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Last updated 7/15/2024 - Originally published 7/15/2024
Written by SimpleTire
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There’s a reason why all season tires are the most popular category of tires on the market, year in and year out. For most drivers of sedans, coupes, minivans, crossovers, and SUVs, all-season tires make the most sense and are a great go-to solution. All-season tires are a versatile and capable kind of option for year-round driving; they deliver consistent traction in everything but heavy snow, competent handling, a quiet and controlled ride, sharp response and great manners, and a generous treadwear warranty.
When it comes to premium all-season touring tires for crossovers and SUVs, the market is fairly flooded with great options, and it’s even better when you can get a set of all-season tires that deliver the kind of handling, cornering ability, and braking that you might expect from a summer or ultra-high-performance (UHP) tire. Today we’re going to look at the Pirelli P Zero Nero All Season and Falken Azenis FK460 A/S. These are tires that have similarities and contrasts as well as their own unique sets of strengths and weaknesses, and we’ll get a closer look at those in this head-to-head comparison.
In the course of this product comparison, you’ll see us refer several times to SimpleScore numbers – if you’re not familiar with that, SimpleScore is the ranking system that the SimpleTire team developed for tires. We look at reviews and other data points to arrive at a numerical value of 1-10 for the categories of traction, longevity, and handling for each tire, as well as an overall average SimpleScore for each. It’s a quick and handy way to get an at-a-glance idea of a tire’s capability and performance in those respects.
For the Pirelli and the Falken, the SimpleScore numbers look like this:
As you can see, the Falken and the Pirelli both have pretty respectable SimpleScore numbers, but SimpleScore is a 30,000 foot view that doesn’t get you all the details. To get a better idea of what the strengths and weaknesses are with the Pirelli P Zero Nero All Season and Falken Azenis FK460 A/S, let's get a closer look with this comparison review.
As you might expect with a tire from Pirelli, the P Zero Nero All Season is designed for crisp handling and steering response, along with dependable traction year-round, and a controlled quiet ride. The P Zero Nero All Season is designed with a silica-rich tread formulation that boosts wet-weather traction as well as providing long, even wear, and lower rolling resistance for improved fuel efficiency.
The P Zero Nero gets excellent traction on wet or dry pavement, with a system of angled, lateral, and circumferential grooves to evacuate water from the tire’s contact patch and resist hydroplaning. Reinforced sidewalls and shoulders with a solid center rib all help to improve steering response and handling, and the Pirelli’s dense pattern of sipes multiplies the tread’s surface area and traction with hundreds of biting edges that slice through snow and slush. Pirelli covers the P Zero Nero with a 45,000 mile limited manufacturer’s tread life warranty. SimpleTire’s price on the Pirelli P Zero Nero starts at $205.67 per tire.
Here at SimpleTire, our team has been impressed with almost everything in the Falken line for some time now, and the Azenis FK460 A/S is no exception. The Falken Azenis FK460 A/S is a tire that gives you peace of mind and has a consistent grip in all kinds of weather with its advanced 4D nano tread compound. While the performance and traction of most tires decrease as tread depth wears down, the innovative Emerging Grooves system of the Azenis FK460 A/S is designed so the grooves open up and expand for extended performance.
The Canyon Groove design and circumferential grooves with chamfered edges deliver tenacious performance in wet or wintry conditions, working as a system to provide the grip you need. SimpleScore for traction: 8.6. Falken covers the Azenis FK460 A/S with a 50,000 mile manufacturer’s treadwear warranty (Thanks in part to the wear-resistant properties of that 4D Nano tread compound), rating a SimpleScore of 9.1 for longevity. Steering response, cornering, road manners, and braking performance are all direct and accurate with this tire, for a SimpleScore of 8.8 for handling.
We should also mention that the Azenis FK460 A/S is refined and quiet on the highway, with acoustically tuned grooves to cancel certain frequencies and cut wind noise, keeping road noise to a minimum. SimpeTire’s price on the Falken Azenis FK460 A/S starts at $140 per tire.
How do the Pirelli and the Falken look when it comes to traction? Well, with a SimpleScore of 9.6 for the Pirelli and 8.6 for the Falken, this one’s not even close. The Falken has an impressive set of tread features and some innovative design details, but the combination of 3D sipes, silica-enhanced tread compound, and a network of grooves makes all the difference with the Pirelli. That means not just improved traction in wet or wintry weather, but shorter braking distances and more confident cornering ability. Hands down, our decision:
ADVANTAGE: Pirelli P Zero Nero All Season
You’d expect a tire from the Pirelli brand family to have very capable handling, and you’d be right: the P Zero Nero comes in with a SimpleScore of 9.4, vs 8.7 for the Azenis Fk460 A/S. The same tread features that give the Pirelli such strong scores for traction contribute to cornering ability and steering response that are light and decisive. The Falken does deliver handling that’s predictable and safe, but the Pirelli’s cornering, steering response, and emergency maneuverability are more on the lines of what you’d expect from a summer or UHP tire. Our decision:
ADVANTAGE: Pirelli P Zero Nero All Season
When it comes to longevity for these two tires, we’re just going to let the SimpleScore numbers and the limited manufacturer’s tread life warranty coverage tell the whole story. The Falken weighs in with a SimpleScore of 9.0 for longevity, vs 8.2 for the Pirelli – and the Falken has 50,000 miles worth of coverage vs 45,000 miles for the Pirelli. It’s not often that we see a choice that’s as clear-cut as this, with the warranty info to back it up. Our decision:
ADVANTAGE: Falken Azenis FK460 A/S
The question to ask yourself here is, what do you really need out of a tire for a sedan, minivan, or crossover? If you’re looking for year-round grip, a refined and quiet ride, handling that’s direct and consistent, and long tread life, all-season tires like the Pirelli P Zero Nero All Season and Falken Azenis FK460 A/S would both be great options for you. Where they don’t excel, however, is in deeper snow and slush – neither tire has the M+S rating for mud/snow traction or the Three Peak Mountain Snowflake rating for severe winter service (to be fair, the bar is set fairly high for the 3PMSF rating), and most all-season tires don’t do well in those conditions. But if your expectations are more along the lines of what a premium all-season tire can deliver (along with UHP-style handling and steering response), you’d be doing fine with either of these.
When we’re talking about the Pirelli P Zero Nero All Season and Falken Azenis FK460 A/S, there’s quite a difference between these two tires when it comes to performance and SimpleScores. Across the board (with the exception of longevity), the Pirelli comes out on top in SimpleScore ratings, by a large margin. Better handling, better steering response, more consistent traction, shorter braking distances – they’re all strong points with the Pirelli.
But then there’s the pricing, with the Pirelli coming in with a starting price of $205.67 per tire vs $140 per tire for the Falken. That’s not exactly a narrow spread in pricing, with the Pirelli costing about 40% more, and that would definitely add up fast for a whole set of tires along with taxes, mounting/balancing, and disposal fees.
So which way do our recommendations go here? As strong as the performance is from the Pirelli, the Falken also represents solid value and comes to the table with respectable SimpleScores. In an instance like this, we have to say let your budget be the deciding factor. If you can afford the Pirelli, go with that tire, but if you’re on a budget or have an older vehicle and you don’t want to invest $1000 in a set of tires, the Falken will serve you well.
Still not sure which tire to buy? Fortunately, SimpleTire is here to help as our helpful agents are more than happy to assist you in selecting the right tire for your ride and budget.
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