I can get the Falkens 205/50 $76/e shipped from discount tire or the 205/50 Pirelli's for like $90/e.

Has anyone owned both of these tires on an EH3? I plan to Autocross a little and mess around on the street more...

Opinions and your words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated in helping me come to a decision.

EDIT: Wet weather traction and tread life are pretty important to me aside from gripping.


[Modified by fOmaNPu, 2:33 AM 8/1/2002]

 

my friend has the azenis and i only hear good things about them...hes never said anything bad about them being on his car...

 

From what I understand that would eliminate the falkens...

 

i had the azenis and i loved them but they sucked so much when they got wet and they last for about 4 months and right now on my car have the p6000 good all around tire.

 

im running the azenis ST115s and they re giving me decent wear..the ST s are the all weather versions of the aenis line

 

4 months!? That is hardly the norm. Talk about some extreme driving conditions!

 

Azenis you can only get less mileage on them...they're not great as all seasons...maybe you should consider Azenis as something to store in your garage when you're not on the tracks racing.

 

I've had my Azenis (205/50x15) since January. I run 0 toe front and rear, 1.5 negative camber front, and 2.2 rear. dropped 2" on custom rate Ground Controls and Koni yellows.

I've done 2 track days, 15 autocrosses, 30 laps around the Carlisle mini road course, and about 8000 miles on them. They have plenty of tread left and at 75mph I get a little hydroplaning on puddle filled roads (which is normal for any tire). They grip great in the wet and the dry.

 

that is the first time I have ever heard anyone say Azenis grip great in the wet and dry. really ??? I thought sucked in the wet. Maybe I will get some after all

 

I'll agree with Mr. SiRacer and say that I've not had a single problem in the wet with the Azenis. I mean come on, folks...of course you need to use your head in inclement condition. On wet pavement they grip awesome. Standing water is a different story.

 

thrashin has had good luck with his in the wet (no wrecks yet )

 

Thanks for the info guys, it looks like I'm prolly gonna go with the Pirellis. The Falkens would proly serve me better, but I can't afford to replace the tires so soon....

 

 

I have been looking at the st's, how is their wet weather performance? tread life? Overall performance?
I would love to get reg azenis, but I need a tire that can hold its own in wet weather.

 

Just like any tire standing water is usually the culprit for hydroplaning. I have driven through several downpours on regular roads (good drainage) and I can corner just as hard as in the dry. The one corner here at work I can take at 40-50mph, and maybe in the dry around 50-60mph.

I did get hydroplaning this past Sunday coming home from the autocross, but so did my wife with her 2002 Mazda Proetege 5 with all season tires at 75mph. We slowed to 70mph or 65mph and we were fine, so it wasn't just my tires.

Now of course with any high performance tire you will suffer ALOT if you get snow. That's normal too.

 

i have had both.

but my pirelli's were 205/55/15 and the azenis are 205/50/15's....

falken azenis have stiff *** side walls...great on turns...
pirelli's were not as great but good on turns..but in the rain...
on the freeway...i was driving like 85 on the pirellis in heavy rain...no prob...

with the azenis...i got drove over a medium size puddle..lost 99 percent traction lol
but hey..i live in so cal...and that **** don't happen too often...
and the azenis look cool =P

well i got my pirelli's for sale...150 local pick up in so cal..if anyone's interested.
only rode on em for 5k miles.

 

azenis

 

Yea, I got caught in a huge downpour on the way to the track last weekend. A stiff suspension and Azenis made for a very scary ride. Then again, we're talking about standing water all over the place so nothing would have been much better. Many of the track people speak highly of the Pirelli P700Z... and they're $45 each.

 

Jeff, do you know how the Pirellis hold up on the track? My Azenis seem to get greasy about 15-20 minutes into a session. Not really that bad, but I'd like to find something that can hang on a little bit longer.

(Even with the grease, the Falkens were troopers...just didnt' feel good anymore)

 

I got 13k miles out of my azenis. Just lots of hard street driving and autoX. 1/16th toe out in front, 0 toe in back, no camber issues. Traction in wet and dry is very good. Just watch out for hydroplaning as with any tire.

 

For those of you familiar with the SCCA's Solo2 program (autocross) on a National level, it may warm your hearts after hearing this...

I got my set in June of 2001, a day before the Ayer, MA National tour.... 14 months later I still have the same set except now they have a ProSolo (Petersburg) and another National Tour (Rome, NY) on them. In addition, I've participated in close to 20 regional autocrosses in this 14 month time period and logged over 12K street miles on them. Yet, there's still 2/32 ~ 3/32 of tread left.

Not to start trouble, but anybody who claims fast wear needs to attend a driving school and/or have their phat ride set up by a professional because these tires have proven themselves 100x over.

***I'm referring to the Azenis, sorry for the confusion!***

Anthony "Mario" Crea


[Modified by honda93, 3:52 AM 8/10/2002]

 

Which tires are you talking about???

 

I had the Pirelli P700Z right before my Azenis and there is really no comparison. The Azenis inspires so much more confidence in the turns.

the P700Z goes out of round rahter quickly and they ride like **** too. What did I expect for a sub $40.00 tire though?



For the money the P700Z is cool, but the Azenis are better in every way IMO, and I've had both back to back.

 

The type-r guys are the ones that seem to really like them. Honestly, I've never driven on them. I'd ask about them in the type-r forum or maybe the rr/autocross. B18C5-EH2 doesn't seem to like them much, but I'm not sure what he's doing with them.

I feel like the Azenis are getting "greasy" when they're over-driven. One track in particular I found myself over-turning the wheel a lot out of inexperience and a very difficult track. As a result, they just kept getting worse. The last event though, I was much more under control (faster, but smoother) and the tires held up very well. Then again, they have less tread now... that could be helping things.

 

Back to the original question though... you need to keep in mind that while the Azenis are cheap, they will wear out much quicker than anything else. There's one guy going around talking about getting tons of mileage, but that's not the case for most people... at least anyone doing more than just the daily commute. As a result, they end up being a much more expensive tire to run than it initially seems.