Falken vs. Sumitomo

[Robo's]

I run the Sumituno HRZ 11 like your saying. With a bit of heat for track work there not bad, (1.94 60's), and i know a quick VX that runs quick with them as well. But now with more power they still spin alot, so i'll be trying a different tyre next time. Im purely going for traction. Maybe i have too much power that ant street tyre will not hold the rear end down, i dont know until i try i guess. But first gear is a joke now!!

[Insomniac]

Thanks for all the replies... I'll let you know how I go...

[mcnamg]

who makes these nankang tyres they seem to be popping up on a lot of imports in some of the yards here in wa. They seem to be pretty cheap so I would think they would be pretty nasty but some other peoples input would be appreciated

[TokyoTaxi]

I can't vouch for most of the other tyres but I can tell you a fair bit anything with regards to Falken's ( which are made by Ohtsu ( who are now in bed with Dunlop ) , not Sumitomo ).

I've had ( and many friends have had ) ZE326, ZE512, ST115, FK451 and AZENIS.

Everyone says ZE326 are crap. Well what do you want for that kind of money ?? They're an entry lever tyre with a large range of sizes at a low price. Mostly for those who can't afford the 20 inch wheels they purchased let alone the rubber to go on them

I'm currently using ZE512's and they are a pretty good general use street tyre with silicone impregnated compound so they hang on reasonalby well in all consditions and are quiet. Also, they're directional which the ZE326 are not.

From this point onwards they get more type specific like FK451's for Euro conditions etc up to the AZENIS Pure Sport which is an awesome tyre on the street under most conditions and not too bad on the track days ( for the price ).

Not that I'm saying Falken are the best, because I'm not, but what is considered shit to one person is considered a good comprimise to the next person. You guys should consider siting actual event's that contribute to you either liking or hating a tyre ( like poor wear rate but good traction etc etc ) instead of just saying they're crap. That doesn't really help anyone.

[someonestolecc]

BF Goodrich on the 12 slotters smoke it up good!

265/90/13

[silva33]

I have the 326's, as above, they are crap!!!

i have 265/35/18's on the back and the first 3 gears are useless in the wet and i have never been able to take off hard...

stay well away!!!

[ECR033]

I also have ZE326's on my R33 (came with the car) and they're pretty average...I'll definately be steering clear of them in future and I wouldn't recommend them to anyone.

I can vouch for what silva33 said above, I've got 255/40/17's on the rears and despite that, they are shocking in the wet and spin even at low rev take offs.

[Advan_01]

I've tried both the tyres and I reckon Sumitomo is better off than Falken.

[Busky2k]

If you want another alternative, people on the board have been happy (including myself) with the Hankook Ventus K104s. Excellent for the price, and if you do a search, they do hold their own against the competition in the last MOTOR mag tyre shootout. From the figures, the K104 does do a admirable good job. The FK451 did even better. Sorry but I dont have any info on the sumitomo besides this survey in EVO Magazine (best to worst);

1) Goodyear Eagle F1 GSD3

2) Toyo Proxes T1-S

3) ContiSportContact2

4) Michelin Pilot Sport

5) Dunlop SP Sport 9000

6) Pirelli PZero Nero

7) Bridgestone S-03

8) Hankook Ventus Sport K104

9) Yokohama AVS ES100

10) BF Goodrich g-Force TA KWD

11) Firestone Firehawk SZ50 EP

12) Kumho ECST Supra 712

13) Sumitomo HTRZ II

[gts4diehard]

hi, guys just thought i'd add some comment to the tyre debate.

I am getting F1 gsd3 for my Gts4, they are only 205/55/16 and are a bargain at moment with buy 3 get 4 at goodyear on now.

I noticed that falkens cheaper tyres are getting quite a bagging, but I think some of the people here have got the wrong size tyres on their cars.

I've got ze 502's (205/55/16) on at the moment and they have been a pretty good street tyre, even taken them out to qld raceway where they performed quite well, although they were a bit twitchy - something that never happened on the street with them( not the heat that a racetrack causes). They did let go but were progressive so the car was still controllable with the throttle. If you see the reviews on this tyre it comes out some where near the bottom of most lists, it cost me around $130 each when i got them. In the wet they have been pretty good, can drop the clutch at 4k and get only mild wheel spin.

This i think is partly due to the near stock tune of the car but is also due to the Weight going onto each wheel .

If you look at the original tyre size on a GTS25T I think you will find that it is no where near 255. Wide tyres work great on most cars in the dry, but they are more likely to kick your ass in the wet without the right weight on them. They only ways to get around with 'wider' tyres in the wet is to buy tyres with a more grippy compound or better tread design which you dont get with low/middle range tyres OR to increase the weight on them e.g. a bag of sand in boot ...! or put on an aerodynamic body kit that puts a tonne or two of downforce on the car e.g. Formula one.

If you are having problems with 'cheap' tyres in the wet, try a smaller width in the wet months, you will probably find that even most cheap tyres these days are better than those that were middle of the range or better when our skylines first came out so they will perform better than you expect.

Ive decided to see how a 'top' of the range tyre goes on my car with the F1 GSD 3, as the price differential to the tyres like my ze 502's is eliminated with the the deal they are running. The reviews on the net seem to be very positive so it will be interesting to see how they stack up on my GTS4. $640 for a set of mid range tyres versus $745 (usually $1000) for a set of 'higher' end tyres makes the gsd's to good to pass up. Ive always used lower end tyres and found them ok, but i never tried large tyre sizes because a good large tyre has always been to expensive to justify.

I've had the following on my car:

GT Radial champiros 55 (205/55/16) - they were very good in dry and wet although they got a bit slippery in the wet before they got to the wear indicators. used at lakeside, pumped upto 40 psi, went very well at track, got a 1 min 7 on 2nd outing.

BF Goodrich radial TA's (205/55/16) - good in the dry .good on the rears in wet but front understeered in wet ( fronts slid a bit). pressures were good too.

Falken ze 502's (205/55/16) - good in dry and wet. good steering in wet, not as good as goodriches on the back in wet. Twitchy on track(qld raceway) once heat built up, but still let go progressively.

all of the above prob dont have good reviews any where but are quite good when they are matched to the weight of the car, power of car and not forgetting skill of driver.

[stolly]

I've got a set of sumi's and they're not real flash in the wet... but I haven't used falkens, so I don't know what they're like...

I drove a mates GTR recently, and he had a set of the silica tread Hankook Ventus K104's on and they were excellent, probably the best value for money around but not the best.

With anything these days, you pay for what you get.

Happy hunting...

I agree the Hankook Ventis K104's are awesome tyres and are the best value for money you will get. Their only downside is they are a little skatey in the wet.