The Falken RT-615 :
I used this tire , and it's predecessor the RT-215 for several years on my car. The 615 is a tire that will make ANY car feel like a Lotus Esprit ! You twitch the steering wheel just a nudge, and the car will change two lanes instantly. It gives the driver the sensation the car will simply never lose grip , and that the car is never near it's limits. It builds confidence in spades. I can only remember one time I was ever able to get the back end to lose grip and come around , and that was a perfectly controlled manuver that was easily corrected , with the tires behaving all the way through the slide. To get the car to do that , I had to try and flip the damned car ! The downside to the RT-615 , is a fairly rough ride. the sidewalls are insanely stiff , and the ride suffers accordingly. With my car lowered to the bump stops on Mopar Stage 3 coilovers , and using ES bushings , H-Brace , traction bars , and larger diameter sway bars , the ride was definitely not friendly for the most part. The tires also made quite a bit of road hum , due to the HUGE tread blocks. I suspect these very large tread blocks was responsible for the great launches these tires allow. one would normally think with the stiff sidewalls , these tires would make for a sorry launch. But not so. The huge tread blocks act like the blocks on a drag radial , and allow for great street launches. In wet weather , I never had any issues using these tires. I was able to drive feeeway speeds in moderate rain , with the only real worry being large sheets of water standing on the road. If you live in an area where the roads stand with large sheets of water , you should defintely slow down some with these tires. They did much better than one would expect by looking at them , but they are not as good as tires with designs that consider wet surfaces. If you are looking for a streetable tire that is just short of an R compound race tire , look no further , you will NOT find anything closer. If you like a loud exhaust , and a brash car that says " screw the noise and ride comfort , hear me roar " then this tire is for you.
The Bridgestone RE-01 :
Coming from the 615 , I was dissapointed at first. This tire does not have the razor sharp responsiveness of the 615 , and I felt I had taken a step backwards at the start. However , after spending a month with this tire , i found the beauty of this tire lies elsewhere. This is a MUCH more street friendly tire , that has almost as much ultimate grip , if not as much !!
On a long sweeping turn , if a car was pushed to it's traction limits with both tires , the RE-01 would probably hold on just as long as the 615. However , making fast tight turns through switchbacks , or on the track , the 615 definitely has waaaay more responsiveness. The traction is all there with this softer compound tire , it just behaves much differently. The advantages however are a MUCH better ride quality , and a LOT less road noise. This tire is just plush riding enough , it does not instill confidence like the 615 , and takes some feeling out before the driver cathes on that yeah ... it will stick like glue ! Once the driver gets the feel for the RE-01s , and what they can really do , it becomes a joy to drive. The sidewalls are not as firm as on the 615 , however the launching ability is very close on the two tires. The 615 actually gets the quicker start off the line , but almost immediately after the car starts to roll and acellerate , the two tires pretty much equal out with each other , with the Azenis being a little more difficult to hold the exact proper gas pedal feather in second gear. I have not seen any rain since using the Bridgestones , so I will have to edit this after the first good rain.
If you are looking for a GREAT tire that is very street friendly , yet could be taken to the track and compete with , the RE-01 is for you. I'll be staying with the Bridgestones on my car in the future , but not if I head to the track ever .
Excellent overall street tire for the money. The stiffest sidewall I've come across, which is nice in corners. U can make mid corner adjustment at the limit with these. Didn't have to inflate the crap out of them to keep em from rolling during autoXing. Quiet at the limit. Lots of traction in the rain. Dry traction definately owns the KDW2s. Less wheel hop too. Lasted 10k of hard driving.
Tire/Make : KUMHO ECSTA ASX
Size : 205/50-17 stock rims
Not near as much grip as the Avons. Not a fair comparison M500=summer and ASX=all season. Really soft sidewall. Very noisy in corners. They give up way early and roll easily. Didn't roll as much with 45psi in them during the autoX, but felt very clumsy on them. The noise in corners is high pitch and loud. I feel like i'm gonna get pulled over for doing manuevers that the Avons did drama free. I mean they make u sound like your trying to go 15/10ths when u'r at about a 7/10ths pace.
Overall very disappointed. Have 3k on them and with the 400 treadwear rating it looks like i'm going to have them for a while.
i bought these tires off ebay cause i needed some cheap tires to just get around town and i live in central florida and during the summer it rains every evening. these tires have just been amazing in dry conditions as well as wet conditions.i have near 300 whp and i pretty much stick through 2nd when it is wet(dont ask how because it boggles my mind too). i pulled a 2.03 60ft on these and these tires are so quite it would allow you to have a baby sleep and stay asleep...conclusion i would buy these tires over and over again, they have nearly 4000 miles on them and dont show any wear. these are a definate 8 out of 10.
