For those of you who have forgotten the joys of spring (in a climate that includes snow), think back to those early March/April days when your parents used to haul out your bikes from the shed, or rafters in the garage, tune them up and let you have your mobile freedom. Unfortunately this joy has been long forgotten as my Norco VPS-Drop was my main mode of transportation in University even during the harsh winter months (wicked awesome fun by the way). Although this joy is long forgotten, it is far from long gone.

Today was the first true day of spring for me. It was a day of freedom and a day to celebrate even after a crazy 4 hour thunderstorm. Today was the day my summer wheels came out of storage and slammed onto my 1993 Prelude. What better timing than a morning alignment, a lunch date with my torque wrench and jack, an afternoon of torrential downpours to cleanse the pavement, and an evening to put 150km on a new set of Falken FK-452 RUBBERS! YES, it might as well have been Christmas for me!

The Falken FK-452’s are a brand spanking new tire from Falken Tires this year. The Falken Tire Corporation is a subsidiary of The Ohtsu Tire and Rubber Company Limited of Osaka, Japan. The FK-452 is the replacement tire for the Falken GRB FK-451’s (no longer in production) that I was sporting on all 4 corners last year until an amazing intersection drift blew a hole in my front passenger tread. (You should have seen the drift… sickest drift I have ever pulled off) Seeing that the FK-451’s were a major step up from the all season ZE-512’s I had on 2 years ago, I figured I would keep the rears and just get new rubber for the front (front wheel drive vehicle).

After a quick trip on the 401 to Guelph and back through some heavy rainfall and then a 30 minute playful drive around the city I have the following to conclude: These tires kick ass! Wow. They are pretty much the same price as last years FK451’s but I feel that I almost have zero wheel slip from a hard shift from 1st to 2nd. Even accelerating hard off the line on somewhat dry pavement I noticed a considerable amount of jerk compared to some slippage from last year on completely dry pavement. I can see this is going to be a fun summer and its only April! I will post a review at the end of the summer when I have had a chance to perform my very own summer of controlled and non-controlled torture testing! Here is a performance comparison chart I pulled from the FK-452 “Technical Info” section that sums up what I felt upon my first 150km test drive with them on.

Notice how the comfort level has remained unchanged, thats because any ride with low profile tires gives a racier and less comfortable ride no matter what shocks or dampers you have. Why? Because any sharp force applied to the tire (bumps, potholes, curbs for the unfortunate) gets directly transmitted to the rim, through the suspension (some force is absorbed) and to your seat and steering wheel. Unlike your big thick rubber 15 or 16 inch winters or all seasons that have the ability to dampen the majority of the force before transferring it onward through the rim, suspension and to your seat where you barely notice it and barely appreciate it.

[Source: falkentire.com, fk452.com]