OEM Dunlop tires quality

[Sorrento]

I am wondering how bad these tires are... my AWD CX7 has better high speed corner handling than my 2013 stock Mazdaspeed 3.

Also the first two gears are impossible to handle at full throttle, can I blame the tires or is it a lost battle?

I am trying my best not to spin the tires so they last longer before changing them, but perhaps I shouldn't... already checking alternatives.

[Andrewbox]

Yes the dunlops are PU.. burn them out and move on to something better.

[tommyboy]

Originally Posted by Andrewbox Yes the dunlops are PU.. burn them out and move on to something better.

i.e. wider

[Mchart]

They are pretty horrible. The only reason the new Focus ST edges out the Speed3 in testing is due to how shit the dunlops are. ST uses Goodyear Asymmetric 2's @ 235 width stock which blow the 225 dunlops away. In fact, it's hard to buy much better tire besides the Super Sports or going the Extreme route with tires like star specs. Even a set of cheap V12's is better then the stock dunfails, so that should tell you a lot.

[nayilsi]

My new speed 3 is at 2600 miles with the Dunlops and i'm already thinking about switching them. Regular highway drive is horrible.

I think mine became out of round within the 1st 1000 miles. So I get a vibration from the steering wheel.

Bridgestone has introduced a new GT tire and I'm thinking of getting those.

[moonrider_99]

My Dunlops made it to 20k miles. Very significant wear on the inside due to MS3 alignment specs. Dunlops were terrible in terms of comfort and traction in the wet but did grip quite well in the dry when enough thread was left.

I upgraded to Goodyear Eagle F1 Assymetric 2 235-40-18. Great everyday tire, lots of grip in straight line and in the rain. I have not gone to an Auto-X with the new tires yet but actually they seem to have a little less grip in hard corners or maybe it's because they let go more progressively at the limit- the dunlops would grip, grip and then just suddenly let go. Overall good tire, well anything is better than the Dunlops lol.

[JgamB]

They are shit tires for what they cost, but they aren't terrible in the grand scheme of grip and wear.

I'm tempted to buy some Michelin SuperSport 235/40/18s and sell the Dunlops w/2k miles on them to recoup a couple hundred bucks. I'll see how well they handle ~300whp and decide then.

[Stingray69]

They suck......................nuf said.

[LumberJack]

Blow fat sack, If I wasn't saving for a built block and just spent money on the gtx3076 setup ha.

They only have 9k miles on them and they have been shit since day 1

[Voltron]

The stock Dunflops are awesome.




For rolling burnouts.

[speeda]

Originally Posted by JgamB They are shit tires for what they cost, but they aren't terrible in the grand scheme of grip and wear. I'm tempted to buy some Michelin SuperSport 235/40/18s and sell the Dunlops w/2k miles on them to recoup a couple hundred bucks. I'll see how well they handle ~300whp and decide then.

I bought the Micheline SuperSport 235/40/18 2 month ago .They handle great and very little tire spin from the OEM Dunlop.They fitted great on my 18x8 45 offset rims.I do highly recommend them they're worth the money .I got the best deal at Discount tire $750.00 installed plus $70 rebate from Micheline.

[Sorrento]

Originally Posted by Mchart They are pretty horrible. The only reason the new Focus ST edges out the Speed3 in testing is due to how shit the dunlops are. ST uses Goodyear Asymmetric 2's @ 235 width stock which blow the 225 dunlops away. In fact, it's hard to buy much better tire besides the Super Sports or going the Extreme route with tires like star specs. Even a set of cheap V12's is better then the stock dunfails, so that should tell you a lot.

My thoughts exactly: I was checking out reviews for these two cars and "they all love the ST's handling"... and using phrases like "specially tuned suspension"...

I immediately started to analyze what they said and something 1/4 mile racer told me back in the 90's came to mind: he said "90% of the stability of a race car, circuit, comes from the work of the tires and not from the suspension like everybody thinks". Then checked the tires and just the different size has a lot to say about the issue.

I haven't tested the Goodyear tires myself but from what people say online the difference is just ridiculous in favor of the ST's Goodyear over the poor MS3 Dunlop. The under steer of the Speed might be a result of how bad the tires behave in comparison.




