# Falken tyres



## RedUntilDead (Feb 10, 2009)

Anyone use them?
A friends lad took his 10 plate s3 to the Bolton audi dealer for a service (£375) and it has returned with a list of recommended jobs at a cost of nearly £2000.
It needs 2 x nearside tyres and Audi gave three options, the budget is Falken 22/40R18 92w at £93.59. These must be the ziex non ecorun version which can be had from event tyres fitted at home for £82.74.
Are they any good or has anyone used an alternative cheaper tyre that wont find the nearest ditch?

No lectures on buying the best tyres please, its not my car or my money. Just lending a hand because I cant let the lad pay £350 for one rear spring or £310 for worn rear discs/pads.

Do they put new tyres on the rear these days?


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## binky151 (Jul 12, 2016)

Falkens aren't bad tyres however they do wear out rather quick quite a soft tyre I think, many other brands in the same price range that will do a job nexen, toyo to name a couple


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## J306TD (May 19, 2008)

I'd recommend either Hankook or Kumho if looking for mid range tyres 

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## bigalc (Aug 7, 2014)

Just put kumho tyres on my car £205 fitted for 2


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## kingswood (Jun 23, 2016)

they're having his life. 

tell him to take it to a recommended indie near him. there was a piece in the news the other day about main dealers charging upto £265 an hour for labour. to look for an indie near him try an audi forum, theres plenty of indies about now.

as for the tyres Falken are mid range, pros and cons to all mid ranges but theyll do and be better than budgets or remoulds. again tho i'd get them from a local tyre dealer then take the mechanical work that needs doing to the indie.


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## wish wash (Aug 25, 2011)

I always thought you should replace all four tyres on a 4wd car, so your not damaging the drivetrain. If the tread depth is mismatched it can throw up fault codes.


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## Welshquattro1 (Dec 6, 2013)

Audi dealers are know for this. As said above find a good indie near him and go there. I had similar on my A4, went to a indie and cost me less than half. As for tyres,Falkens do grip very well but wear out quick in my experience. I would join a Audi owners forum as you will get some good advice from s3 owners. Try audi-sport.net


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## warnoc (Apr 18, 2015)

I recently got a set of Uniroyal Rainsport 3's from camskill for £59 a corner. A decent midrange tyre for the money. They are fitted to my Saab 2.8 turbo with over 300hp and I have no grip issues. 

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## Cookies (Dec 10, 2008)

Definitely have a look at the Uniroyal Rainsport 3. A good friend had them fitted to his a4 quattro and they're brilliant. I put them on my wife's ds3 and so far, they've been every bit as good as the vredestein ultrac sessanta they replaced. 

RE the work, tell your friend to at least get a second quote for the work Audi has recommended. I'd imagine he'd be able to slash that bill by around half by using a good independent. Good luck. 

Cooks

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## tosh (Dec 30, 2005)

Cheapest decent tyres are the Rainsport 3

Yes, put them on the rear

http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Tyre/Uniroyal/Rainsport-3.htm/price/225-40-18

Hankook are better and will last longer 
Not a lot in it price wise

http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Tyre/Hankook/Ventus-V12-evo2.htm/price/225-40-18

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## joey.180sx (Mar 1, 2015)

Another vote for rainsport 3.find them a great tyre.


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## Caledoniandream (Oct 9, 2009)

Hankook or Kuhmo are very good for their money.
Falken is not a bad tyre.
I would prefer to change all 4 at the same time on a 4x4
On my own cars swap the tyres every 10k so that they wear even and wear all out at the same time.


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## kingswood (Jun 23, 2016)

Caledoniandream said:


> Hankook or Kuhmo are very good for their money.
> Falken is not a bad tyre.
> I would prefer to change all 4 at the same time on a 4x4
> On my own cars swap the tyres every 10k so that they wear even and wear all out at the same time.


if moneys no object then thats a good idea but over time the fronts will always wera more, 4wd or not, as they steer the car.

on my Golf the fronts have worn almost twice as quick, alas a mixture of dunlop sports on the back and toyos on the front - as i bought it.

will be replacing all 4 soon - prob with the uni royals


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## Paul.D (Jun 26, 2013)

I have run Avon's on several of my cars and had no problems with them or the other make I like to run are vredstein the sesantas are probably the best mid range tyre I have ever bought so quiet in running and loads of grip lasted a while too.


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## RedUntilDead (Feb 10, 2009)

Thanks lads.
The lad has found the cheapest mechanic he could, its me:thumb:
Standard rear springs from a German site approx £68 a pair delivered. Eurocarparts have a 57 percent discount on so decent rear discs and pads came in at £112. Thats some saving already.
Will have a look at the rainsport 3 but did fancy the vreds too although I used them on a fiesta last year and they proved to be the loudest road roaring tyre I have experienced. Still liked them for the grip.
S3 forum lads tend to mention Falken but these guys are tracking or driving hard. Never liked Kuhmo myself since a shogun I had with four of these on slid off a wet road (police found no diesel spillage before you say it)


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## DLGWRX02 (Apr 6, 2010)

wish wash said:


> I always thought you should replace all four tyres on a 4wd car, so your not damaging the drivetrain. If the tread depth is mismatched it can throw up fault codes.


