Falken’s AZENIS FK510 has been awarded an “exemplary” rating by German sportscar magazine AUTOBILD in its summer tyre test, after placing third in the overall rankings. The AZENIS FK510s were found to have performed particularly well in the most important area for high-performance tyres: safety, finishing high up the order in both the wet and dry braking tests.
In the 04/2022 issue, a total of eleven summer tyres, (the majority with a Y speed index) were examined by the testers. The 225/45R18 tyres were fitted to a BMW 3 series sports car and put to the test on a variety of surfaces.
On wet asphalt, the braking distance achieved was approximately 48 metres (47.9 m) in an emergency stop at 100 km/h, around 2 metres behind the best-placed car in the category. The tyres from Falken proved effective on the wet circular track too, the tyre finishing less than a second off the winner in the category.
When it comes to safety, aquaplaning is always a key factor. This is an area in which the Falken tyres demonstrated their strengths: with a float speed of 98 km/h when measured on the rain-soaked surface, the FK510 was more than a match for several competitors. The same goes for the aquaplaning around corners: with a lateral acceleration of 3.54 m/s2, the Falken AZENIS FK510 finished fourth. In addition to these results, the FK510 also made it into the first half of the table in the category for handling in dry conditions.
Overall, the independent testers drew a positive balance, and considered the Falken premium tyre to have “a good performance potential, very good safety reserves when aquaplaning, stable driving behaviour on wet roads, sporty and dynamic handling in dry conditions, short braking distances on wet and dry surfaces, and good driving comfort”. They awarded it third place overall with a rating of “exemplary”.
“We can be very proud of our third place,” said Velizara Lilova, Team Leader Product Planning at Falken Tyre Europe GmbH, in her comments about the test results. “To do so well here, especially in such a hard-fought environment, proves that our premium tyres don’t shy away from the competition and that by focusing on driving enjoyment and safety, we are getting a lot of things right.”
Source: Tyretradenews
