Falken FK-452, VS. Azenis VS Kumho SPT
 

heya guys,

lookin to put some new rubber on the car.. The Azenis RT615 is an awesome tire but getting 10k miles only is horrible.. and i bet they really suck in the rain..

anyone hear any reviews on the FK-452?.. these might be the answer.. aggressive performance and hopefully decent treadware., havent heard anything yet cause there brand new.

I have Kumho SPT on the car now, the sidewall isnt as stiff as i would like, and not super sticky, however I will say for the cost, the SPT is the best tire available.. I want something a little stiffer and stickier.

thanks! =)

I driven a car with the previous FK-451. They were OK, but not a particularly outstanding tire. If you want a really good, yet inexpensive set of tires that last 20K miles go for the Toyo T1R's.

The RT615 and the 452 are in a different class, they are barely comparable.
At the current I’ve had 3 sets of non-oem tires on the Rx-8:

GoodYear Eagle F1 GSD3's on 8.5'' wheels in 245/40/18
Azenis RT615 on 9.5" wheels in 275/35/18
Michelin Pilot Sport 2's on 8'' wheels in 245/40/18

I'll start with the Pilot Sports, these would be comparable to the 452, they are a luxury oriented sport tire. I hated them, sidewalls folded like butter under hard cornering, sidewalls were generally weak as they bubbled on me after a few potholes, and even when I decided to be rid of them they couldn't even hold out for more the 30sec burnout before they "belted" see attached picture. :spank:

The RT615 I put on my car with a friends set of wheels and tires, I like the set up so much that I purchased 9.5'' wheels and 275/35/18 over Christmas. I think your getting the 10k number from Goodwin? Well its a little bit over the top, realistically you should get 15k, see tirerack or other sites and you'll see the customers "miles driven" go over 10k. However, I understand your concern 15k still sux, this is pretty much a 4 month tire for me when im in NewJersey for autox season before I go back to New Orleans for school where I equip the below:

I have another set of 8.5" wheels wraped with 245/40/18 GoodYear Eagle F1 GSD3's, even with the smaller wheel width+tire, and much higher treadware ratting, these grip in the same league as the RT615. I like to think of it as UCLA(Gsd3) vs. USC(RT615), UCLA should lose, but at least they have a upset shot. While the 452 is more like Stanford vs. USC, :Freak_ani.

Anyway before I finish I think you should look at is the Hankook Ventus R-S2 Z212, they just released this tire in 18'' sizes, I would have bought them over the GSD3's just because they are cheaper, but they didn't have 18" sizes when I was looking at the GSD3's, but I don't have any first hand experience with them, like the RT615 lots of AutoX guys use it.

And a little plug for myself I have a spare set of 245/40/18 GSD3's, never used, bought as spare set for when the current set wears out, I'm looking to get rid of them since the current set will not wear out very quickly because of the new RT615s, PM/IM me.

Just put a set of the F1 GSD3's in 245/40/18 on my stock rims, replacing 245/40/18 Toyo T1s. The Goodyears are amazing! I drove 3.5 hrs in a downpour at 70-100mph, and the pavement felt as if it were dry! Very quiet, and dry grip is probably better than the Toyos (haven't really pushed them to the limits...yet) A++ rating. But not cheap: $230/tire. Tire rack has them on sale in this size for $188/tire (minus shipping, mount./bal, valve stems, so it was about the same for me as getting them locally.)

I tried a set of Nitto 555. I liked them ok for the money. Had to increase the tire pressures a couple of pounds with them. They don't cost much and I got decent wear out of them. They are not the best in the rain though. The grip seemed very consistant and predictable.

I have the Falken 452's 235/40/18 - went to the track a few weeks back & they seemed pretty good . I don't have a lot of experience with different tyres at high speeds so can't really give any comparisons . would say they are better than OEM's though .
In the wet I can't seem to break them loose .

dont bother with lower grade falken tyres.

if you want bang for the buck go for the BFG G force Sport. I ran the SPT's and the sidewalls were too soft. the rayon in the spt works great from deforming the tire at high speed but the stiffness in the BFG and the polymide make it a better handling tire. oh and the G force sport has a 340 treadwear rating. as well and grip pretty well in the wet too. and the sidewalls on these are stiffer than the 452 & SPT

I used the Azenis RT615 (245/40x18) for 2 years. Mostly as 3 season (Apr-Nov) every day tires. I am fairly rough on tires. The OEM's only lasted 8k miles. I definetly got way more than 10k miles on them. And I was surprised at how good they were in the wet. I haven't tried the other 2 selections, but I will be puting a new set on my car in the spring.

The Azenis are so loud that I cant wait to kill mine. I have 8 245/45/17 if you want to buy it :)

so goin on a 225/40/18 is ok on the stock rim?

I was afraid of throwing off the MPH gauge, the TPMS and all by going with a 40 instead of a 45...

noone is having any problems going down to a 40?

i should be able to squeeze 25000 miles out of the 245/40/18 RT-615's on my car, then after that, I'll have to see how my track fund is doing, and whether i'll have money to actually go to track this year to justify buying another set of RT-615's.

if i decide against track days this year, then FK452 will be considered, actually in 225/45/18 to improve driving efficiency.

Wow, 25000 on 615's is impressive. Most people don't get half of that.

ZoomZoomH - you must have gotten a different compound in your Azenis to get 25,000 miles out of them. Mine have about 10,000 with a few days at the track and will probably last about 3,000 miles this spring. What's your secret?

Oh and by the way, stop eating and save money for the track :rock: You know you have to go...

the secret is well maintained, mostly smoothly paved roads of northern VA that I drive on?

ok 25k may be stretching it a little, but definitely making it to 20k without hitting the wear bars, got 18k+ on them as of today.

it HAS become quite noisy though, a sign that it's coming to end of its service life i suppose...

I like my SPTs ... it's made it through 3 track weekends with no issues. Is it the best one out there ... probably not but I still drive it on the street. Low noise too boot.

Has anyone else tried the Dunlop Direzza? I have them now. They are ok. Not too bad in the rain. The grip does not seem near the Nitto 555 I had before it. They seem to be wearing much better though. I can not seem to get my confidence in them after about 5,000 miles that I had in the 555's or the oem's.

Don't blame you on the confidence, I mean i would never be confident driving on stuff made by the same company that I purchase my tennis balls from :hahano:

Okay sorry in all seriousness i've heard mixed reviews on the direzza, its in the same class as the kumho SPT, which the general populous thinks is the best tire at 300TWR.

The direzza seems great if I only drive at a 7/10th pace. For a casual driver they would be perfict. When I push them, I don't realy know how to explain it. I never realy know what the tires are doing. They make a lot of noise when cornering also. They howl when I am behind a camry of god's sake. The road feel is not there either. They seem to break a bit unpredictable.

so basically they suck as tires go...

You may find this interesting

https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...=1#post1681364

bump because i'm taking back my estimate that the RT615's are gonna last til 25k on my car. I'm probably gonna replace them when it reaches 20k. I was doing the brakes today and had a chance to take off each wheel and inspect each tire closely, and i found the inside treads are wearing a lot faster than the outside with one already at the wear bar, and since they are asymmetrical tires i can't flip them to even out the wear. plus there's a nail in one of them, but it doesn't leak so i'm not gonna bother patching it with that little tread left.

and my tire search officially begins... not sure if i want RT615's again though

What size are you looking for?

either 225/45/18 or 245/40/18 again, still haven't decided yet