Tire Make/Model: General Exclaim UHP Size: 215/45/17 (17x7 Wheels)
Review: These tires are a great value for daily driving. I've put 10k miles of spirited driving and several trips to the drag strip on them so far, and they are just now starting to show some wear. The rears still look brand new, and are about to be moved to the fronts. I should easily get another 8-10k miles out of them, and they are still as grippy in a straight line as the day I had them installed. Road noise is almost non-existant, and the ride is very comfortable.
Wet traction is also way better than you could possibly imagine. You have to try very hard to break these tires loose, wet or dry.
Unfortunately, there are also a few problems. The lateral grip seems to be fine, but the responsiveness and initial turn in are delayed. Also, panic stopping makes the front of the car very unstable, and the entire car seems to squirm about. This is not a good feeling. It just does not give you any confidence that you will be safe if something terrible happens right in front of you.
However, with that being said, these tires have not failed me once in 10k miles, and other than the slow response and the queezy feeling when jumping on the brakes, these tires are just about perfect for my driving style.
Pros: Very quiet and comfortable comfortable ride, great straight-line performance, very long tread life, extremely affordable. Cons: Sluggish handling, scary when panic breaking.
Review: First I will say, at $95/each from Tirereck.com, the price it pretty great. I had the tires in 24 hours too, shipping was very reasonable. I think it's strange I haven't seen another review of the SPTs on here yet, but this is my 2 cents.
Highs: Straight-line traction is exceptional. I was spinning through the majority of 2nd with my old Kumhos (I forget the model, but they were hi-performance summer as well) and now they stick like crazy. I can still feel them hunting for traction and chirping a little if drop the hammer while in the sweet spot of the torque curve, but they catch pretty quickly. First gear holds MUCH better as well and I can launch way harder than ever before. No track time yet, but it's night/day difference.
Wet traction is great as well. 2nd gear in the wet is almost as good as it was in the dry with the old tires.
I've only had them on for a couple hundred miles so far, so too soon to comment on treadlife. If it sucks you can be certain I'll be back here to bitch though! My current mods are: S1, S2 WGA 20/14 PSI, Perrin SRI, NGK 4306s gapped .40, Mopar Performance wires, Mopar BOV, PTP check valve, PTP FPR mod and crapload of zipties and clamps.
Lows: I don't autocross and I haven't tested a ton of tires like Stowaway, but I've driven hard enough and long enough to know when a tire corners well and when it doesn't. While ultimate cornering grip seems to be pretty decent due to the stickiness of the compound, the sidewalls seem a bit weak. I'm running about 35 PSI all the way around and the initial turn-in and steering feel is pretty lousy compared to the old tire. I understand some of that is due to the height of the tread blocks on the new tires vs the old ones which were almost to the wear bars, but it's more than that. The car is much slower to respond to steering input, and tends to keep moving around a bit after your done with your input as well. This also upsets the balance of the car a when braking heavily if you're not pointed dead straight.
Summary: Traction for acceleration is very good.
Braking distances are undoubtedly good, but at the expense of some stability when any lateral motion is involved.
Cornering grip seems acceptable, but turn in and steering feel are sub-par.
Wet performance is great.
Treadlife summary pending...
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My Vehicles
2003 Dodge SRT-4: a little extra boost, a little extra fuel, and some good spark.
2005 Suzuki Hayabusa - driver mod, doesn't need much else!
these tires are awesome i got almost 1000 miles on mine and they hook very well on dry and wet compared to other all season tires that i tried like the kuhmo ecsta ast and asx i havent got to try them in the snow yet but from how they performed so far in the rain i think they will perform awesome ill get back at you guys when it snows around here and tell you how they do
After running these tires for 26k miles, and 20 laps on the Nurburgring with them, and getting on it just about every time I drive including hard cornering all the time. Heres my view of these tires AFTER trying others, and trying to keep this as unbiased as possible...
Pros: Amazing dry grip and quick response; you can really feel connected to the road with these tires; excellent handling in the wet, but I cant seem to get any traction until 5th when its wet w/ 290whp/310wtq this probably cant be helped much in the wet with an FF car with this much power so I'll give the tire a break here. They still have 2/32ns on them (top of head on penny) after 25k miles of HARD driving on them!
Cons: Between 35-45mph I get SO MUCH ROAD NOISE, it sounds lik my wheel bearings are bad, its a loudass whirring/humming which is so loud even my phone picks it up and everybody who rides in my car asks where that loudass noise is coming from!!! They could have fixed this in the KDW2s not sure. Ride is very harsh, but thats to be expected from a UHPS tire.
