Thanks Jerry, its possible that the Falkens I got with the car have been heatcycled which could have led to the low grip.
My newbie opinion is that this car really needs a staggered setup width wise because the back end would run out of grip well before the fronts complained. The lack of balance between front and rear was probably the bigger issue for me than the lack of grip. Do most people run wider rears or even all around?