All seasons for Bay Area "winter": Falken Ziex-512 or Nokian WR?

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Old 07-19-2005, 01:00 PM
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Question All seasons for Bay Area "winter": Falken Ziex-512 or Nokian WR?

So I have a set of Hankook RS2's for summer, and I'm looking for a decent all season to use in the winter. I'll probably go up to Tahoe once or twice a month during winter, and the rest would be Bay Area driving. Because of the lack of snow down here, I've ruled out pure snow/winter tires, and have narrowed my choices down to these 2.

I can get the 205/55-16 Nokian WR's for $130 each, shipped

I can get the Falken Ziex-512 for $68 each, shipped at the same size.

From what I understand, the nokian's are the only severe service rated all-season tires, but they cost almost twice as much. Will I lose that much control with the 512's driving in snow? Any thoughts?

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Old 07-19-2005, 01:01 PM
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I'd say 512's since you are in the bay area, there really isn't a need for anything more
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Old 07-19-2005, 01:05 PM
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im actually running 512 right now and i love em. im an all season tire kinna guy and there worth every penny.

-Ave
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Old 07-19-2005, 01:08 PM
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Originally Posted by A.V.E.
im actually running 512 right now and i love em. im an all season tire kinna guy and there worth every penny.

-Ave
How you used the 512's in snow? Any good?
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Old 07-19-2005, 01:10 PM
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Last year I had Pirelli P-Zero Nero M/S's for the winter/spring. They're a great tire, awesome in the snow, just as good in the dry.
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Old 07-19-2005, 03:18 PM
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running the p-zero neros m/s as well

no complaints so far
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Old 07-19-2005, 03:50 PM
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P-zero Nero M+S. Quiet, good dry traction, great wet traction, good longevity. I love them. I've had them in the sand at Pismo, in the snow in reno/tahoe, in the rain down here, and they've always come through with flying colors. They do tramline a bit worse than the stock rubber, but you'll find most quiet tires will do the same.
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Old 07-19-2005, 04:32 PM
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yeah i'd like to know how the 512's do in the snow also.

also, how do the pzero nero M+S do in teh dry compared to a crappy summer tire like a kumho 712 or yoko es100.
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Old 07-19-2005, 05:00 PM
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ish
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the nokian wr is a winter tire that is designed to handle more like an all season. it has the sever snow whatever it is rating. where the 512 is a more performance orientated all season.

comparing the two is not even fair, they are two very different tires.
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Old 07-19-2005, 05:57 PM
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Took my car up to Tahoe last winter on 512s. They did just fine, much better than RE92s did. Only really broke traction when I wanted to.

Just to let everyone know. The Tahoe Safeway has a camera in the parkinglot that sends a feed out to the public access channel. Doing donuts in the parking lot while ppl watched it live on TV is a quick way to get the cops to show up.

-Steven
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Old 07-19-2005, 06:00 PM
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My friend Kendall is selling his Falkans... I'll let him chime in. Don't buy anything yet.
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Old 07-19-2005, 06:58 PM
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Originally Posted by Steven@Coach

Just to let everyone know. The Tahoe Safeway has a camera in the parkinglot that sends a feed out to the public access channel. Doing donuts in the parking lot while ppl watched it live on TV is a quick way to get the cops to show up.

-Steven
lol!

gotta do em quick and peace out
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Old 07-19-2005, 07:07 PM
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Originally Posted by SoobAeroDude
How you used the 512's in snow? Any good?
to be honest, ive never taken my car up to the snow yet. i would like too and see how the tires feel but til then i wouldnt know. as what steven said, im pretty sure they will hold up.

-Ave
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Old 07-19-2005, 07:38 PM
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Originally Posted by Yin
yeah i'd like to know how the 512's do in the snow also.

also, how do the pzero nero M+S do in teh dry compared to a crappy summer tire like a kumho 712 or yoko es100.
I had yok ES100s on my accord for a short time, and the Nero M+S is a far superior tire in every aspect. I also had Ziex 512s on the accord for a very short time as well(a trip to reno and back, they were a tad too wide and rubbed so I changed them) The 512s were decent in the snow, not fantastic, but after 5 minutes of learning they were pretty predictable, even with a 300whp FWD accord Nero M+S won't hang with the dry traction of the high end ultra high performance summers, but it holds it's own with the medium and low end summer tires, plus they have fantastic wet traction, and better than average snow traction, and they are Sooooo quiet. For the WRX I can't do a fair correlation between stock as I went from stock to 18" subzeros with 225/40/18 Nero M+S, helix F &R sways and endlinks(back on medium setting), white F&R strut bars, and Tein Flex in one weekend so I went from stock to HOLY CRAP. None of my other things affect straight line performance and these tires surely bit harder than the stock crapper meat. Also it's a hard correlation having a 40 aspect ratio now, but turn in is very predictable, I come out of apex like a monster, and I've only had it loose when I wanted it to be. With my accord I went through tires like no tomorrow, funny how a supercharged v6 acts when you keep the stock slip diff, it loved to dogleg the corners and burn the hell out of the inside tire. Out of the 6 sets of tires I went through in 4 years, the Nero M+S were BY FAR they best all around tire. They are no competion tire as far as dry traction, the medium compound advan 048s I put on my stock wrx rims OWNS the neros in that category, but they are also almost twice as much, only get a few heat cycles before they are done, and I'd be terrified to hit rain with them.
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