The formula for an excellent performance truck tire involves relentless road grip, sporty handling, and just enough comfort to absorb random pothole shocks at high speeds. Some aesthetic appeal doesn’t hurt either. Well, Falken seems to have nailed all those areas with the Falken Pro G5 CSV.
What Type of Vehicles Can Fit the Falken Pro G5 Pro CSV?
Falken Pro G5 CSV is advertised as a tire for light trucks, CUVs, and SUVs. However, some of its smaller sizes can also fit a compact or luxury sedan, so this tire is relevant for essentially all vehicle categories. However, since it’s designed for heavier elevated vehicles, getting it for a compact sedan might be overkill. Sure, it might be cheaper than an ultra-performance track tire, but the tread rubber on it might be too stiff for a lightweight city car.
The tire is in its natural element when paired with a sport-tuned pickup truck or a fast SUV like the Lamborghini Urus. It’s also a practical and affordable choice for pickup trucks like the Ford F-150, Nissan Navara, Honda Ridgeline, and the Chevrolet Colorado.
Falken Pro G5 CSV — Features
The most noticeable feature of the Falken Pro G5 CSV is its asymmetrical tread design. It’s just as aggressive as the one on its predecessor, the Falken Pro G4 A/S, if not more! It has wide-angled tread blocks on the outside shoulder that help improve stability and cornering grip at high speeds.
Since it’s an all-season tire, Falken has put quite a few winter performance measures in place. For example, the tire has aggressive biting edges for increased traction in light snow. The wide-angled tread blocks on the outside shoulder are strategically placed to direct the snow towards the tire’s center.
The four wide circumferential grooves evacuate water and snow for a clearer contact patch and improved hydroplaning resistance. As a result, you get desirable braking and steering response in wet conditions.
On the inner side of the shoulder, you have multiple 3D sipes for better grip and traction. Falken has used their unique silica compound for the Pro G5’s rubber, and it’s supposed to stay pliable enough in low temperatures.
All of those design elements sound great on paper, so let’s move on to some real-world scenarios and see how the Falken Pro G5 CSV holds up.
Winter Performance
The Falken Pro G5 CSV is good enough in cold temperatures for an all-season tire. If you get brutal winters with the weather consistently dipping below -8°C (17.6°F) — you might have to invest in some serious snow tires. However, it will safely get you from point A to point B in light snow. If the weather doesn’t get out of hand too often where you live, this tire will offer sufficient levels of traction, stability, and braking performance for city driving.
Wet Performance
The Falken Pro G5 CSV is a star performer in the wet! As it should be, not only because it’s an ultra-high performance tire, but also because it’s the successor to the Pro G4 A/S — a tire critically acclaimed for its rain performance.
The tread design does a great job of maximizing the tire’s contact with the road for improved traction. The two pairs of circumferential grooves keep the water out even in heavy downpours, making the Pro G5 a solid and reliable tire in wet conditions.
Is It Sporty?
Since the Falken Pro G5 CSV is an ultra-high performance tire, sportiness is its primary feature. It’s designed to provide exceptional traction to match the power of sport-tuned elevated vehicles, and it certainly delivers! You could push it to the speed limit, and it still offers tight handling, exhilarating steering response, and grippy maneuverability. It performs better than any touring tire out there, and that’s impressive considering it’s not the most expensive ultra-high performance tire out there.
Road Noise
Let’s just start this segment with a bitter reality — you can’t have it all. If you want no compromises on the performance of your truck or SUV, you’ll have to deal with some tire roar, and that’s the story with the Falken Pro G5 CSV. With that said, the tire noise only creeps at highway speeds, and it’s still quieter than dedicated summer tires. But almost any touring tire would beat the Pro G5 when it comes to quietness, and that’s to be expected.
Most modern trucks and SUVs have pretty good sound insulation, so the road noise shouldn’t trouble you as much. However, if you’re considering some of the smaller sizes of this tire for your luxury sedan or a smaller compact — you might want to look elsewhere.
Conclusion
This tire succeeds the Falken Pro G4 A/S, which was already a star performer in the ultra-high performance category for crossover vehicles, SUVs, and trucks. The Pro G5 CSV steps it up a notch with several improvements to the design, tread, and performance.
All things considered, some road noise is a small price to pay for all the good stuff the Falken Pro G5 CSV offers. If you’re in the market for a sporty tire for your truck or SUV, you should definitely shortlist this one.