That being said I returned home from a trip to Mexico City this Sunday, I wasn't in the mood because the day before my team lost over there... so while driving back to my home which is in another city I was driving a little fast, I just wanted to return home as quick as possible.

On a red light an Audi A6, 3.0, got behind me and a poor Jetta GLI on my right. The light turn green and I just launched quick and noticed the noise from the other two cars at full throttle so I did the same.

Thank the inexistent god for TCS!!!! It did a great job and I was able to not only make the Jetta look ridiculous but also beat the A6 as well, and this one was AWD as I just saw it launch and roar incredibly, but as soon as I was in 2nd gear I slowly and steadily passed it.

I think the A6 has a lot more power than the slightly modded Speed 6... maybe I drove really well... lol, doubt it I am still getting used to the feeling.

What I can say is when I change tires and start changing engine parts the current good performance of this car will become quite more.

The A6 and I kept at it for three more lights, the top speed I reached was around 140 km/h and not even loosing caution on my approach to the next red light. On the last one the A6 owner/driver asked me to lower the side window, and when I did he told me this:

"so you think that car is fast?"

I responded, really lol:

"how does it feel when you loose to a little Mazda 3?"

The guy gave me the finger... I drove slowly from then on...



I feel young again he he



/Edit: forgot to mention I am now looking for good replacements, your suggestions are valid and well received. I was checking the Michelin Pilot Sport something something but I read they easily overheat.

I don't require the tires to be good in wet conditions as I am never going to drive the car in such conditions, I have the CX7 for that purpose... I will keep studying the tire candidates. Thanks

[BlackBandit]

Originally Posted by Sorrento My thoughts exactly: I was checking out reviews for these two cars and "they all love the ST's handling"... and using phrases like "specially tuned suspension"... I immediately started to analyze what they said and something 1/4 mile racer told me back in the 90's came to mind: he said "90% of the stability of a race car, circuit, comes from the work of the tires and not from the suspension like everybody thinks". Then checked the tires and just the different size has a lot to say about the issue. I haven't tested the Goodyear tires myself but from what people say online the difference is just ridiculous in favor of the ST's Goodyear over the poor MS3 Dunlop. The under steer of the Speed might be a result of how bad the tires behave in comparison. That being said I returned home from a trip to Mexico City this Sunday, I wasn't in the mood because the day before my team lost over there... so while driving back to my home which is in another city I was driving a little fast, I just wanted to return home as quick as possible. On a red light an Audi A6, 3.0, got behind me and a poor Jetta GLI on my right. The light turn green and I just launched quick and noticed the noise from the other two cars at full throttle so I did the same. Thank the inexistent god for TCS!!!! It did a great job and I was able to not only make the Jetta look ridiculous but also beat the A6 as well, and this one was AWD as I just saw it launch and roar incredibly, but as soon as I was in 2nd gear I slowly and steadily passed it. I think the A6 has a lot more power than the slightly modded Speed 6... maybe I drove really well... lol, doubt it I am still getting used to the feeling. What I can say is when I change tires and start changing engine parts the current good performance of this car will become quite more. The A6 and I kept at it for three more lights, the top speed I reached was around 140 km/h and not even loosing caution on my approach to the next red light. On the last one the A6 owner/driver asked me to lower the side window, and when I did he told me this: "so you think that car is fast?" I responded, really lol: "how does it feel when you loose to a little Mazda 3?" The guy gave me the finger... I drove slowly from then on... I feel young again he he /Edit: forgot to mention I am now looking for good replacements, your suggestions are valid and well received. I was checking the Michelin Pilot Sport something something but I read they easily overheat. I don't require the tires to be good in wet conditions as I am never going to drive the car in such conditions, I have the CX7 for that purpose... I will keep studying the tire candidates. Thanks

One person here who tracked the SSs said they were not tooo bad for overheat. But If you are going to auto-x or circuit go with the Dunlop ZIIs. SSs are probably the best daily driver tho. Quiet, good in the wet, and not bad treadwear for a MaxPerformance tire.

[Sorrento]

The joke is on me!

A few days ago a small storm surprised me on the road with the MS3 and I couldn't help but worry about the tires: if they suck on dry, I am going to die on rainy conditions.