Think this used to be the case on the likes of Vauxhall calibra's and cavalier turbo 4x4s. I think now the modern vehicles can take certain tolerances. I know my Subarus both was advised never to go more than 4 mm difference between the axles, my s4 the Audi garage said it wouldn't matter if the backs were on 7mm and the front were on 2 mm. My Range Rover currently has fronts on 2.5mm and rears on 5mm, and the dealership told me nothing to worry about drivetrain wise only that the fronts ideally need replaceing and they can do them for £395ea!


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## RedUntilDead (Feb 10, 2009)

The s3 is not a true four wheel drive car. Yes they call it a quattro but it uses the swedish designed haldex which splits the front rear bias. Therefore treat it as a front wheel driven car.
On a true 4 x 4 you must maintain the same rolling diameters of the wheels front and back or you "wind up" the transfer box. My dad proved this on his jeep cherokee years ago. he had issues with the drive and after not curing the fault by fitting a new box, investing in tyres of the same wear level did. I think the difference in tyres was 3mm between front and back.


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## SimTaylor (May 28, 2015)

Another vote for Uniroyal Rainsport 3. Had 4 fitted to my Mini Cooper S handled the road, a trackday and a run down Santa Pod! 


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## msb (Dec 20, 2009)

SimTaylor said:


> Another vote for Uniroyal Rainsport 3. Had 4 fitted to my Mini Cooper S handled the road, a trackday and a run down Santa Pod!
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


If you used rainsports on a trackday and didn't destroy them you cant have been driving fast enough:lol:


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## SimTaylor (May 28, 2015)

msb said:


> If you used rainsports on a trackday and didn't destroy them you cant have been driving fast enough:lol:


It was raining so they were in their element! Plus I only managed about 6 laps then bypass valve broke. 

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## Disco Smudge (Aug 27, 2013)

Audi state that the tyres tread depth should not be more than 3mm front to back or 2mm different over the axle. The rear springs can be a pita as the rear driveshaft is in the way so you cannot just drop the swingarm by taking out the lower bolt unlike fwd A3's

Discs and pads aren't hard to do, does it have the electric handbrake? As you cannot just wind then back you need a laptop to do it properly

I had falkens on a V6 vectra and they lasted very well. Good grip levels when hooning about on back roads


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## Welshquattro1 (Dec 6, 2013)

Yes the S3 isn't a proper "quattro" as it uses the haldex system which is a part time 4wd system. Under normal driving conditions it's 90% front and 10% rear from what i remember and only changes when the computer senses loss of grip/traction. My A4 has the Torsen system which is the full time 4wd system. As for tyres I change mine as pairs either both front or both rears together and not had a problem, even Audi only replaced my fronts when it needed it.


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## millns84 (Jul 5, 2009)

I've got mixed experiences of Falken tyres - FK452's were really good and I also tried ZE512's which were one of the worst tyres I've used in the wet. This was 10-12 years ago though so I'm assuming they've come on a fair bit since then.

I realise I'm a bit late to the thread but Nexen SU1 and SU4 are both getting really good reviews and are sure to be cheaper than other mid-range tyres. I plan to replace the rears on my STR with these once the PS3's wear out.


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## RedUntilDead (Feb 10, 2009)

Local tyre firm want to sell us Laufenn tyres at £69 a corner all in. It's a hankook cheap brand but I always thought of hankook as a budget brand anyway. They rate them and say new vags are coming with hankook tyres now.
Will decide next week.


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## tossi (Sep 22, 2009)

I'm driving on AZENIS FK453 for the second season now on my F11 bimmer and have to say I'm really impressed, low noise, good grip, decent fuel economy, can't really compare them to others in terms of miles but I'm expecting 15-20000 miles on the rears which is fair. I wouldn't hesitate buying them again. 


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## Gav147 (Mar 20, 2011)

Had a full set of Falkens (at local trusted tyre spot recommendation) put on my E92 replacing the factory Bridgestone run flats and they where superb, much better ride (ok that is more down to run flat vs non run flat but still) plenty of grip, would gladly use Falkens again.


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## andy665 (Nov 1, 2005)

FK453s are good tyres, the cheaper ZE912s I would not buy


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## Minimiller (Jan 20, 2017)

Id buy goodyear eagle f1s
kuhmo escta le 39
hankook ventus v12
Michelin pilot sport 4
yokohama ad08R

All of these are pretty 'mint' tyres

I got a quote of 327 quid for 4 Goodyear eagle f1s 205/45-17 for my cooper s

that's fitted balanced and tracked =)


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## nogrille (Oct 27, 2005)

I've had 912's for the last couple of years (on 3 different cars) and never had any complaints.


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## Welshquattro1 (Dec 6, 2013)

RedUntilDead said:


> Local tyre firm want to sell us Laufenn tyres at £69 a corner all in. It's a hankook cheap brand but I always thought of hankook as a budget brand anyway. They rate them and say new vags are coming with hankook tyres now.
> Will decide next week.


Funny you say that as my Audi dealer used to quote for Continentals and now I've noticed it's Hankook. I have had a set of Hankook Ventus v12 Evo's and they last and gripped well. My latest tyres are Nexen N 8000 and I must admit they have surprised me, just as good as my usual Dunlop sports maxx.


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## PugIain (Jun 28, 2006)

I've had Nexen N8000. Had them on my 508 GT.
I was more than happy with them.
The RCZ has Contis on the front and some random brand on the back.
I'm thinking I might just stick 4 Nexens on it.

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