Falken Azenis FK520

Name: Falken Azenis FK520
Brand: Falken
Rating: 4.2 (29 reviews)

The Falken FK520 is structurally stronger than the FK510 to improve steering precision and feedback, and is 10 percent lighter to improve unsprung mass and rolling resistance. It also improves dry and wet grip thanks to advanced compounding.

Tire review data from 29 tire reviews averaging 85% over 132,730 miles driven, and 10 tests with an average result of 7th.

Dry Grip 90%

Wet Grip 88%

Road Feedback 84%

Handling 86%

Wear 81%

Comfort 83%

Buy again 83%

First On Market	January 2022
Wheel Size	17 - 21"
Width	205 - 325mm
Profile	30 - 65

Rolling Resistance	A - D
Wet Grip	A - A
Noise (dB)	68 - 72
Winter Rating	Not Winter Rated

The Azenis FK520 is ranked 17th of 78 Summer Max Performance tires.

This tire replaced the Falken Azenis FK510.

In Depth Tire Comparisons

Tests Included

Best Result

5th

Worst Result

8th

Average Result

7th

Latest Tire Test Results

2024 AMS Summer SUV Tire Test

7th of 8 tires

Very good aquaplaning prevention, easily controllable but not very dynamic driving behavior on dry roads.
Limitations in braking and traction on wet surfaces. Also, unbalanced driving dynamics with oversteering and understeering in wet conditions.
In wet grip and driving stability, Falken could still improve a bit.

View Full Test >>

2024 EVO Summer Tire Test

7th of 7 tires

The Falken Azenis FK520's strongest performance was in curved aquaplaning, where it topped the results, backed by decent straight-line aquaplaning resistance. However, it struggled in most other areas, finishing seventh in wet handling (almost four seconds off the best lap time) and scoring poorly in subjective handling tests. The tire needed careful management in wet conditions, requiring time to settle into turns and showing tentative grip characteristics. While it offered good refinement on regular roads, the Falken struggled to match its high-performance competitors, particularly in wet conditions. Feedback from the tire was decent, but it needs improvement in wet grip to compete with the leading brands.

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2023 The Best Electric Vehicle Tires VS UHP Tires

7th of 10 tires

Good braking and decent cornering grip in the wet. Comparatively active, safe handling dry, quiet and comfortable on the inside.
Basically a bit sluggish when turning, indifferent, unbalanced wet handling, longer braking distances on a dry track.
The FK520 is a comparatively cheaper all-rounder with only small weaknesses.

View Full Test >>

Size	Fuel	Wet	Noise
17 inch
225/45R17 94 V XL	A	A	69
205/50R17 93 Y XL	C	A	70
235/65R17 108 W XL	C	A	70
215/45R17 91 Y XL	D	A	70
225/45R17 91 Y	C	A	70
225/45R17 94 Y XL	C	A	70
225/45R17 94 W XL	A	A	68
225/45R17 94 V XL	A	A	69
225/50R17 98 Y XL	C	A	70
18 inch
225/40R18 92 Y XL	C	A	70
235/60R18 107 W XL	C	A	70
235/60R18 107 V XL	A	A	70
245/45R18 100 Y XL	C	A	71
245/40R18 97 Y XL	C	A	70
245/45R18 100 Y XL	C	A	70
255/35R18 94 Y XL	C	A	70
225/40R18 92 Y XL	C	A	70
20 inch
255/45R20 105 Y XL	C	A	70

View All Sizes and EU Label Scores for the Falken Azenis FK520 >>

Questions and Answers for the Falken Azenis FK520

2022-08-29 - Just purchased and ordered 4 Falken Azenis FK520 for my 2015 7 series BMW, and I am fitting them next week. They are replacing my Goodyear asymmetric 2 that handle well but have worn quite badly. My car is a heavy high speed and I go quite fast on the motorway and I cover huge miles.
There are very few reviews on your 520 tire as it is new, and unlike the FK510, the reviews are not as encouraging. Your Azenis older FK510 has much better reviews fantastic grip in wet and dry and a seemingly better and more confident looking tread pattern than this new FK520 tire, and I am wondering whether I have made the right decision. I have read all the advanced tech on the FK520 being stiffer and lighter but I am disappointed that wet braking and handling of the FK520 is lower than the FK510. I always expect that a new developed tire should always be a significant improvement over the old one.
You have extensively tested your FK520 on the race track so please kindly let me know the how performance characteristics of this tire over the FK510.to your reply.

Here at Tire Reviews we've yet to test the new FK520 but we have every confidence in Falken delivering a tire that performs better than its predecessor the FK510. The FK520 has only been in one proper test so far where it still finished ahead of a Pirelli tire so we expect the tire to perform at least as well as the FK510 did when it's tested more in 2023.

