From what I've heard from other 8 drivers who use them, the Falkens do well for the price, though their wet traction isn't good. The Yokohamas might be a better tire, but they're a sh*tload more expensive too. 1010tires.com shows a 255/40R18 Falken at $239 ea, and the same size Yokohamas at $375 ea.

 

They are $183 @ Discount Tire
http://www.discounttire.com/dtcs/fin...ance&tc=FALHZA

 

They are $168 at DiscountTireDirect The mail order verion of Discount Tire.

http://www.discounttiredirect.com/di...r=40&tc=FALHH7

 

...and $160 currently at edgeracing.com . OK, who can find *lower*?? lol.

seriously, has anyone personally had the 255/40/18 Azenis mounted on the stock 8" width rim (or other 8" width rim)? no fitment issues?

GULAMAN

 

I did 255/35/18 Dunlop SP SSR on the stock rim. So 255/40/18 should be fine. The only question is how much do you want your tire installer to hate you.

 

IIRC, Discounttiredirect offers free shipping.

 

Vulcantire.com has them for $152 I believe, and I got mine from them for $155 back in June. My son and I drove them 940 miles each way to the Milwaukee National Tour and finished 3rd in their PAXed Rear-Wheel drive stock street tire class just ahead of a well-driven S2000 on 275-17 rear RT-615 (he finished 15th in HS at Topeka in unfamiliar car).

Tires currently have 6K miles and are slightly more than halfway worn. Zero fitment problems on stock wheels and as the tire guy said "they look like they should have been the OEM tires. Diameter is nearly identical to stock. They are starting to get really sticky at lower depths....even in colder weather. They don't appear to get as warm as old RT-215, either, in the summer. They are great to me in rain...much better than the MX. This past weekend I made a couple of "safety runs" in the car since I was sole safety steward at our Solo event and finished well ahead of a 911 Carrerra on KDs driven by a youngish Japanese driver who "raced" (not sure what that meant but never saw anything resembling drifting from him) in Japan in a 2266 lb modded S2000 and is working here for 3 years at a local Sony Plant.

He had brought a Japanese car magazine with him that had him in it. They read right to left, and the rear of our magazines is the front of theirs. It was a trip.

 

LOL my 11-yo daughter loves those Naruto comic books from Japan. Even though they're in English, they still start at the back. It's the goofiest thing.

Oh yeah, tire thread... er, yeah tires are good to have.

 

The Falken FD drift car that we built just finished 2nd in DOT Street Tire class at the Super Street Time Attack last week at Buttonwillow on 615's. That was a 315/35R18 rear with a 275/40R17 front. That was the first time we had ever driven the car on a road course layout. The setup on the car is for drifting, so it left alot to be desired. It was also my first experience with them on a track, and we shaved them from new. We also ran a set of them brand new. We didn't notice any difference in them shaved or new. Just my .02

 

haha my buddy is the one who won 1st place on street tire class with his supra. on the yokohama neovas. but im suprised they let the falken fd run street class in a gutted and no windows car? the supra had interior, full stereo and what not..

 

Well the rules apparently were no lexan. We removed the side lexan windows that D1 and Formula D makes us run. It was mostly just to have some fun (which is was) I was suprised how the tires did in that application. I have only ever had direct experience with drifting with them. I know that for the price they are a pretty good all around tire.

That Supra was fast as hell, and so was the silver one. There were some really dope cars running all day.

 

ahh ic, yea i didnt know wut was going on, but of course im a rotary fan so im neutral on who the winning =P but yea the azenis are one of my fav tires =) sucks i didnt get to meet you in person btw my names sam, i was in the black framed glasses, asian DOODe haha

-Sam

 

^ also the guy that makes weird faces and fobby poses when he gets his pictures taken.

 

^ HAHA

I think we might be redoing the FD to compete in time attack next year, but it's still on the fence. Depends on what goes down with Mazda and Falken with the RX-8 for drifting. Either way should be a really fun year next year!

Funny thing is that alot of people know that we work with Falken alot, and build cars for them, but I have liked their tires since they came out with the Azenis 215. Now our relationship with them is just icing on the cake since tires are pretty cheap for me now a days :D Hopefully I'll get you meet you Sam, and alot of you other 8 owners at the tracks in the upcoming months!

 

215 and 615, they are not great race tires. THey are good if you are budget or performance minded. They are rough, bumpy and NOISY for everyday driving. My worn RA-1s are actually less noisy than my Azenis. While it is on a different car, but I used the same car with 615 and RA-1. The RA-1 were 2-3 sec faster. Of course the 215 or 615s are better than the RE040

 

I believe the OP mentioned in another thread that he runs in SCCA STU class; meaning that Toyo RA-1s are not legal in that class, while the Falken Azenises are. I almost never see RA-1s in Solo competition; they are too much of a 'tweener. not legal for Street Tire/Street Touring class, and in the classes their legal in, they'd be killed by Hoosiers and Kumho V710s.
I'm sure they make for a decent trackday tire though.

 

The V710s are great, but they last like 5 events before they start to lose their magic. Depending on your competition, the RA-1 can definitely hold its own in most local events. I have just as many wins with RA-1 than V710s

 

Really? Who knew? Guess I've been holding on to mine for too long. I've won plenty of events with V710s at 80+ runs. And all this time I could have been going faster on RA-1s!

 

Ra i's come in better sizes than the 710"s for me. I run 17's and want a 40 sidewall. 710 's have a limited selection. RA-1's are great tires for the normal guy. Plenty of slightly used ones available for (approx)$300 a set of 17 's already shaved and heat cycled.
You can store an RA 1 and not worry about it--the rubber is not that affected--I dont know about the 710's in that regard. I know you cant do Hoosiers like that.
olddragger

 

Lets see, 17's throw you out of stock, ra-1's throw you out of stu. That leaves BSP where the rx8 is at best a bottom feeder. Doesn't sound very good for an normal guy who wants to try and win.

 

hes not talking about autocross

 

BSP requires a rather large investment mod-wise if you wish to be competitive no matter the car. speeddemon32 runs BSP afaik running 285/30-18 v710's. i'd be interested to hear from him about how the rx-8 does in BSP before saying it's a bottom feeder.

 

I bet you don't drive RA-1 on the street so how would you know how they compare to driving RT-615 on the street. I have NEVER noticed them being noisy...just fast. Only a few times have I noted strange minor gyrations on uneven pavement but there is much less tug at the steering wheel on uneven rutted pavement (from trucks) than I experienced with big tires on my previous Altima. These tires are pure awesome....and I'm not associated with Falken in any way.

I made like two runs this past Sunday and equalled the time of a fairly well-driven BSP STi on Falkens who got 6 runs and he had plenty of mods and extra boost that put him in BSP.