No matter what category of modern tires you look at, they all seem to try and jam everything into one package. Ultra-high performance tires are getting more and more comfortable, and touring tires are getting sportier and sportier. Well, that’s also the case with grand-touring tires like the Falken Ziex ZE960. Its primary features are that of a typical grand tourer, such as safety, stability, comfort, and quietness, but it packs a pretty impressive performance punch.
With that said, you can’t really get the same traction as a track tire, but it’s probably going to be more than you expect from a highway tourer. The Ziex ZE960 A/S is an all-season passenger car touring tire that aims to check all the right boxes, such as plush ride quality, responsive handling, stability, durability, and most importantly, safety.
Read on to learn more about how the tire performs in real-world scenarios like dry, wet, and snowy roads.
Falken Ziex ZE960 A/S – Overview
The Ziex ZE960 A/S comes with flask siping to deal with hydroplaning risks in wet conditions. Besides wet traction, the design also features solutions to slippery surfaces like snowy roads through Falken’s Canyon Groove technology. The tire is supposed to match the power and capabilities of modern premium coupes and sedans through solid steering response, stability, and control.
The tire is pretty durable too, and the brand is pretty confident about it. That’s evident from the 65,000-mile treadwear guarantee they offer with the Falken Ziex ZE960 A/S. The tire claims to provide the driver with top-notch levels of comfort, performance, and safety across all four seasons.
Some notable plus points of the tire are:
- Exceptional traction in a broad spectrum of temperatures
- A highly comfortable and quiet ride, even at highway speeds
- A 65,000-mile treadwear guarantee
Dry Roads
The Falken Ziex ZE960 A/S feels super responsive and stable on dry tarmac. The tire’s performance is refreshingly excellent, considering it’s primarily designed for optimized ride comfort. Still, it maintains outstanding levels of traction on dry roads whether you’re trying to accelerate, corner, or cruise across the city.
The road feel might be somewhat dampened since its tire category prefers comfort over sportiness, but it’s responsive enough for an exhilarating driving experience. It also stops pretty short, so there’s not much you could complain about here.
Wet Performance
The Falken Ziex ZE960 A/S is a star on wet roads, and that’s mostly thanks to the tire’s excellent hydroplaning resistance. Even in heavy downpours, the tire manages to hold its own pretty well as long you drive at safe speeds.
The Canyon Groove technology does its part to keep water out of the tire. It prevents the tire from skidding across slippery surfaces, so kudos to the Falken engineers for that one.
The tire’s wet braking distances are also short enough, and you’ll have sufficient traction for safe cornering (unless you drive like a mad man in the rain, of course). Overall, the tire gets the job done quite comfortably in the rain.
Snow Performance
Falken’s Canyon Groove technology really comes in handy in snowy conditions. Besides providing some impressive hydroplaning resistance, it’s also effective at evacuating slush and snow from the tire for increased winter traction and shorter braking distances. With that said, it’s only an all-season touring tire at the end of the day — and won’t be very useful in wild northern winters, only in light snow. If temperatures get freezing cold where you live, you might want to invest in a set of proper winter tires.
Ride Quality
Being a grand-touring tire, the ride quality of the Falken Ziex ZE960 A/S is everything you could wish for. It’s smooth, comfortable, and quiet. It easily irons out the bumps and potholes you might encounter in city driving, and it’s also a plush experience on the highways. No noticeable vibrations make it to the cabin, especially if you’ve got a passenger car with a decent suspension.
It’s great to see that Falken hasn’t made any significant compromises on ride quality to make the tire sportier — it certainly gets the seal of approval from us!
Conclusion
The Falken Ziex ZE960 A/S seems to be the perfect combo of features you’d look for in an all-season passenger car tire. Not only does it offer desirable ride quality, but also an excellent performance on dry and wet pavement. The road feel doesn’t feel as sporty as a track tire (you wouldn’t want that in a touring tire anyway), but it’s sporty enough!
Pair all of that with its 65,000-mile tread life guarantee, and you get an absolute gem of a purchase. However, we’d suggest looking elsewhere if you get brutal winters in your country, as that’s the only weak point of the Falken Ziex ZE960 A/S.