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Top 3 Falken Azenis FK520 Reviews

Audi A3 2.0 TDI 140 (/45 R17) on a combination of roads for 100 average miles

I was very surprised by the comfort of the new tires. My previous tires were the fk510 and they were hard as hell, felt every crack in the road. The handling in dry and wet conditions are very good, and the cars feels sporty and good in rhe tight curves. Hope they will last as long as fk510 (around 35k km)

Helpful 281 - tire reviewed on April 1, 2022

Given 87% while driving a BMW X5 e70 (315/35 R20) on mostly country roads for 100 average miles

Initial 100 mile review of the Falken Azenis 520s has left me impressed. Having just ditched the Dunlop Sport Maxx GT RFTs that came on my E70 X5 when I purchased it, the following was apparent - Review is based on intial subjective impressions.

1) The ride was significantly improved on dual carriageways and undulating country roads. The perceived feedback is that it feels more compliant and better damped than the RFTs.

2) The wet grip and traction was impressive. I couldn't notice a difference in braking performance on wet corners on country roads. Turn in felt responsive and was expecting some understeer at 50mph on my local S-bends, but it tracked very predictable on throttle. It hasn't spun up any of the corners on aggressive throttle applications.

Time will tell on how long these will last, but if I'm able to get 12000 miles before I need to replace them, I'll be more than satisfied. My use case of living in a hilly area with loads of NSL roads means that they wear will be quite high due to the constant braking and acceleration.

I was quite impressed with the ZE914s I had on my Celica 8 years ago, so if these perform as well as they did, I'll be buying them again. Will revise this review with wear.

Helpful 77 - tire reviewed on March 23, 2024

Given 91% while driving a Mercedes Benz E320 CDI (245/45 R17) on a combination of roads for 12,000 average miles

The dry grip feeling is really superior, the sensations are that of a Bridgestone Potenza without a doubt. In the wet, the grip is very good, greater than the audacity of any average driver. Due to the width of my tire (245/45 R17), when hitting a deep puddle, the braking is felt on the suspension wishbones, like with any other tire of this width. I would recommend it for use in summer and rainy days, although with deep puddles and wet road markings you have to take the same precautions as with any other wide sports tire.

Helpful 69 - tire reviewed on November 3, 2023

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Latest Falken Azenis FK520 Reviews

Given 81% while driving a Mercedes Benz E220Cdi (225/55 R17) on mostly motorways for 1,500 average miles

Good tires, strong sidewalls, good grip in Wet and dry.

Helpful 0 - tire reviewed on October 11, 2024

Given 83% while driving a Mazda MX5 2.0 SE (ND 2015 onwards) (215/45 R17) on mostly country roads for 4,000 spirited miles

First season on my MX-5 ND. Dry grip is pretty good, comparable to the Michelin PS5 I am using on my other car. Wet grip is not bad, but there is room for improvement. It's easy to control the car. My overall experience is very good. Wear is really good on this light roadster. Will buy them again.

Helpful 2 - tire reviewed on October 5, 2024

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Given 74% while driving a Mercedes Benz 2018 C220d AMG (225/45 R17) on mostly motorways for 5,000 easy going miles

I bought FK520 tires because I had FK510 before them. I have 225/40/19 front and 255/35/19 rear.
1. Dry Grip - never been driving agressively but tires hold really hood just like FK510 were.
2. Wet Grip - just as good as FK510, no issues and real good performance.
3. Road Feedback and Comfort - you can quite feel road below and I have issues with vibrations in highways above 100 km/h. On FK510 never had this issues. This is the most annoying part that they are not comfortable and would definately not recommend them for someone driving on highways a lot.
4. Wear - did not see any drastic wear after 5000 kilometers, which is good. I think wear is much better in FK520 because I had issues with uneven wear on FK510.
5. Buy Again - from performance point of view yes, but since I like to drive smooth and comfortable, I would not buy them again. When I change tires to winter Hankooks on same wheels, I have no vibrations anymore.

Helpful 0 - tire reviewed on September 26, 2024

Given 83% while driving a Mazda MX5 (215/45 R17) on a combination of roads for 20,000 spirited miles

I replaced the Pirelli P-Zeros that came on my car with these after I had the rear end step out at very low speed on a wet roundabout with the Pirellis.

Straight away I felt more confident in wet conditions. The MX-5 being a light, rear wheel drive car, I don't go too crazy when there's standing water but I was at least comfortable to drive in bad conditions compared to the old Pirellis.

In the dry my feelings were similar. I could throw the car into corners without so much as a squeak from the tires. Everything feels very assured.

I primarily daily drive the car but I took it to a track day and they held up remarkably well. The car would bite down into corners and you could feel a natural drop off in grip as you nearest the limit. At that point the tires had already done about 18,000 miles and after the partly melted tread had come unstuck, it seems that they have a lot more life left to give!

