YamR1rider
Drag Racing Champion
- Location
- Tampa, FL
- Car(s)
- 2017 GTI Sport DSG
Couple of notes for anyone considering these 'B Segment' tires:
I recently replaced a set of General GMax RS with Falken FK510s, driven about 1000 miles on them so far. I had no real dramas with the GMax - found the handling and grip to be decent enough and the tires really wore well - I got just over 20k on them, would have been more if I hadn't done a track day on them. On the road (highway and general puttering around) the GMax was a pretty good tire, nice ride quality albeit slightly noisy (but never got any worse over time like some tires do), and really, wore like iron. Complaints though would be that I found them to be a bit unsettled when hard cornering, which was really amplified on the track day - I could always feel what seemed to be a bit of 'step' when loading them through a corner which needed adjusting for (and thus affecting confidence and precision placing), and outright grip turned out not to be the best particularly after a few laps they got progressively more greasy feeling.
The Falkens by contrast seem a lot more suited to harder driving - decent turn in feel and although I've only been on empty backroads (but enough to purposely and lightly break traction with ESC Off), it seems to me they load up nicely and predictably, without the previous 'shimmy' feeling of the Generals. They feel like they will be better suited for a track day, I will maybe get one in during summer and see how they go. On road, they feel like they are harsher than then Generals, I can feel even minor imperfections more although funnily enough they seem to be quieter. One thing I'm not expecting is for them to wear as well as the GMax - looking at them after the backroad blasting, they have some minor scrubbing which I didn't notice on the General's (asides from after the track day where they were pretty chewed) which to me is indicative of a bit grippier compound but with that will come greater wear.
So in short, current impressions are the Falken's seem to be better suited for spirited driving in the twisties, albeit you give up a bit of comfort for everyday driving on anything other than nice smooth roads. The Falken's were what I was looking to buy previously. but at the time General had a great introductory offer on and picked them up for just under $100 apiece so that swayed me. With both around $150, I decided to switch and see and happy so far. Not rained here lately so had no chance yet to compare in the rain but by all accounts I'm expecting them to be just as good if not better than the GMax.
I recently replaced a set of General GMax RS with Falken FK510s, driven about 1000 miles on them so far. I had no real dramas with the GMax - found the handling and grip to be decent enough and the tires really wore well - I got just over 20k on them, would have been more if I hadn't done a track day on them. On the road (highway and general puttering around) the GMax was a pretty good tire, nice ride quality albeit slightly noisy (but never got any worse over time like some tires do), and really, wore like iron. Complaints though would be that I found them to be a bit unsettled when hard cornering, which was really amplified on the track day - I could always feel what seemed to be a bit of 'step' when loading them through a corner which needed adjusting for (and thus affecting confidence and precision placing), and outright grip turned out not to be the best particularly after a few laps they got progressively more greasy feeling.
The Falkens by contrast seem a lot more suited to harder driving - decent turn in feel and although I've only been on empty backroads (but enough to purposely and lightly break traction with ESC Off), it seems to me they load up nicely and predictably, without the previous 'shimmy' feeling of the Generals. They feel like they will be better suited for a track day, I will maybe get one in during summer and see how they go. On road, they feel like they are harsher than then Generals, I can feel even minor imperfections more although funnily enough they seem to be quieter. One thing I'm not expecting is for them to wear as well as the GMax - looking at them after the backroad blasting, they have some minor scrubbing which I didn't notice on the General's (asides from after the track day where they were pretty chewed) which to me is indicative of a bit grippier compound but with that will come greater wear.
So in short, current impressions are the Falken's seem to be better suited for spirited driving in the twisties, albeit you give up a bit of comfort for everyday driving on anything other than nice smooth roads. The Falken's were what I was looking to buy previously. but at the time General had a great introductory offer on and picked them up for just under $100 apiece so that swayed me. With both around $150, I decided to switch and see and happy so far. Not rained here lately so had no chance yet to compare in the rain but by all accounts I'm expecting them to be just as good if not better than the GMax.