Would buy again: Sure if they were 20 bucks cheaper or so per tire and I wasn't paying got te BFG name stamped on it, sure BFG makes great tires, but lower your prices a tad guys plz so that I can continue to buy your tires
Now I MUST mention this because everybody with an SRT-4 that I have found seems to overlook 2 things and simply bashes this tire right away.
First thing is they always get bashed because they haven't tried anything else before this tire because it came with their car to begin with and they probably don't have a good enough driver mod when they first start driving the car to realise just how good these tires are for an UHPS. I know from trying other tires and trying UHPAS tires on this car (Kumho ASXs) and then switched back and was amazed.
Second thing is that BFG has revised these tires since they were first released on the SRT-4 and they are now KDW2s (2nd revision if you read in Tirerack) and that they have supposedly worked out alot of the kinks since then so don't give the tire a bad name by bashing it right away without trying the KDW v2's first please unless u wanna be .
I would recommend this for anybody who wants a long lasting and very good performing Ultra High Performance Summer tire!
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FYC = Frog Your Car
"If you can't find the right tool in this garage, you don't belong around cars"
Last edited by silfortytypex : 10-28-2007 at 09:15 AM.
Review: This tire replaced the stock BFG KDW2's that came with the car. I love the fact that the tire is much quieter than stock, and also is much smoother on those longer trips. Forward traction in both dry and wet are right where the stockers were. Although i did get a bit more wheel hop in first the other day. G35 was asking for it... However, lateral grip is lacking in comparison to the stockers. Getting the highway via an on-ramp I don't feel as confident in the tire as I did with the stocks. That canbe expected because I went from a summer tire to an all season, but it is a downside. Responsiveness is also lacking compared to stock, as I feel that I am not used to the limits of the tire. It has been fairly wet and or snowy lately and the tire has performed well in the light snow that was around here for a while.
Pros: Smooth ride, Quiet, Forward grip in wet and dry Cons:Less responsive, Lateral traction feels limited.
Note:I have had the tires for about 1500 miles at this point and they seem to be wearing evenly. I currently have them inflated at 36 psi. I have NOT pushed them to their limits, and will update accordingly. All comparisons are based on the stock tires, as I have not driven the car on any other tire. Suspension is stock except for budget sways.
Review: Just had tires installed. I will report tonight when I return home from work. I'm in NY where the temps are in the 20's and 30's today. I know they SUCK in the snow, but I don't drive my car in the snow. I'll let you know how they do in these temps. I'm sure it's going to be a rough ride and a slick one. I don't expect great traction straight line, but for the price I just paid, I had to get them on. My Kumho's Ecsta ASX are worn and there's a nail in my right front tire that can't be repaired. So, I went ahead and spent the cash. $400! can you belive it! I thought that was a great price. Thank God I have some connections.
Pros: TBD
Cons:TBD
Note:Side note: The Kuhmo's 225/45/17's all-season Ecsta ASX were pretty good tires for all-season. I wouldn't reccomend if your car is modded and you want to push limits. I found no grip straight-line. spun through 1st 2nd, and some of 3rd. Thanks for the info Stowaway!! I had local shop adjust camber. We'll see how it feels. i'm sitting in lobby now waiting for her to come out and play.
UPDATE: 1/25/2008
As mentioned above,I had the RT 615's installed on my ride. Adjusted the IPP coilovers and aligned using specs given to me by Stowaway! Thanks man.
It's freezing cold here in NY and I have to say, despite the cold weather, the tires did very well when pushing hard on the pedal. Of course, the tires spun, but not as bad as my Kuhmo's mentioned above. Taking an exit ramp on to the Long Island Expressway in NY at 55mph I felt very confident. I could have pushed harder, but the voice in my head said slow it down. I can only imagine what it's going to be like when the warm weather comes. I think the tires ride very nice. There is very little noise that I can hear over my 3" side exit, but all in all, they are definately worth the money. If you're looking for a nice tire to play with, Falken RT 615's are for you.
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s2 w/out toys, E1, Realtune mani w/ Turbonetics external gate/dump. DCR 500WHP bottom-end with oil pump and big filter kit. AGP Race FMIC, JMB PP's, DTEC FC, Greddy TT, JMB CC, Port/Polish Intake and TB, Dog Bones, MaxFab full 3" side exit, CoolingMist water/meth injc, IPP coilovers, AEM UEGO, Autometer Pyrometer EGT, Mopar STS w/ boogers, Greddy Type RS BOV, K&N Gen II Air Intake Kit, Greddy EBC Stock fuel pump & drive axles.