Helpful 0 - tire reviewed on September 23, 2024

Given 60% while driving a Volkswagen Golf 7 GTD (225/40 R18) on mostly town for 3,000 average miles

I drive them on a Golf 6 GTD, 170ps, automatic. Not the most powerful car, but I get a lot of wheel spin when accelerating a bit more aggressive. Temperature around here is between 30 and 39 degrees Celsius (hot). Tires are brand new with a fresh dot (several months from production). Breaking is normal, I did not feel the ABS till now. Wet performance I did not test, cause of the dry summer. Cornering also normal. Otherwise the tires don't make noise and are comfortable. If I have to buy now, I would probably search for a softer tire, with more traction on dry hot asphalt.

Helpful 0 - tire reviewed on September 3, 2024

Given 70% while driving a Honda Accord EX i VTEC (225/45 R18) on a combination of roads for 2,500 spirited miles

Bought these after seeing good initial reviews to replace my worn pair of Hankook Ventus 4s and driven on them for about 2500 miles since.
The grip is good in both dry and wet, decent ride comfort and noise but the handling characteristic leaves quite a lot to be desired. The sidewall is very soft, during hard cornering there's little feedback and you can feel the tire trying to roll over itself before finally settling which makes for a rather unpleasant experience when driving in a spirited manner. Overinflating them to 38psi does help the handling a little but they're still a far cry from the Hankooks handling wise.

All in all it's a well gripping touring tire with good ride quality and noise but it definitely isn't designed for hard driving.

Helpful 3 - tire reviewed on July 22, 2024

Given 87% while driving a BMW 1 series (245/45 R18) on a combination of roads for 2,000 average miles

Very happy with these tires. The previous one which were fitted to my car were Goodyear Assymetric 6 which performed well but wore quickly and started cracking after only a few months. Initially these were slightly down on grip in the wet but now they have a few miles on them they perform just as well and appear to be wearing much better. Couple that with the much cheaper purchase price and you have a great tire which I will buy again. Things like comfort, handling are all good, they are a relatively stiff sidewall tire which translate to a sharp turn in, but this appears to have not affected comfort in a noticeable way.

Helpful 15 - tire reviewed on May 22, 2024

Given 84% while driving a BMW 440i Gran Coupe M Sport (255/30 R20) on mostly country roads for 4,000 spirited miles

I had to change the tires from Pirelli Pzero and i choose to take the Falken FK520 instead of the PS4, because there is a huge price difference (1000€) in Austria. And i was not disappointed .. the tires are really performing.. its crazy .. never expected that..

Helpful 21 - tire reviewed on May 20, 2024

Given 59% while driving a Toyota Celica VVTLi (215/45 R17) on a combination of roads for 9,000 miles

I've put on a lot of miles on these, done the nc500 twice, the dry grip is better then average, the wet grip i was actually impressed with it as you can launch of without wheelspin but the reason i wouldn't buy these again is they are absolutely rubbish when you hit even the smallest amount of surface water. I nearly spun out twice within few minutues on a flat straight, speed limit was 70 and yet i was doing 50mph. The rain was the heaviest and surface had a lot of water. But the car behind same as mine with same setup but had toyo proxes actually didn't aquaplane at all which is shocking as they usually get bad reviews for wet. By the way Both cars were 192 hp celicas

Helpful 59 - tire reviewed on October 25, 2023

Given 76% while driving a Volkswagen Tiguan (235/55 R17) on mostly country roads for 2,500 average miles

I chose the Azenis FK520 for my Tiguan because Falken advertised it as a high performance SUV tire. Having driven it for aprox 2500 miles so far I can say it is a good tire for dry an wet conditions. Never lost the grip so far. However I have to addmit it is not very comfortable, as you would expect in a SUV. The sidewall of the tire is very stiff, so it gives good feedback, but it also transfers every small bump right into your seat. I had to lower the tire pressure to 1.9bar/27psi, to get a somewhat decent ride. If the tire is inflated to 2.2bar/32psi, you can definitely feel a radial wobble and vibrations at higher speeds. Did not expect this from Falken. I would not recommend it for SUVs, maybe it works good on sportier cars.

Helpful 59 - tire reviewed on October 6, 2023

Given 97% while driving a Toyota CHR Hybrid (225/50 R18) on mostly town for 3,000 average miles

Had them fitted for the past 7 months and they're bloody amazing. Was kind of reluctant to put on a "performance" tire on a hybrid daily driver but I don't regret the decision at all. Traction control barely kicks in anymore, the braking and the grip while cornering is amazing and they don't seem to have worn at all almost.

Helpful 56 - tire reviewed on October 5, 2023

Given 93% while driving a Lexus ISF (245/40 R19) on a combination of roads for 30 spirited miles

These are cheaper than the ps4s and after my front PS4S had worn I decided to change. I had Falken fk510's before which I loved on my previous car (Type R) so when Falken introduces the new FK520's I knew I had to buy these. Without any air in them they already have stiffer sidewalls. The turn in and steering responsiveness is way better than the PS4S you feel it straight away ! It is a harder compound tire so u do need to warm them up slowly but overall it is an improvement !