Is your BMW suffering from tramlining? We hook up with the guys from Falken tyres to find out more about its renowned FK452 model, tyre safety and development...

Tyre choice can be a very personal thing to the keener driver’s out there, because once you have broken free of budget brands, the premium line-up has an array of choice that is capable of harnessing the power of anything from an E21 316 to something bearing the M badge.

Not so long ago we were in a tyre shop when an owner walked in and asked behind the counter for budget brands or whatever used ones are in stock. Budget tyres are great for a drift practice day, but for road use (which in this case it was) it’s short sighted. Braking distances will be extended, handling will be inferior and they will be incapable of harnessing any sort of power. When the total contact patch keeping you on the road is no bigger than an A4 piece of paper, tyres should be considered as one of the most important purchases.

Of the feature cars that appear in Total BMW, every enthusiast has preference over particular brands, but Falken’s FK452 is a high performance tyre we are seeing more of. They are favoured for their affordability, quality, performance and more uniquely... their ability to minimise tramlining. In drifting they are used heavily thanks to their handling credentials and reluctance to delaminate. So when the opportunity arose to spend a day with the guys from Falken, which included one of the FK452 development engineers, we just couldn’t say no...

Thanks
Assistant Marketing Manager, Stefanie Olbertz and Technical & Service Engineer, Sven Kruse, of Falken, Nick Bailey of Propel Technology. For more details go to www.falken-europe.com.

To read more about Falken see the July 2011 issue of Total BMW.
Back issues available here.