To my surprise the damn things work better on wet than on dry, and I am not talking about average compared to more difficult conditions: the things grip the road better when it's wet than when it's dry. I even tested them on a hard launch and the TCS light turn on even less on wet than on dry.

20,000 miles, 32,000 km... and I haven't reached 25% of that... I might have to dispose of them to get better ones earlier.

Still don't know which ones to go for, but considering what I am using right now almost anything is a world apart.

Also I have read people driving MS3 changing for the Goodyear's the ST have... yet I never read or heard anybody driving the ST go for these Dunlop

[Mchart]

I've had a set of Super Sports, and i'm currently running the Asymmetric 2's.

I actually prefer the Asymmetric 2's because IMO they perform better then the Super Sports in the rain, nor are the super sports more then marginally better in the dry IMO. (They are better, just not by a huge amount)

The deal breaker is that the Asymmetric 2's are decently cheaper then the super sports. So it's an easy choice for me given that i'm in an area where it rains all the time, and frankly even with deals, the Super Sports are fucking expensive. Even with the Asymmetric 2's and Super Sports 300 treadwear rating I blow through either in 12 months.

My top three tire choices for this car are -

Star Specs (For a more track oriented vehicle)
Super Sports
Asymmetric 2's

Had a set of V12's and was unimpressed. Didn't last as long as the Asymmetric 2's, and while cheaper aren't that much cheaper. Nowhere near as good in any condition as well.

I may try a set of Conti DW once my set of Asymmetric 2's runs out but the tire rack tests place the Asymmetric 2's decently above the DW and it's about the same price.

The reality is that both the Super Sports and Asymmetric 2's are only about just over a year old tire technology so it's no secret why they are about the best on the market. DW is newish, but it's what, 3-4 years old now? And the V12 rubber/design is -really- old now.

[crazycrash403]

I personally LOVE the BFG G-Force Sport tires.

The Unlops were..... "ok"..... but that's an insult to the term being ok

Think I got all of 10,000 Miles out of mine before hawking them (wearing rating = fail) and like the others yes VERY significant wear on the insides due to the slightly aggressive stock camber (which is awesome btw)

[nayilsi]

I have great respect for the Dunlops all of a sudden.

I was able to pull a slalom maneuver at 78 mph in order to avoid hitting a rabbit in the middle of I-95.

The grip on dry conditions is pretty darn good.

[hsraffety]

So will 235/40/18 fit on the stock rim? Tires that come with the car are 225/40/18. Just curious.

[aggierandy]

Continental FTW

RapaTapTap

[jeek]

My dunflops went out at ~25k so I picked up some Continential ExtremeContact DWs.

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better.

[Nliiitend1]

@smurugby12;

I think you need to post of few pics of your tires in here, LOL...

[smurugby12]

Certainly

A little back round with these tires. Bought the car new. Brought it to my first track event when the car had 3000 miles on it. Tires have a total of 8 hours of track time on them, and had around 15,000 miles otherwise. I use winter tires in the winter. 90% of the miles on these tires are highway. My tires started chunking pretty bad after my second track event last month, but only on one wheel. After this past weekend's track day, ALL my tires started to look like this and my driver side tires was dangerously bad, as it had wire(s) showing. Now they are gone and shitty all seasons have replaced them since I had to drive back to Minnesota for work Now I have a good excuse to go a dedicated track/tire combo. Granted I beat the shit out of these tires when I pushed them, but that doesn't mean I wish I got my money's worth for these tires.

tl;dr: Pretty disappointed, and it's an expensive lesson to use these tires. I'd recommend buying some better rubber if you intend to track the car at all.

[minger]

Well... what tire is going to look after 8 hours of track time? I'm assuming these are road courses and not autox?

[aggierandy]

@Code Monkey; you got any pictures of your dunflops after one weekend?

RapaTapTap

[Code Monkey]

My Dunlops Direzza DZ101 (235/45R-17) lasted two days in the front at the road course. Well, three days but I should have not used them on the third day. I was running -2.5 camber. I do not think I have any pictures of them chewed up.

