Street Tires

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civicracer901

Senior Member
Iam currently looking at some Falken Aznies,my freind had some on his hatch. Rode with him they did pretty well and after he told me the price they seem to pretty well worth the money for what they are. But how long do they really last? How much mi. do you think I could get out of them just for normal daily driving? If someone could help me out on getting some really good sticky tires that are like glue to the road that would be good. I need from personal experience not really from facts or research. My size would be 195/60/14. Iam really wantting some hx rims. So I would need this size tire only.
 
If you look on the sidewall of the tire it will give a wear rating anything under 250 is going to wear real quick if it's daily driven. The better a tire sticks the worse the treadwear is going to be. So unless you're planning to spend alot it's going to be a compromise
 
Not necessarily... rubber compound composition matters a lot too. You can still have an excellent wearing tire that sticks really well, although those are pretty expensive. I got over 35k out of my last set of Bridgestone S-03s, and that was with some pretty hard driving.

Whoops- never mind... you just said "unless you're planning to spend a lot it's going to be a compromise". The highest level tires don't really compromise there.

:D
 
Iam comparing the Yokohama's A032R's and the Falken Anzies. Falken's don't seem to be good in wet weather condtions. This is from what I heard? :huh:
 
from personal experience....

i've had a set of Falken Azenis 205/50/15 now for, well, since June or July. This car is my daily driver (check out my website for more info). The tires grip like lint rollers... they're awesome. With my springs and struts, it's pretty scary what the car can do. I've been autox'ing with these tires, and I couldn't make them even chirp. They make more of a "hollow scraping" sound when they do break loose, and only chirp when you suddenly catch traction after sliding. My friend Michael also has these, and he can do a 40-foot burnout in his Focus, without a single shirp or squwak. I'm guessing that with a stock suspension (I have -1.8 degrees camber front, -1.5 degrees rear) the tires will chirp and roll over onto the sidewall more than mine, especially if you're going with a 60-series (taller sidewall). One thing for sure I can say about the Azenis is that you WILL be running MUCH higher tire pressures than normal street tires. I think maximum cold tire pressure is 52psi. I usually run like 40psi front and 38psi rear, and then I'm usually up in the low-to-mid 40's for AutoX and running the Dragon (Hwy 129).

The most noticeable thing about the tires (see my website gallery for a quick photo) is the tread pattern. It's not directional, but it does have an inside & outside. But the really interesting thing is the SIZE of the tread. Think of it in comparison to another tire, like the ones you have now. The little tiny patches of tread, as you're cutting down the backroads, tend to squirm, and give, thereby interrupting your line. This contributes a lot to the noise I remember having from my Kumho 712's. It was all about the tread pattern. Sure, I felt more confident on the Kumho's in the rain, but anywhere else I would rather have the Azenis (except ice or snow, of course). The Azenis just have those wide, road-handling tread patches.... and they really do make a difference. I've gotten to REALLY like these tires.

Let me know if you have any specific questions about the Azenis!! E-mail me if I happen to ignore a particular post for a day or two.

My rant about dynamic balancing :
I paid a local guy to order the set of tires for me, and do a mount and balance. Total was about $360. I paid the extra money to do it through him, because he has a really cool balancing machine that is hard to come by. It's a dynamic balancing machine. This is in contrast to a low-rpm "static balancing" machine that just uses crimp weights (in the heavier, ounce weights) to balance only the outside of the wheel at low RPM. The dynamic balancing machine will grasp the wheel at center, and then the technician will hand-crank the wheel to a certain speed, and the machine beeps to say "let go". As the wheel slows itself down, the machine first calculates both where on the outer rim to place a weight, and how many GRAMS should be placed there. If you've never used this machine, please use the included brake to slow down the wheel... don't grab it or push it to slow it down. The best weight placement is on the outer-most (curb-side) edge of the rim, using the more accurate gram weights.... and I would recommend using stick-on weights. This may be unsightly, but the advantages are worth the eyesore, IMO. You can place them towards the middle of the rim, but then your balance is not as accurate. Then, back to the spinning.... the technician spins the wheel again, this time calibrating for the balance on the inside of the wheel. This is again done with precision gram weights and stick-ons. Note: the stick-ons can be easily cut into slices for parts of a gram, where solid ounce weights are just WYSIWYG. Before you do a dynamic balance, it's important that you clean your wheels thouroughly, then get the new tires installed. After you put a few miles on the tires, and heat-cycle them (say, 15-20 miles of easy driving), then check your alignment. A simple cut of dental floss is all that is required to check your alignment. After a dynamic balance, you'll notice that you have a new road feel at 50mph+. It should feel a lot different. The dynamic balancing not only makes the car handle better, but puts less strain on your suspension, and tends to keep more tire patch on the road.

Okay, sorry about the rant.
 
oh... and the Falken Azenis are OK (driveable, but not confidence-inspiring) in the rain, but really suck in standing water. Just FYI.
 
The only place you should ever had your rims/wheels balanced is a a place that has one of these machines.

The GSP9700. (Which is a dynamic machine)

Makes a world of difference. Before the tire is even mounted, the machine spins the rim to to find irregularities in the rim, high spots etc.. Then the machine tells you were to put the heavy spot of the tire , how to orientate(sp?) the tire to the rim., a roller that simulates a load on the tire is set against the tread. and the wheel is spun, not only checking for were to put a weight, but it does a vibration check , man it's just a kick ass machine, the only machine worth getting your wheels balanced on. Check out the link they have a location finder to find a dealer that has one.
 
Ok a sale rep. at Discount Tire Direct said " The Yokohama's A032R's have a treadwear rating of 60" That cant be right. So if this is true or not for what the Falken's are and what they give you they seem to be the better choice. The Yoko's are 116.00. Falken's are about $50.00 maybe less a peice. Iam sure alot of you knew that.
 
yes the A032R's have a UTQG rating of 60... this is because they are NOT a road tire... they are a DOT approved COMPETITION tire (designed for autoX and meeting requirements for some road course leagues)... the A032R's are not designed or intended for daily road use... you will get very poor milage from them, (1 season of autoX/track use or about 10,000 miles road use)... C grade tires are not a good choice for anyone who is not running a competition grade suspension setup either... ive seen a few cars roll over at autoX/track events from using competition tires on stock or cheap suspension (you dont want your suspension to give out before the tires do)... also the limits you can reach on a C grade tire are MUCH higher than a street tire, so now when you fuck up from pushing things too far and go flying off the road your doing 140 mph instead of 90 mph...
street tires are for street use, competition tires are for competition use.
 
I have Yokohama a550h tires on my sol and they were like crazy. They have been on for 9k miles and handle like they only have about 5k left on them if not less. They were good when I first bought the car (only had >5k on the tires when i bought the car). They totally suck in the snow (my car turns into an ice skate) and my handling in the rain has started to go down hill. I have no idea what the rating is on them but i think i will have to buy new tires in the spring (getting rotas then)
 
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