Across 25 owner ratings the Firestone Firehawk SZ90 averages 67%. Owners rate Dry Grip highest at 7.6 out of 10 and Comfort lowest at 6. 12 of those reviews come from owners past 10,000 miles. 45% of owners score it 70% or better.
Run flat version. Very harsh. Good wear rate and dry grip but found slippery in the wet and despite many attempts at balancing struggled to get them them to settle, they just seemed skittish and unpredictable Replaced early.
I've always bought Continental Sport Contact, but this time I decided to try out these Firestone Firehawk SZ90's.
I searched a lot online to try and find a comparison review between the Contis and the Firestones and unfortunately came up with nothing, but decided to take the plunge anyway.
I'm VERY impressed with these tyres. Continental Sport Contact always finish high up in tyre tests and I have to say the Firestone's are every bit as good even with my spirited driving style.
Both dry and wet grip is progressive and strong and I can feel absolutely NO deficit to the Continental tyre. I see there is a review below that states the wet grip is poor, but either that reviewer is a complete maniac on the road, or there is something seriously wrong with their vehicle.
I highly recommend these tyres and as an added bonus they were £20 per tyre cheaper than the ContiSports. I can't comment on wear yet, but they are excellent in every other department.
Which tyres do you drive?
Researching the Firestone Firehawk SZ90? Rate the tyres you actually drive - and help the next buyer choose.
Had them on the front of a Fiat Grande Punto T-Jet sport. Dry grip is good and progressive. Wet grip isn't great but progressive in the corners.
Traction control kicked when starting at the traffic lights in the wet.
Wear and noise levels are good.
I wouldn't buy these again as there are better tyres in the same pricerange.
Reading the reviews I'm must admit the Firestones are not a tyre I would chose for the TT. Normally I stick with Dunlops Sport Maxx RT's or Goodyear Eff Grips.
But on a recent trip to Scotland after suffering a blow out I ended up at a local tyre depot, who unfortunately couldn't get the Dunlop replacement for a couple of days. In desperation I fitted the only two tyres he had in stock in my size and these were the Firestone Firehawk SZ90's. I replaced two tyres because the other Dunlop was approaching 3mm of trad left.
The surprise is I find these Firestones quite good. They don't suffer in the wet ie aquaplaning, dry grip is good and they are wearing well. I cover motorways, dual carriageways and a lot of cross country routes and when conditions permit quite spiritedly so they come in for all sorts of use. I tend to replace my tyres every 11-15 weeks depending on make and at present these Firestones are holding up well. The best bit is the cost £68 each all in as against £94 eack all in for the Dunlops.
I appreciate that the Mini Cooper S driver didn't rate them at all, but then having driven a Cooper S quite aggressively they can be tyre dependent.
drive a mini cooper s and these tyres are sh*t. Especially in the wet i will be cursing at 56 on the a2 with roughly 5mm of tread on each tyre and the aquaplaning is shocking!! Horrible tyres! I would recommend the old maxxis i had i cant wait until they wear out so i can buy some maxxis ma-z1's or even better some Yokohama s drive
never had a set of firestoner up till last novmber i got told not to buy them as they would not last long as i drive hard. but they have out lasted the dunlop i had wot lasted 6000 miles.
First, I want to remark that my drive is not on the sporty side, but I go careful, and fast only in strong confidence with traffic and road conditions.
These tyres were excellent (again, for MY driving), in wet & dry, stable on braking and well progressive. Just a bit noisier than comfortable on not smooth surfaces. After 10000km they still looked quite brand new.
Now, after 35000km, they are more worn out than my last Pirelli that lasted for 60000km! Probably their softness is their advantage and issue at the same time, so I am not going to buy again the same because I don't like changing tyres every 2 years when I am not a runner!
I bought a Ford Focus 1.8 Ghia with a full set of these tyres on. I was told they had about 10,000 miles on them, which i found hard to believe as they still looked brand new.
I have now driven a further 6,000 "spirited" miles on these tyres since i bought the car, mainly on a selection of my favourite country roads as well as a little town and motorway use going to work and back, and i have to say they are proving the most hard wearing tyres i have ever come accross. They simply refuse to wear down, and its not from a lack of trying.
They dont have very good dry or wet grip, but are perfectly fine for every day driving, not in any way dangerous. Its only when you start increasing the cornering speeds on a fantastic bit of country road that you realise the total lack of ultimate grip.
They are incredibly progressive though, i think largely down to the lack of ultimate grip, which makes them a much more entertaining tyre to have on your car than you would expect, its a bit of a challange making quick progress without overwhelming the tyres.
There is hardly any need to change your driving speed and style any more than you normaly would for wet roads because the grip is poor in the dry there is very little difference when the road gets wet.
These tyres deal with standing water very well, possibly due to how narrow they are on my car, but good all the same.
They make a lot of road noise at motorway speeds and cause a little vibration when making swift progress down the motorway (no more than 70mph + 10% obviously)and you do feel everything thats happening on the road.
In summary i would not reccomend these tyres to anyone looking for a sporty tyre who is after high levels of grip, or has a car with a substantial ammount of power. They are in no way exceptional (appart for how hard wearing they are) but just a cheap tyre that does what it says on the tin, and i imagine fine for the vast majority of people.
I enjoy my driving and intend to swap them very soon for a set of sporty summer tyres of some description, but i just thought it would be interesting to see what these were like and get a bit more wear out of them before i did. It turns out their not as laughably awful as i had feared.
