Falken Sincera v Michelin XAS

[Mileso]

My mini S4 refurb is now complete and the car is going great.
It sticks like glue around roundabouts etc by I am conscious my hardly worn tyres (Semperit Top Life) are from 2003 so should be changed.
I am not going at race speeds, just spirited fun and want to stick with 155/80's.

I have seen great reports on the Falken Sincera which has an impressive A rating for grip in the 155 size, and seen a opic of them on an S4 so shouldn't be any rubbing issue.. £50 ish each or is the XAS really worth the £220 each and will I notice any difference?
Based on how much fun I have with the Semperit I am tending toward the Falken.

Rather than 'opinions' has anyone specific experience of the Falken - aware lots of other feedback on here re: XAS.

[69S4]

I'll be interested in any comments that others post - not that I'm likely to be shelling out £220+ each for the Michelins, but I need to replace my now somewhat aged Uniroyals and I've wondered what else is available.

[richardcox_lotus]

Following as well, as mine could do with changing.

Hopefully someone will chime in with some recent results

Regards
Richard

[h20hamelan]

I do like the Longstone 5.5 offering, the block pattern inspires me like rally tyres.

To each their own. My top year round choice would be winter tyres, made in Japan, or USA. Though having said this, I suspect all materials are shipped around the world and the country doesnt really matter anymore.
2nd, most tyres have either square or rounded shoulders. So you could find a 165 which has 6” of tyre contact, or the same 165 with 5.75.
Also winter tyres accept temperatures below 10degrees road.
Further water dissipating design makes these top for me.

Unless your warm summer only, on dry.

[Hawksfield]

Hi
I have just changed to sincera 165/80 tyres due to my tyres reaching old age. I have found them quite good and will have to wait for winter conditions to give the final thums up, but as I have run them in the past on a Jaguar in place of Michelins/Pirelli. I paid £48 fitted and and quite pleased

[alanr]

Are you running the Falken Sincera's tubeless or with tubes?

Alan

[Hawksfield]

Hi
With tubes all ways have done

[HCA]

In answer to your question - yes, I have used Falken for many years, albeit the Azenis variant on an RS6, RS3 and now Evora. (I have a Sincera on the Elan spare wheel with four to follow when it is back up and running)

Especially amongst these cars there is a terrible snobbery regarding tyres, with all the forums keenly debating the finer merits of Michelin, Pirelli etc - most of which have never seen anything more exciting than a UK motorway and therefore a lot of nonsense is spouted!

I have found Falken cheaper, much quieter and all the grip one needs for off-track motoring within the law.

[dougal cawley]

Hi

Are we asking if a budget tyre built on a carcass that is designed to be fitted onto a completely different chassis design is as good as a Pirelli or a Michelin? Than build tyres on period carcass designs that are developed to work in the kind of enviroment that your chassis offers?

It is worth noting that these current productions of Pirelli and Michelin (2 of the worlds best tyre manufacturers) are built in modern tyre factories that offer incredible build quality far above what it was back in the day.

Worth noting that the period carcass presents the foot print to the road in a manner that gives precise, predictable and progressive handling. However this foot print is made with modern compounds (from 2 of the worlds best tyre manufacturers) so the grip levels are slightly improved in general, but considerably in the wet.

https://www.longstonetyres.co.uk/classi ... /elan.html

I'm, i am going to be brutally frank now and people often don't like the brutal truth: it would be nice if the cheap tyre were better. But you all actually know the answer. (Sorry)

[661]

Brilliant

[HCA]

Hi

I'm, i am going to be brutally frank now and people often don't like the brutal truth: it would be nice if the cheap tyre were better. But you all actually know the answer. (Sorry)

No one, certainly I, ever said a Falken is 'better'. What is better anyway?

The OP, in his/her words has fun using Semperits and wants an alternative. I say Falken for what s/he wants. Will s/he notice difference spending four times more on XAS? I doubt it very much.

Many times I get behind classics such as Elans, MGBs TRs and the like and very seldom are any of these pushing the cars - in fact, truth be known, they mostly they hold me up in a Macan with the basic engine! If any of these cars were shod with XAS or the like, then they have wasted their money!

Now, if the OP was rallying, hill climbing, racing or serious touring, then I would have kept very quiet because these are very different ball games.

[mbell]

Are we asking if a budget tyre built on a carcass that is designed to be fitted onto a completely different chassis design is as good as a Pirelli or a Michelin? Than build tyres on period carcass designs that are developed to work in the kind of enviroment that your chassis offers?

Hi Dougal,

Are you able to provide more details on the difference in construction?

You provide a lot of subjective comparisons and input on the difference, which I don't doubt. But as you probably noticed the average member here is quite technical. So when you are suggesting spending 4x per tire, compared a budget tire, it likely helpful to provide more detailed technical information to help people understand and justify the cost difference. Especially as this stuff is hidden under the rubber.

Thanks,

Mark

[RichardHawkins]

I tend to agree with HCA. I drink wine at about £7 a bottle as I am unable to appreciate better more expensive wine. My every day car has more grip than I am able to use. This all seems to me to be about fit for purpose. Those who have the ability will appreciate the better tyre, whilst others such as I, will not.

Hope this helps,

Richard Hawkins

[mark030358]

I bought XAS tyres for my Sprint as I found the Goodyears I initially bought had crap side walls. Chalk and cheese to me, the XAS were far better.

However here is the rub….. the car has done less than 3000 miles with these tyres and as you would expect are still perfect, but the date code is 4311, so just over 10 years old. I’m guessing I need a new set before I go and take my Elan to the Swiss Alps, so do I buy another set of XAS or something else? One thing is for sure they are quite excellent tyres.

Just my 2p worth

Cheers
Mark

[pharriso]

However here is the rub….. the car has done less than 3000 miles with these tyres and as you would expect are still perfect, but the date code is 4311, so just over 10 years old. I’m guessing I need a new set before I go and take my Elan to the Swiss Alps, so do I buy another set of XAS or something else? One thing is for sure they are quite excellent tyres.

Just my 2p worth

Cheers
Mark

Agreed & I had exactly the same issue with Michelin MXVs... Rears were from 2008, fronts with 2011 date codes... Rears started to deflate due to dry rotting:

Spare tire even had the label still on it:

As the car has done 4,500 miles since I purchased it in 2013 & all tires are way better than they were in 1972 I went with Kuhmo Solus TA 11s of the correct original size as recommended by quite a few people on here:

My point, any new tire will be better than a 10 year old premium tire...