Tires Falken or Maxxis

Ridden both for XC racing and I have come to prefer the specialized tires over maxxis. I personally like to run ground control T5 upfront with fast track t5 in the rear as my base for my local trails and most race courses ( mid Atlantic area US) . If the course is hard pack and not super technical I’ll run fast track upfront with fast track or renegade in the rear. My I also found to get I got pinch flats more often on maxxis or side wall cuts through rock gardens. This is completely a personal preference but I’ve also felt more in control of the bike with specialized tires I mentioned

I have also ridden both. Like pretty much everyone else here said, it’s a matter of personal preference. I had a lot of problems with the 120 TPI Maxxis XC tires where I live because we have a lot of sharp rocks. I have been using the 60 TPI rekon race tires for the last couple of months and they have been great.

I ride a Maxxis Aspen up front and a Specialized Renegade in the back. Both are very fast rolling and I like the Aspen better than the Specialized Fast Track up front.

In my experience I have had way less flat tires switching from specialized to maxxis tires. Fast trak and ground controls were super unreliable for me. I’ve used maxxis rekon, ardent, ikon, and aspens. Will never go back to spec tires.

For me, Falken/Sumitomo has been the perfect balance between value and performance

My Falken tires are extremely affordable and they grip better than my Pirellis in every real-world situation that I’ve needed the grip.

Just put on 265/65/18 SL wildpeak at4w on an otherwise stock 2012 GX and can confirm that they will fit with no rubbing. Compared to the Michelin latitudes that were on before, the feel on the road is noticeably better, i.e. more plush but also more planted... if that makes sense. Road noise is minimal difference in my mind but I have a skybox on top so maybe I'm just used to it. Being in pnw, wet traction is a must and these should do the trick.

Have a set on Mustang Gt for over a year. Absolutely no issues whatsoever. Quiet, decent in the rain, better grip than the Falkens it replaced.

Been driving on the new Falkens for a while now. They’re good but they’re definitely more noisy than the Michelins. Can hear more road noise than I’ve heard in the last 1.5 years.

My Wildpeak experience was a horror story! 15 different trips to Discount Tire for balancing/rebalancing & rotations. I would take videos on the exact same stretch of road, at the exact same speed with a view of the steering wheel, speedometer & road to keep consistency.