The Falken Ziex ZE914 that we are reviewing today is being tested on a Holden VE Series II Commodore Sportswagon.
Tyre Design
Falken claims that the ZE914 is a next generation, high performance tyre designed to give even tread wear, improved fuel efficiency, comfort and traction according to the Falken website – especially designed for Australian roads. The asymmetric tread pattern features four straight and wide grooves which apparently help with resisting hydroplaning in the wet:
This is one of Falken’s Ecorun tyres which claims low rolling resistance and improved wet braking as well as improved shoulder rib rigidity and large shoulder blocks for improved handling whilst cornering.
The reviewed tyres were made in the previous month and felt very “sticky” to the touch. See this page to find out your tyre age.
Our 245/45R18 had 8mm of tread measured next to the treadwear indicators when new.
Grip and braking performance, dry and wet
In a nutshell – without driving in an extremely aggressive fashion I can’t get them to break traction on a dry surface. Suddenly planting the throttle at a roundabout to pull out in front of traffic doesn’t result in spinning wheels. While this will be assisted by the torque limiting in 1st gear of the Commodore the old tyres would spin in the same situation with ~50% tread left so these seem to have a lot more grip.
Wet braking is also greatly improved over the no-name-brand tyres; the week we bought them it was pouring down rain locally so there was plenty of time to test that and we came away feeling quite confident in their performance.
If you are into driving your car on the street like it’s a race track you may have a different experience but in our amateur simulated emergency maneouvers, cornering, accelerating and braking tests the tyres exceeded expectations.
As a side point which may have some impact, the VE SV6 that the tyres were on has SS brakes which gives it improved braking performance.
Sound Levels
So is the Falken Ziex ZE914 a quiet tyre? While it is supposed to be very difficult to design a tyre that is quiet on every road surface, the designers of the ZE914 seem to have done a pretty good job of making it reasonably quiet on the variety of road surfaces one finds around Newcastle. I don’t think it is the quietest tyre we have ever used but it would be in the top few. One of the things that surprised me most coming to the VE Commodore from a 5-series BMW was the amount of road and tyre noise that entered the cabin; now I think that some of that was the tyre selection that was on it when we purchased the car, as these Falken ZE914 tyres are a good deal quieter than the no-name-brand tyres that were on it previously.
We paid $585 for all four, fitted and balanced from a local Goodyear Autocare tyre shop.
Tyre Life
How long should the ZE914 tyres last? As of early 2017 Falken offer a 60,000km warranty on them (before they get to 1.6mm tread depth) if you register online within 30 days of purchase and get the tyres serviced according to their schedule. Some of the fine print there seems to be that you must purchase at least 4 tyres and it’s a pro-rated agreement – an adjustment credit is provided based on the percentage of life not achieved, if any. There’s a bunch more in the terms and conditions so for rest/the current terms and conditions best check with Falken – the link as of the time of writing is here.
We will update with how the tyre tread is fairing over time. As mentioned above, when new the tread was 8mm deep next to the treadwear indicators, so that’s our starting point.
Available sizes
According to the Falken website(s), these are the available sizes:
Falken Ziex ZE914 Ecorun available 15 inch sizes:
- 195/50R15 82V
- 185/55R15 86V XL
- 195/55R15 85V
- 205/55R15 88V
- 175/60R15 81H
- 185/60R15 84H
- 195/60R15 88H
- 205/60R15 91H
- 175/65R15 84H
- 185/65R15 88H
- 195/65R15 91H
- 205/65R15 94H
- 215/65R15 96H
Falken Ziex ZE914 Ecorun available 16 inch sizes:
- 195/45R16 84V XL
- 205/45R16 87V XL
- 195/50R16 84V
- 205/50R16 87V
- 225/50R16 96W XL
- 185/55R16 83V
- 195/55R16 87V
- 205/55R16 91V
- 215/55R16 97W XL
- 225/55R16 99W XL
- 205/60R16 92H
- 205/60R16 96V XL
- 215/60R16 99H XL
- 215/65R16 98H
Falken Ziex ZE914 Ecorun available 17 inch sizes:
- 205/40R17 84W XL
- 215/40R17 87W XL
- 245/40R17 91W
- 205/45R17 88W XL
- 215/45R17 91W XL
- 225/45R17 94W XL
- 235/45R17 94W
- 245/45R17 95W
- 205/50R17 93W XL
- 215/50R17 91W
- 225/50R17 94W
- 235/50R17 96W
- 215/55R17 94W
- 225/55R17 101W XL
- 235/55R17 99W
- 215/60R17 96H
- 235/60R17 102H
- 225/65R17 102V
Falken Ziex ZE914 Ecorun available 18 inch sizes:
- 215/40R18 W 89 XL
- 215/45R18 W 93 XL
- 225/40R18 W 92 XL
- 225/45R18 W 95 XL
- 225/60R18 H 100
- 235/40R18 W 95 XL
- 235/50R18 W 101 XL
- 245/40R18 W 97 XL
- 245/45R18 W 100 XL
- 255/35R18 W 94 XL
- 265/35R18 W 97 XL
“XL” indicates extra load rating.
Overall we are extremely pleased with their performance at the given price point and can’t fault them. The reduction in noise from the old tyres is a nice added bonus and the wet braking performance is encouraging – we spend most of the time driving the Commodore with two kids in the back so safety is always in the back of our minds.
Give your local tyre shop a ring or if online shopping is your thing take a look at eBay AU.