Had good experiences with Falken tires before. What do you think about these sizes?

275/35/19 Rear

225/45/18 Front

I know I'd be increasing the sidewall height a little, but that may improve the comfort of the ride a bit. What do you think this would look like? Have any of you done this to the front? Pictures?

 

This has been brought up several times on here. Your speedo will be slightly off I would imagine being it's a taller tire. So beware that you'll be going faster than what your speedo indicates. l

 

In this sizing instance, it actually looks like you will be driving at a slower speed than indicated on the speedometer.

I've been using 1010tires.com to consider different alternatives, close to deciding on sizes, and did a quick comparison of yours to the stock sizes. On the front it gave this warning since you are at 3.43% of change in diameter.

Warning! When changing tire sizes, we recommend staying within 3% of the diameter of the original tire. Any more than this and you face the risk of brake failure

 

I think it would look fine. And for the speedo changes I think it is minimal.
Tire 1 Tire 2

 

I like my FK452's. I went 19 and 20 with a wider tread (235 and 275). Very happy!

 

Maxcichon,
How many mile's on the new Falkens and are you comparing them with the Continentals? Also are they a directional tread (able to rotate side to side)?
Thanks
Bill,

 

Bill,

5,000 miles and yes I'm comparing them to the SportContact 2's it came with. However, I didn't own it from new. I bought it with 10,000 miles on the clock and the rears looked very good at that time. I drive pretty fast in straight lines, but don't beat it up very much around twisties (except at the Dragon! ) and was amazed at how much they had worn after 15,500. It came to light when we were returning from last fall's Tail of the Dragon (Tina was driving) and with DAMP roads the ESP was kicking in. When we arrived at he house, I looked closely and had ~ 2 mm (.040") of tread above the wear bars. I thought this was pretty poor for wear so started looking for UHP tires with:

1. Better wet performance, and,
2. Higher UTGC (?) rating for wear.

The BMW and Audi forums liked these for the:

1. Good wet performance, and,
2. Improved ride.

The higher wear rating was just a bonus.

And yes, they are directional. Just make sure you take as many right turns as left!

Good hunting, Max

 

Max thanks for the report. I was sold on these until finding out there directional. Not really wanting to loose the ability to rotate. Decisions....

 

I forgot to mention:

I really like them? In my humble opinion (!?), side to side rotation should be needed only if there is a problem, mechanically. But, as usual, I may be wrong.

Go figure-I'm an optimist!