Vredestein Ultrac Vorti Plus vs Falken Azenis FK510: Vorti Plus is a max performance summer tire that allows confident grip and steering in all kinds of conditions in summer weather. While FK510 is an ultra-high performance summer tire that is made for drivers who want medium dry and wet traction in summer weather along with respectable durability and mileage.
Vorti Plus has a higher void ratio with optimized shoulders for good dry handling whereas the FK520 has a lower void ratio with improved grip and efficient sipes for remarkable wet traction. In this article, find how will the FK510 perform against the Vorti Plus despite belonging to a lower-tier summer tire category?
Examine the treads on these tires closely. They hold the key to knowing which to choose. In fact if you visit my "tread design" page, picking the right tire would never bother you.
Table of Contents
Comparing Vredestein Ultrac Vorti Plus with Falken Azenis FK510
Vs
The Vorti Plus has an asymmetrical five-pitch tread design with three wide and one narrowest circumferential groove, dividing the tread into five columns. The lateral grooves are available on its shoulders, defining shoulder blocks with no sipes present on them. There are two ribs and one tread blocks column where the tread blocks column is sandwiched by the two ribs. The inboard shoulder differs from the outboard as the lateral grooves on the inboard shoulder cut through the fourth narrowest circumferential groove and reaches almost to the end of the inboard intermediate rib. However, in the outboard shoulder, the lateral grooves don’t cut through the first circumferential groove and end before reaching the boundary. Its outboard intermediate rib has alternating sipes entering from both directions reaching to the center. Its central tread blocks column is created by the sipes which are deeper on the outboard end while shallow on the inboard end. An additional deep vertical sipe is also added at an angle that cuts through several blocks of the central column.
FK510 also has an asymmetrical five-pitch tread design having three wide and one narrowest circumferential groove. This tire has three tread blocks columns and no rib present. Its shoulders have lateral grooves with deep sipes as well. Its outboard shoulder’s lateral grooves don’t reach up to the end whereas the lateral grooves on the inboard shoulder cross the fourth narrowest circumferential groove and extend on to the mid of inboard intermediate tread blocks column. The blocks of intermediate tread blocks column are separated by thin sipes which also cut through the fourth narrowest groove to reach the inboard shoulder. On the other hand, its outboard intermediate tread blocks column is formed by variable depth sipes. This tire has switch back siping available with deeper depth on the central tread blocks column.
Grip Comparison
Vorti Plus has two ribs extending the grip of this tire, making its dry braking distance lower. This results in a reduced dry braking distance of 120.7 feet but it is still higher than its peer, due to its lower contact patch comparatively. Similarly, the lower contact patch and inefficient sipes cause this tire to stop from 50 to 0 mph in 65.6 seconds on the wet roads, which is also higher than the other tire.
FK510 despite having no ribs secures a decent grip on the road, thanks to its higher contact patch. This decreases the dry braking distance up to 113.8 feet. Whereas on wet roads, its higher contact patch and efficient siping allow the vehicle to stop from 50 to 0 mph in 65.17 seconds. Since this tire excels in both dry and wet conditions, so it is safe to say that it is the better tire in terms of gripping.
Handling Comparison
Vorti Plus has a slightly higher length of its shoulder blocks hence it is better at steering in dry conditions. The higher block length allows greater grip and results in a dry handling time of 95.5 seconds. Unfortunately, this tire doesn’t have sipes on its shoulders, therefore, can’t reciprocate the results in wet handling competition. Its wet handling lap time is 65.6 seconds, which is a bit higher than its counterpart.
FK510 has a relatively lower length of its shoulder blocks, causing the tire to lose the dry handling competition. We calculated its dry handling time to be 95.9 seconds, somewhat greater than its competitor. On the other hand, the deep sipes engraved on the shoulder blocks of this tire allow a wet handling time of 65.17 seconds which is slightly lower than its counterpart, making this tire superior in comparison, in terms of wet handling.
Comparison of Hydroplaning resistance
Vorti Plus even with the higher void ratio losses in the hydroplaning resistance competition due to its shallow lateral grooves and inefficient sipes which don’t effectively pass the water through its tread and result in a lower float speed of 46.6 mph.
FK510 on the other hand, despite having a slightly lower void ratio excels in hydroplaning resistance due to its deeper lateral grooves and efficient switch back siping design, resulting in a higher float speed of 47 mph. Hence this tire is favored in extreme wet conditions as it can effectively wipe away the water and allow comparatively greater float speed on flooded roads.
Comparison of rolling Resistance
The contact patch of Vorti Plus is lower, causing lesser friction between the tread and the road. Therefore, a lesser amount of force is required to overcome the friction and to move this tire. This not only results in a lower rolling resistance but also a higher fuel efficiency as less amount of fuel is wasted in overcoming the friction.
FK510 has a higher contact patch, increasing the friction, thus the rolling resistance as well. Since a lot of fuel will be wasted on rolling the tire by countering the friction, hence a higher fuel efficiency can not be expected from this tire.
Which tire is more comfortable?
Vorti Plus is a noisier tire due to its wider grooves trapping a higher number of air particles which strikes with the walls of these grooves to produce loud noise. Its subjective comfort is also lower due to the lower performance of this tire but it allows a smoother experience on uneven roads since its wider grooves can easily dampen the impact of shocks, therefore, increasing the comfort of this tire in such conditions
FK510 is quieter in comparison with its peer since its narrow grooves don’t provide much volume for the air particles to get trapped and strike with their walls. Hence lesser noise is produced and also the subjective comfort of this tire is higher as it performs better. The problem arises on bumpy roads as its narrow grooves are not as effective in dampening the shocks like that of Vorti Plus. This results in a relatively uncomfortable tire in such conditions.
Durability and Treadwear Differences
Vorti Plus has softer rubber used in its tread which decreases the ability of this tire to resist treadwear. Even though its rolling resistance is lower yet it has lower mileages because its tread is not durable enough.
FK510 has a little harder rubber compound used in its tread which increases its treadwear resistance but on the other hand, its higher contact patch produces higher rolling resistance which causes greater wearing. The higher durability of this tire allows it to resist the treadwear caused by its rolling resistance and provides marginally higher mileage in comparison with its counterpart.
Price Differences
Vorti Plus being a max performance tire is highly-priced than FK510 which belongs to the category of an ultra high performance tire. FK510 provides better performance in all fields except for dry handling. Therefore, it is the better-suited tire among both.
Quick Summary
Both tires were compared under the same size of 225/40 R18, where tire depth of Vorti Plus is 10/32” and Falken’s tire is 9.5/32”.
- Vorti Plus is max performance summer tire while the FK510 is an ultra-high-performance summer tire.
- Both the dry and wet gripping capabilities of FK510 are higher.
- Vorti Plus steers well on dry whereas FK510 steers well on wet roads.
- Hydroplaning resistance of FK10 is higher than other tire.
- The rolling resistance of Vorti Plus is lower and it’s also highly fuel-efficient.
- The durability and mileage of FK510 is also higher.
- FK510 is a cheaper tire despite performing better.
