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Hey Guys,

I bought myself a set of Falken Ziex ZE-502 last March for $400. The tires lasted me well, although I can feel the wet-grip being not as great as before.

Anyways, I just noticed this week that both my left tires have bubbles/bumps in the sidewall. The rear isnt too bad, the front one seems like it is. I'm assuming it came from all the potholes we've had in NYC recently.

From what I've read, it's bad to have the bubbles and it could signify a burst at anytime. I'm wondering on your opinion on two things:

1. Should I replace all 4 tires or just 2? I was thinking of getting two new tires since two have bubbles right now. Put the new ones on the front and have the falkens in the rear (or vice-versa if you think that's better). The reason I'm wondering about the 2 is cause I'm trying not to spend too much especially since I spent $400 only a year ago.

2. What tires would you recommend I use? The reason I chose the Falken 502s last year over everyone's favorite Kumho 712s is because I read that the 712s dont get great wet-traction. So I'm asking what your opinions are.

Sorry for the long post, but thanx in advance for your answers.

 
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Well you are right you need to replace your two tires as soon as possible, now where did you buy your tires? If you bought them at Discount Tire or another tire shop you may have purchaced a raod hazard replacement warranty and they will replace the tires free of charge. If your tires have good tread left on them, then I wouldn't replace all four. Just the two is good.

To answer your second question.. I am not a fan of the 712's, they are ok gripping tires but I would defently buy a set of Yoko Parada, or ES100's or Toyo Proxies, but that is just my opinion, I feel all three have better traction.

 
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I would replace 2 out of the 4 tires with the same brand and type to make it easier.

 
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Yeah, there should be some sort of warrenty on them. It looks like they may be defective in some way.

 
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I still have the receipt because I bought it from a family friend's tire shop and I know it has some form of warranty, but I dunno the details of it.

This is the Falken warranty, but it requires proof of rotation and stuff like that. I rotate my tires, but I don't have proof of it. I could probably make some up, but I dunno.

http://www.falkentire.com/tech_warra...erial_Warr.cfm

 
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Replace them with the exact same tires. Call the place where you got the tires from concerning your tire warranty.

 
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Bubble suck. Since you have a bubble on one of the front and one on the back, I say you buy all 4 because the fronts tend to wear more than the rear and you don't want to have 2 new tires, one semi good and one ok one. then you will start to get a radial pull that might feel like it's your alignment but it's not. Think about it as wearing different height shoes. It'll make your new tires wear bad. You can buy all 4 and keep the other 2 as replacements, just be careful with them potholes. And as far as the Kumhos, yes I heard they suck in wet weather.

 
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I'd just replace the two with bubbles and this time watch out for potholes. Why spend the extra money if you don't have too? I have Kumho 711's any my traction is great. It's a good performance tire for a good price. I don't think you can compare Kumho's to Toyo TS-1's or Parada spec-2's. They are in a different(much more expensive) league.