I am looking for a set of cheap tires and have narrowed it down between either Kumho Ecsta ASX's for $258 shipped from tire rack but not available for 3-4 weeks, or Falken ZE-512's for $224 shipped from Discount Tire Direct (on ebay). I like the looks of the tread on the falkens and they are cheaper but I seem to hear better things about Kumho. Looking for it to have good wet traction as well as dry cornering. There's a pic of each below.

 

i have the falken zx912, ih ad falken zx512 before the 912s are pretty good...

 

The Kuhmo is a little better, I was looking at these too, the kuhmo's rate out a little higher for tread ware and I think they will do a little better judging by the sipes but I had the falkens before and they were pretty smooth. I know Falken just came out with the 912's and they are supposed to be pretty nice. Asymentical and still very well priced. I buy my tires from Discount too, they have both the kuhmo's and the Falken 912's and they will match anyones delivered price if they aren't the lowest.

 

now that I think about it, I believe the 512's are unidirectional too, so can't be rotated completely. i do like the fact that discount tire discount tire direct has free shipping but I can't find the kumho ecsta asx tires in my size on their site. then again if i go with tire rack i have to wait a month to get them. I can't even drive in the rain right now because my tires are so bad

 

well looks like I have no choice but to go with the falkens. I contacted both discount tire direct and tire rack and it will be a minimum of 6 weeks before they even get them in. my tires are pretty bad where I don't feel I can even safely drive in light rain, so I guess I am going with the Falkens for $236 shipped. just a matter of if I want to go with the unidirectional slightly more agressive and performance oriented 912's or the new more all season oriented 512s

 

I think the ASX is better.

Assuming you have a GS-R, Discount Tire has them on their website in 205/50-15 for 15" wheels, 205/45-16 for 16" wheels, and 205/40-17 for 17" wheels. They don't show them in 195/55-15 - the Tire Rack does, though - and Discount Tire might be able to get them in 195/55-15 even though they're not on the website; you would have to call them. But 205/50-15 works on a GS-R just fine.

Also be aware that Discount Tire might be repeating their offer of $100 off a set of four tires this coming Friday and Saturday (at least, that's what someone posted). So you might want to wait till Friday to order.

Yes, the Falken is unidirectional, so you can rotate them front to back, but you would have to dismount them from the rim to be able to use it on the opposite side of the car.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by CrazyModGSR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">well looks like I have no choice but to go with the falkens. I contacted both discount tire direct and tire rack and it will be a minimum of 6 weeks before they even get them in. my tires are pretty bad where I don't feel I can even safely drive in light rain, so I guess I am going with the Falkens for $236 shipped. just a matter of if I want to go with the unidirectional slightly more agressive and performance oriented 912's or the new more all season oriented 512s</TD></TR></TABLE>

If you can't wait six weeks, then it sounds like your decision is already made up for you. BTW, the 912 is the new version, the 512 is the old version; if I had to buy one of those two, I would get the 912 (Falken Ziex ZE-912). But if I could wait, I would get the ASX.

 

it's actually for my '96 maxima, just didn't want to mention it because I got flamed from everyone and their brother last time for mentioning that. I am planning on having the car for probably 2 years until I intend on buying a C6 vette or a CTS-V for my 25th birthday, but I drive my cars pretty hard and want something that is fairly decent performance-wise but good in the rain too. snow isn't a real big deal because I am working on completing my stroker in my Jeep soon and even if that doesn't get done can probably get a ride to work in my friends Jeep when it snows. I pretty much need them asap though. Not even sure how I'm getting to my cousins for thanksgiving if it's raining because the traction is that bad.