CR's Top-Rated Falken Ziex ZE 512 tires for the Prius

The Goodyear Integrity tires on my Prius have got to go!

The front tires are almost worn out at just 14k miles. Admittedly, I'm an aggressive driver and didn't rotate them, but I've never flattened a pair of front tires on any other car so soon. The rears, on the other hand, look like new. As mentioned in other threads, the handling of the Integrity sucks big time. I can get slippage in wet or dry with them, which makes the little wiggly icon light up and the car stall while it attempts to regain traction. I was thinking about just replacing the front tires w/new Integrities, but the traction with them is so poor, I've decided I should replace all 4.

After looking at a few reviews, I was focusing on the Michelin Primacy or HydroEdge, which Discount America Tire lists at $109 and $121 respectively. Very Expensive!!!

Then I found out about the Falken ZE-512 and Discount America's Tire lists these at $78@. Add $17.75@ for balancing and disposal/environmental fees (based on what they charged me to install tires on my FJ Cruiser last year), plus sales tax, and a set installed for about $412 in the SF Bay Area. You can save $20 (plus tax) per tire by buying from Discount Tire Direct ($58@), which would lower the total cost to about $303. So, I'm going to have to look into buying direct for sure!

There are some complaints about low tread wear (but not with handling) on the Falkens, but given the low cost, relatively low treadwear shouldn't be that much of an issue.

Update 4/22/09: I finally got around to buying a set of the Falken Ziex ZE-512's at America's Tire for $335 installed ($68 each plus balancing & tax). The first thing I noticed that the Falkens are much quieter than the Integrity's and they handle much better as well. Will have to wait to judge traction, but anything would be better than the Integrity's. I've only driven the Falkens about 60 miles, but I'm very happy with them so far.

 

Bumping an old thread :mod:

Just got back from discount Tires here in las vegas. Got a set of the Falkens 195/60 on my 07 prius. The Goodyear intergrity's with 44,000 miles on them where roasted. I'm really surprised how worn they where, 2/32 the guy said, cracks from dry heat. Was waiting for a blow out to happen. I put it off, because of lack of funds. But i got a decent deal on a set of Falken Ziex's. 389 out the door with a life time full replacement if they can't fix it. He was going to charge 50 for the extended, but knocked 30$ off..so i figured it was worth it just in case. Oh and a 40$ mail in rebate, not bad at all.

put some highway miles on them, major improvement in corning ability over the Goodyears, and less Squirrely at freeway speeds. And no more scare the pants off you loss of traction over mild bumps in the road. I was really pushing it with the Goodyears!

They should hold up, i will be getting rid of this car in a year or so its no biggie. I wanted to get the Michelin fuel max, but at 129$ a tire..no thanks.

Falken is made in Japan, so its a nice match for prius Running 42/40 on them. Though i think they can go up to 50 psi...i haven't checked the sidewall yet that closely