Last edited by srt4_riceater : 01-25-2008 at 09:17 PM.
Tire Make/Model: Yokohama Avis ES 100
Size 205/50/ZR17
I've had these for about 2 years and I like them, but unfortunately the last alignment I got has ruined the right sides. The outside of the tread for the first 2 in. or so is pretty much bald from the tire leaning out at the top. Too far gone by the time I realized the problem, so now they are going. I would get more, but they're discontinued. They have been good to me wet or dry, and also at the strip. Significant improvement over stock KDW's.
So next week I'm picking up the Kuhmo Ecsta ASX's, size 205/50/ZR17. I'll try and report back later on these.
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The OT
Quote: Originally Posted by Sweets
lol.. Ill be up all night playing with these things..
Initial Review: Just purchased tires, had a day or so now. (I'll expand more in the coming weeks)
Highs: Road noise reduced, ride is improved.
Lows: VERY spongy, poor steering response, loss of stability in cornering.
In Depth Review: I've had these, like I said above, for a little while now, maybe 30 miles, and I wouldn't normally write a review this quickly but so far I'm quite disappointed in this tire. My first thought as I drove away from the tire shop was "WTF did they screw up my suspension?". I'm used to the stock KDW's which have very good steering response, you twitch the wheel the car responds. With the S-Drives, you have to tuurrrnnn the steering wheel to get any response, and then the car feels like it's on a layer of fat or something, spongy, lots of body roll, made me feel like I'm back in my old turbo sundance or something. It seems like the car is a half a second behind you when you try and make quick steering corrections (like swerving around a pothole, etc). Road noise is not nearly as noticeable, and the ride is improved, but I think that's only because they put a very soft sidewall on this tire, which is not a good thing for me, I prefer 'feeling' the road and having high performance more than a soft 'comfy' tire. I seriously do not know how this tire got a high speed rating, they feel more like an H rating. I'm hoping maybe that it's just because they are brand new and in a week or two they will wear in, if not I'm going back to the stock KDW's, I'd rather deal with the noise, than have a reduction in cornering/steering response.
Conclusion: If you are looking for a tire that provides decent performance, and you want an upgrade in ride comfort and reduction in noise, this might just be your tire, if you are willing to sacrifice about 25% of your cornering ability.
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Quote: Originally Posted by Bella Lugrossi
good thing this isn't a race to see who's smarter.
Final Review: Purchased with car, car was brand new. 29,100 miles on the tires, just replaced them.
Highs: Superior cornering, aggressive feel (you can really feel the road, I like that, some people do not), good grip, VERY good steering response.
Lows: Noisy, no doubt about that. The ride is harsh, but whether this is a high or low, depends on your driving style,for me it's a high point for the tire, for some this will be a low, you feel EVERYTHING.
In Depth Review: I know, these are the stock tires on this car, but with more and more people buying used SRT-4, probably with different tires than stock, I wanted to do a decent review on the KDW's. When I first purchased this car (SRT-4 CE), I read where someone said "You'll be lucky to get 15,000 miles on this tire" and where others had gotten as little as 12,000 miles, so making it to 29,000 was a plus for me. I do drive aggressively but I do not really spin the tires as much as a lot of people. The steering response and cornering grip are the real strengths of this tire. You twitch the wheel, the car instantly follows, you take a corner hard, the car is stable and it is very hard to throw the tail end out. From a stop, the tire has decent grip, could be better I imagine, but I think the sacrifice made in that area allows you to put more miles on the tire than on some other 'stickier' tires. You really feel the road with this tire. If you do not like feeling every groove and jarring bump in the road, this may not be your tire. For me, though, I like that feeling, sort of being 'one with the road'. Wet performance is supposed to be a strong point for the tire, but while decent, it was not nearly as good as the dry performance. The real weak point for the tire, above all else, is the noise. As someone said in another review, I seriously thought a wheel bearing was going out in the car. Once I got used to that, it's rare that I noticed it, but for some it may be too much for some. But the performance value of the tire made up for it, at least in my book.
Conclusion: The factory tire for this car is an excellent performer on dry pavement, with (for me thus far) superior steering response and cornering. Wet performance is reasonable. Grip under acceleration from a dig is also good. You really feel the road with the tire, and the road noise for some will not be worth the performance. This tire gets bashed by quite a few owners simply because they haven't tried other tires, in my opinion this tire is wonderful, just wish it was a little less noisy.
Falken Azenis RT-615 ...
Have 3k on them and with the 400 treadwear rating it looks like i'm going to have them for a while.
so that I can continue to buy your tires
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