. Much better than the ZE-512 I had on my previous Miata.

bravenrace wrote: In reply to bravenrace: Thanks for the opinions. Okay, how about these three: Dunlop Direzza DZ101 Yokohama S Drive BFG G-Force Sport

The DZ101 isn't bad for a DD at all. I don't hate them, i'll buy them again. I like the S-Drives as well.

I'm not all that familiar with the G-Forces.

In reply to bravenrace:

Out of those three I would probably pick the S Drive, but that's just from reviews I've read. I have zero first hand experience with any of those tires.

The Falkens blow.

The Conti DWS's are on my TL now and I LOVE them! Pretty good in dry, great in wet and about as close to a full on snow tire as I have used in an all season shoe. Hard to beat for all around use!

Kumho and Hankook are my two favorite bottom dollar tires.

No Conti's in my size.

The 512's were mediocre, but the 912's are pretty awesome for a DD tire. The G-Force Sport is another really good tire. I don't have any experience with the others.

Any opinions on the FK-452?

I'm not really concerned with tread life.