jbabk

I have a choice of buying either Sumitomo or Falken tires. Has anyone had any experiences with either brand? These are to be put on my 1993 Corvette.

Pete K

My buddy has been using the falkens on his car for daily driving and 1/4 mile. He has cut 1.700 60' times on these tires. Hold up well and good in rain. I resently installed the kuhmo's and I think I like the falkens better. Just my $.02

jbabk

Thanks for the comment.

BookSmart

Which Falkens? I have the 502's which are now replaced by the 512's. I think the Kumho MS's are WAY better. (from what I read) Now if you are talking about the Azenis that is a diffrent story. I would not have a clue except I wish they came in 255/50 R16's :smash:

jbabk

Thanks for the comment. The Falken tires are actually FK-451 GR Beta

runner140*

I purchased my 1996 last year and have put 14000 miles on a new set of
Falkens. I will buy them again. :smash:

jbabk

Thanks for your comment. I think thats the way I'm going.

Aaron's 87

Don't know about the Sumitomos, but the Falken (Ziex's I think) on my T/A seem to wear a lot faster than the Futura (Cooper) Zs on the Vette. Sorry, that's not apples to apples though.

GR8FUL1

I replaced my fronts with Falken's last year. I liked them so much I decided to replace the rears with the same. That's when I found out that Falken doesn't make the size for the rear of my 96. I've now bought Kumho's for the rear from the Tire Rack and they look like nice tires. I'll be having them mounted this Friday. I know you didn't ask about Kumho's, but they look like good tires. Falken's do also, if you can get the size you want.

dizwiz24

Go sumitomo

Rob 93ZR-1

I'm running the Falken Zeix on my car to try and get a set if tires to last more than 15k miles. These have a higher treadwear rating than most of the others and do well in the rain, but they are not very grippy in the dry compared to BFG force or my Kumho's. I have a set of V700 mounted up in the garage for playdays so I can live w/o the ultimate traction for my daily driver. ymmv :seeya

skydaman

The Sumitomo are great as long as you get the HTRZ II, I have them on the front and rear. I received them from tirerack.com for $105 each. They work great on and off the track even in the rain. The HTRZ have a better newer compound than the original HTRZ which some people complained about.

McShagger

YES! Excellent Tire! They are much better than the Kumho 712s. The GRB 451s have made me a big fan of Falken. Ive tried quite a few tires on my car and so far the 451s are the best tire that have been on my car. Ive tested a few others on other cars too and these tires may be competitive with top ranked tires. That said, I will be trying Kumho MXs next time around. I understand that they are comprable to BFG KDWs. Or possibly the Sumitomo HTRZs... just to see what they are like. I dont expect them to be much better than the 712s.

Kblack_LT4

I have the 3.15x35x17 Sumitomos and I have road raced them, drag raced them, and drive the car on the street. From what I've seen, they are better than I thought. I was complaining at the drag strip the first time I took the car there. It would light them up from 2500 rpm up. What I found was, I wasn't getting the tired hot enough. When I increased the burn out, they could come out at 4000 rpm in the M6 and not light up, just go. So they do need to be hot to work their best. At the road course, I found they held a lot better than the driver did. The rubber beads over on the tire from the hard cornering like my buddy's race tires. They are soft and grip well, the hotter, the better it seems. I cannot complain a lot about them anymore, they work. I just had to get the combination right (ADD HEAT) :-) Good luck with your decision. Ken Black :steering: