After a weekend of track use (at VIR) I have come to the conclusion that the Azenis are awesome. The weather held out (no rain) and the weekend was wonderful.

I have not used these tires much in the rain (or the car for that matter) so this "review" is for dry conditions only. To better clarify... this "review" is for dry cold conditions. The weather's forte for this past weekend was cold...~50-55 "dry bulb" during the day, ~30's during the night. The wind on Sunday added a bitter pain to the fun weekend.

Impressions: (compared to the stock RE010's)
-more "over all" grip (wider contact patch?)
-more tread noise (more than stock... but less than A032R's)
-quicker response (at turn-in)
-less wear (longer lasting)
-better wear (lack of chunking / blue-ing)
-cheaper
-not as easy to slide as the stock tires (they seemed to "grab" and felt like they were chunking)

-Suggestions: More camber needs to be added to the stock setup (~1.0 degree front and ~0.5 degree rear)

INFO:
-Size: 205/50/15
-Mileage on track: ~200 miles
-Wheel: stock ITR
-Pressures: (over stock suggestions) Saturday +2F, +2R (Sunday, +3, +2R)
-Suspension: stock... excpet for a 23mm rear sway bar and rear "upper" brace
-Alignment: max toe out still with in spec.
-Picture: This tire was on the passenger rear Saturday. It has been rotated to the front for some "Sunday" use.


LARGE version (high res..) (copy/paste) http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...d.jpg.orig.jpg

The drivers side (used a little bit more at VIR) looked very similar. The only difference was the little rectangle (right side of the picture) had a little tear on the outermost side of the opening.
I attributed that "issue" to the full (deep) thread depth. After some mileage (wear) I think that that anomaly will cease.

With these tires I was faster around "full course". I did not time myself (bad idea) but my shift points were sooner and my exit/terminal speeds were faster.

Will
-who will also test this weekend

 

Thank you. This is what I have been waiting for. A firsthand testimonial to the Falken Azenis.

Lemme ask you something.. even though you're not a drag racer, I know.. I'm sure you've taken off from a stoplight pretty hard before. Come on, everyone has done it at least a few times.
How do you think these tires will fare on a straight-line vehicle?

 

Yes, thank you! "Thank you. This is what I have been waiting for. A firsthand testimonial to the Falken Azenis."

they were already going to be my replacement tires for stock rims, now I'm thinkin of mountin them for Auto-X as well, maybe 225's for X and the 205's for stock?

Any opinions to if I should get these for Auto-X or just get the new Khumo ecsta's ? I will be running in SM...

Thanks again,

A.

 

Anton,

For autocross you will need an R-compound to be competitive.

For street, get the Falken's. In about a month or so I will get a set for my Miata and you can test drive it. Unfortunately, the Falken's are back-ordered in lots of sizes at the moment.

 

I used Azenis for the 1st time at Roebling this weekend and I think my impressions are about the same as Will's. I ran them at 39F/38R on Sat and 40F/39R on Sunday. They felt as sticky as the re010s and they didn't chunk at all whereas the last time I was there on the stock tires the fronts (especially driver's side) were massively chunked.
Definitely get a from me

jeff

 

i had them on my R ....and launching grip is incredible street or track... my first and only run at the track was 14.30@98.7 with a passenger in the car and a 2.1 60 foot ( bone stock car). Even if you spin the tires a on the street , its a controlled spin , and even as they are spinning( they are very hard to break loose with lil torque) they are pulling forward hard. My friend louis got them for his EK Hybrid and he is loving them, i think you might know him, he bought parts from you.

 

Nice review. Too bad I still have to wait at least two more weeks to get my set!

 

Actually, I am worried about the rain myself. (Side note: The Kumho 712's are simply awesome in the rain.) But, I figured the Falken's should be no worse than the A032R (i think this is the correct name). And the A032R's are sold as R-compound rain tires.

 

Thank you also. I've been patiently waiting for an actual review also.

 

once again, will comes through wid the "on the track" testing. very good info!!

 

thanks for the review... I have some Azenis on the way and I can't wait to use them

 

After 6 months of using my Azenis for mostly street driving and once at Buttonwillow Raceway all I have to say is "kudos". Other than the fact that these tires are loud especially when they are cold, I love the grip and the cornering ability they give my ITR! I can't wait to return to BW next month!

The 200 treadwear rating is good and they are inexpensive when compared to the A032R! In the rain I have gotten loose one time but overall I would tell anyone that the Azenis is a perfectly good tire in the rain when caution is used!

I totally agree with Willard and I would highly recommend these tires!

 

Unless you are running in STX...

Edit: Good review Willard - you always give good, honest and well thought-out reviews of the products you use. Thanks


[Modified by Flux, 10:18 AM 2/18/2002]

 

ITRbro: How's the wet traction of the Azenis compare to say your stock tires, SP9000, Pirelli P700SS or PZero, Toyo P1-S or any of other performance tires you have had??

 

Willard - I have a question about your alignment.

Why max toe out? (within spec) Doesn't this change the way the car tracks?

 

...next thing you know, people will be giving "firsthand testimonials" about how good Endyn RW pistons work... Oh, wait, Tony the Tiger and others have...

 

i know that Azenis are a great tire and they perform well , but i will like to know has any had any expirience on the rain and als how good are they on the freeway and tired wear ?

 

B18C-EJ1 says the Falken Azenis are "Really crappy wet weather" in this thread.

 

Several people have had good luck with 0 toe in the rear and a slight toe-out in the front.
The place I took the car to (3rd month I had the car) would only align the car to the factory specs (no fancy crap).
Since the toe is the only adjustment the car has... I told them to go as far as they could and still stay with-in the factory spec.

The car "feel" did not change much. If I were into auto-x'ing a preformance alignment would be required!

MIKE... they seem to pull very well from a stand still.

Picture...


Will

 

They are. Falken even has it on their brochure stating "not for use in wet weather conditions"

I believe this only applys to the RS version, not the ST115 version.

 

I've had my Falkens on for about 4 months and haven't had any problems using them in the rain....

 

I've posted this before... I've gotten 2.0 60s out of them and I know people that have gotten 1.9s... They work really well at 20psi or less and after you heat them up really nicely. Stock GSR motor w/ i/h/e in a 92 Si hatch got me a 2.0 60 with a bogged 1st gear and a 14.01@98.97. I liked em.

 

Funny you ask. I was doing a couple of touring laps with Roger Foo this weekend in another guys Type R that had these tires on them. Both Roger and I was extremely impressed by the performance on this tire. I think I found a good rain tire for racing to say the least. Thumbs up!

 

where do you buy falken azenis at I have looked a little bit for them

 

ive been very happy with my AO32Rs at the track but had been waiting for someone who actually beat these tires up at the track...Im looking into a set of these for the future however...
I bet they wont corner as hard as an S compound but will outlast the daylights out of one...
good job man
you got my thoughts into a set of these