Bridgestone Potenza RE050A vs Falken Azenis FK510 — Compared

“Quote: Originally Posted by EWG35 I looked at these but did not buy for two reasons. 1) the tread rating was pretty low. Although I found them on ebay in 245/35 20 and 275/30 20 for something like $650-680 I just felt they'd wear too fast. 2) The tread pattern. I don't understand how they can shed water properly. Since the tread pattern is only molded in one direction (not a right and a left) which is just flip flopped. One appears it would shed water while the other would force water under the tire. How does this work? The side wall looks pretty nice. If you think 280 tread rating is low you should look again at the RE050A's 140. It one of the hightest tread rating in ultra high performance tires. Michelin PS2 is 220, Bridgestone RE050A is just 140 and Toyo T1R is 280. The only tires i can think of that has higher tread rating is Falken 452's 300 and Kumho Ecsta SPT's 320. Tread rating 280 isn't low.”

“I've had both in 205/45-17 on my car. The Dunlops are better all-around in the dry, wet, braking and comfort/noise stakes. More importantly, the treadwear on the RE050A $uck big time! Outright dry grip on the RE050A is just slightly better, but I'm happy giving that up for the Dunlops' outstanding performance in the wet and comfort. IMO, the Sport Maxx is way underrated. If these Dunlops have been chosen as OEM tires for the Saleen Mustang, the latest Jag XKR and VW Golf V R32, they must be good enough for our "humble" Mini.”

“I have RE050A runflat's on my 2012 Grandsport and agree completely that they are a great tire overall but you are fooling yourself if you think they provide comparable grip to a DOT track tire. I had Michelen run-flat's on my ZR1 wheels on my 2011 Grandsport and they were great until the tires hit 4/32 on the rears and then they became rocks at any temperature that I could spin up effortlessly at any speed. Used to give my wife fits snapping the rear-end around for no reason. Those were replaced with Continental Extreme Contact DW tires (non run-flat) because the rear Michelins were not available last year in ZR1 sizes.”

“Upgrading tires from Falken Azenis FK510, looking for recommendations Hey all, I drive a V6 1LE camaro, i've been doing a lot of open practice sessions at a small track (the driveway in austin, tx), long story short I bought brand new Azenis FK510 two months ago, only about 4k street miles, and after about 3 hours of track time they're pretty much done....mostly from noob mistakes like overcooking the entry and destroying the front shoulders, and having the rear tires way too overinflated so the shoulders are fine but the center are down to the wear bars. Even under ideal conditions and purposely driving slower and smoother I can't see these lasting much more than 4-5 hours of track time, I'm just surprised to see these tires wear down very very quickly under hard driving and overheat somewhat quickly, these are awesome daily driving tires but I'm looking for more track performance. I'm currently debating between pilot sport 4s, bridgestone re-71r, firehawk indy 500. This is more of a philosophical question, I'm looking at a wide variety of treadwear tires, I'm curious how you guys decide on what treadwear tires to run and how you decide between wear, price, and grip. I'm leaning towards the RE-71r right now, I figure if I'm burning through my tires in a few months anyways might as well do it with sticky tires since my falkens didn't last long anyways... Read more”

“Funny, I just had this conversation in r/ecoboostmustang . I was in this exact boat when I first started out autocrossing. I got on 200 TW for 2020 but continued to HPDE on the daily summer tires. Indy 500 - Spring 2019 to Winter 2020 - These take an INCREDIBLE amount of abuse for the money. 30+ autocrosses, 2 HPDEs, 18,000 miles G-Max RS - Fall 2020 to Summer 2021 - Only bummer is they're directional, you technically shouldn't rotate. 10 HPDEs, 15,000 miles Falken FK510 - Spring 2020 to Summer 2020 - HARD NO from me. I corded a set in 10,000 miles between daily & 6 HPDEs.”

“I've had a set of Falken Azenis FK510's on my car for a couple of months now, and just this past weekend took a trip through the twisties up to Prescott, and pushed the car as hard as I could heading up the mountain. I was a little nervous as I'd never used Falken tires before, but trusted in Tire Rack's reviews of them and pushed the envelope in every turn I hit. It was a pleasant surprise to find that the tires were gripping just as well as the much more expensive Michelin tires they'd replaced, and I even hit a personal best of .95g going around one of the more nasty turns. During this entire drive I never felt once like the tires weren't gripping perfectly, or that I was going to lose control from them breaking loose. Road noise is pretty much non-existent, and they seem to run pretty smooth over every surface I've driven them on so far. All-in-all I don't regret my purchase one bit, and if their longevity is anything like what I got out of my previous set of Michelins I'll definitely be buying another set once this one is done for.”