Some thoughts on tyres - and initial impressions about Falken FK510 tyres

[AlanD]

Hi all,

Gave the Mondeo new shoes last Wednesday. Ended up with Falken Azensis FK510 235/45R18 98 Y tyres, purely on the basis of price from the local tyre dealer.

$40 and $50 less per tyre than the other brands he could offer at the time.

1. They are a lot quieter than the replaced Continentals have ever been, the road noise now is mostly wind noise.

2. The speedometer read out at 100 kph is actually 97 kph as measured with a tomtom GPS at a steady speed using the cruise control for 5 km on a straight level road.

3. The tread depth is 10mm and to the indicator bars 8mm.

4. It's a bit early to tell if there is going to be and effect on fuel consumption, but the instantaneous readout in the car is similar to previously at known points on roads we use frequently.

5. I can detect no significant difference in how the car feels on the road, but then I do not drive in an "extravagant" way.

That tread depth figure is surprising since some research suggests that typically tread depth is 8mm or so and I know that on some Dunlop SP Sport 01 tyres we had fitted to a previously owned MA the total tread depth was 7.5mm and to the indicator bars 5.6mm.

Those tyres got replaced at 40,000 Km because one of them got damaged by hitting a large pothole at speed and there was about 15% tread life left. (I like to have the same tyres at each corner).

If the Falken's wear similarly to the Dunlops then 50,000 km seems possible - we shall see.

If your MD is similar to ours and has a -3 kph error it is possible to correct it. The Falkens are available in a 50 profile and this gives a wheel diameter that is 3.5% larger which will yield, theoretically, a speed of 100.5 kph when 100 kph is indicated.

A further benefit is slightly longer tyre life and more comfort because the deeper sidewall "softens" the ride.

I expect you could do the same thing with other brands, providing they have a 50 profile tyre in the range they offer.

cheers