Review: Falken Ziex ZE-512 tires

[calling911]

I know lots of you P Car guys are like me.. you own a Porsche but its doesn't mean you have a fat wallet. People just think you do.. so when you want tires you cant just run out and plunk down $600 for a set. Or at least you don't care too.

I chose these tires because:

A) I liked the way they looked
B) They were cheap
C) Discount Tires (I am a loyal customer) has only has so many brands that fit my car and this was one of them


Ok.. a little about me:.. Raced go karts, SCCA, and Superbikes. Taught for the SCCA and BMWCCA. And schmuck can do this stuff.. did it on and off for the last 10 years. Teaching for the SCCA is easy: Dont crash too often and dont ***** at the chief steward. I've seen some people instruct that I wouldn't wish my worst enemy on. Stuff like: "You're off the pace by 5 seconds".. which is irrelevant to teaching race car driving.. how about was the dude safe when he let people by? How's about did he let people by? (Im talking novice teaching here.. btw) But I digress...

I live in North carolina where I really only park my car for a few weeks a year cuz when it trickles any hint of snow here they throw salt on the roads.. my p car does not see salt so...

My driving is city and highway.. fair amount of highway.. but certainly both. My driving style is aggressive yet responsible.. I try not to draw attention to myself because A) I dont want a ticket and B) I dont want ricers trying to drag race me at a stop lights.. its annoying.


Bought these tires about 5 months ago. They are quiet, they do rain really well in my opinion.. not much aquaplaning at all.. they stay in balance real well.. quiet is relative in a pcar.. there is a lot of noise goin on in an old pcar like mine so keep that in mind..

There is nothing I do not like about these tires.. period.. I like to slide around A LOT on the road.. they do that, and they dont "chunk" when cold (chunking is literally that, chunks of rubber come off on the tread).. Even after countless full throttle tailwagging u turns in the city and crazy ass four wheel drifts on on and off ramps the treads look perfect. Im running 28 lbs in the front and 35 in the rear.. dont ask me why.. I like my car loose and this sorta helps with that. I hear people talk about how they want to get their cars more neutral for off track use and I think.. huh.. why? When I turn I like to use my throttle.. and for street driving you want the car real loose.. so these tires arent super sticky.. which I say "cool" mo' slidin for me... and less treadwear..

Will my car 4 wheel drift with stock suspension? Yes.. as long as you keep the throttle even.. it will step out with throttle application and certainly will trail throttle over steer.. however, these tires rebound nicely on an error.. like a lift... either hold it steady or reapply the throttle.. they dont seem to just give up the ship like a set of slicks often do... basically because racing tires and sticky high performance tires take longer to let loose.. but once they do they are all done playing and its time for pcar to swap ends.. (novices, read that last little bit a few times and consume)... By the way my car simply does not understeer with these tires.. I cant make it happen.. which makes me really happy.

Anyway... for the money and even NOT for the money these are damn nice japanese shoes... I think anyway.. I have NOT driven in extreme heat yet.. I'll report back in a few months.. but it was in the 80's here last week and they held well...

205/60-15 is the size I chose.

Some pics:

[LWJ]

Nice write up! These were under careful consideration from me for the same reasons. In the end I bought some Conti DWS (about $500 installed) that have performed exactly as I wanted - consistent traction across lots of different road conditions. I can't say that I have had the fun of sliding them around however. I guess I need to work on that.

Larry

[austin552]

I went with 205s and 215/50/15s and no complaints.

[Oh Haha]

I installed a set on our BMW and then ended up driving in a sleet/snow/rain storm on a trip. Awesome tires!!!!

I only purchased them as that was the only matching set of tires in my size on a Sunday. I would recommend them to anyone that needs a good all-season type of tire.

[Ray_G]

I have the same shoes on my 911, only they are the 15 inch flavor. If you watch discount tires from time to time they run 100.00 off sales on a set of four. I got 4 new shoes for 225.00 shipped to the house. I had to get them installed, but what a deal. Nice tires too.

[rgrimm]

I've had 512s on my daily driver 2000 Maxima for years (just finishing my second set).

Great tires, all around. Most of you probably don't care, but they do have pretty good snow traction, and not just light, wimpy snow. Although that does go away as the tires wear...for example, I probably have just under 30k on my current set. I'll drive them this summer when it's raining, but I don't know that I'll go into another winter with them. You have one "OMG, I'm going to die" drive home from work in the first big snow of the season and it teaches you not to let the tread wear too far down .