[smurugby12]

Originally Posted by minger Well... what tire is going to look after 8 hours of track time? I'm assuming these are road courses and not autox?

That's true but I wish it would of worn a little more evenly before throwing off chunks of sidewall

[Nliiitend1]

@smurugby12;'s pictures simply exhibit what happens when you aggressively beat on a full-tread-depth (or near full-tread-depth) tire without "properly" heat cycling them (especially when the tire isn't constructed with such "abuse" in mind).

Tire Tech Information - Competition Tire Heat Cycling Service

Tire Tech Information - Shaving Tires for Autocross / Track Use / Competition

[Eternal Motion]

I just had mine changed... The inner walls on both front tires were cut to the wire... Went with the Continental Extremecontact DWs in 225/40/18... Starting to think I should've gone with 235... Does anyone know if that size would fit the stock rim size?? I still have a 30 day satisfaction guarantee might switch them out to wider ones.

[Mchart]

235/40 fit without any issue. However, stock wheel width is 7.5''. 8'' is the typical minimum for 235 so going to 235 won't do a whole lot as you won't be gaining much real contact patch without upgrading wheel width.

Also, doesn't matter what tire you are running; They will wear fast if you don't get the toe fixed.

[Nliiitend1]

Wait...Do people really think that their contact patches "grow" when moving to wider tires??

[sidekick]

Originally Posted by Nliiitend1 Wait...Do people really think that their contact patches "grow" when moving to a wider tires??

Please explain how your contact patch does not become larger when moving to wider tires... I'm pretty sure a 335 has a larger contact area that meets the ground than a 225...

[aggierandy]

Originally Posted by Eternal Motion I just had mine changed... The inner walls on both front tires were cut to the wire... Went with the Continental Extremecontact DWs in 225/40/18... Starting to think I should've gone with 235... Does anyone know if that size would fit the stock rim size?? I still have a 30 day satisfaction guarantee might switch them out to wider ones.

You picked the best tires for the money in my opinion. Rotate them often and get an alignment to rid yourself of as much toe as you can. If it is your daily, consider some adjustable arms in the back to lessen the camber.

RapaTapTap

[Nliiitend1]

Originally Posted by sidekick Please explain how your contact patch does not become larger when moving to wider tires... I'm pretty sure a 335 has a larger contact area that meets the ground than a 225...

It becomes wider, but not really larger.

It more or less simply changes shape, all other things (overall amount of support being offered up by the sidewalls, tire air pressure, and vehicle weight) being equal.

Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean that you don't get more grip, especially in certain (lateral loading, for example) situations.

[sidekick]

At the end of the day there is more rubber in contact with the ground with larger tires under almost any circumstance.

[DeadWayt]

Originally Posted by sidekick At the end of the day there is more rubber in contact with the ground with larger tires under almost any circumstance.

What changes the size of the contact patch is tire pressure. Think about a balloon. If you take a small balloon and inflate it about half way, then put it on a table and push down on it with, say, 20lbs of force. The balloon will squish under the weight, deforming quite a bit. A lot of the bottom of the balloon will be in contact with the table.

Now, inflate the balloon completely and apply the same pressure to it. What happens? The extra air in the balloon gives it more resistance to the downward push. The balloon doesn't deform as much. The balloon's "contact patch" on the table will be much smaller. All that changed was the volume air inside. This is a simple illustration of how load rating works.

Now, if you perform the same exact test using a bigger balloon of the same material, assuming you inflate it with the same volumes of air both times, the area of the balloon in contact with the table will be exactly the same. It doesn't matter that the balloons are different sizes. The "contact patch" remains the same if the air volume and weight being applied remain constant.

*However*

The thing is, it's virtually impossible to have an "everything being equal" tire swap unless you're talking about two racing slicks of the same compound that are different widths. Switching to a different compound, sidewall composition, width, tread pattern, tread width, etc. mucks up the formula. On top of that, tires aren't balloons. The materials are different, and not constant in all parts of the tire (sidewalls are constructed differently than the tread area). Even two tires of the same compound can have different constructions if they're different widths, which can seem to defy physics (if you want a good example of this with a bunch of data to back it up, check out this test).

Bottom line: A wider tire won't necessarily have a larger contact patch. It should almost always have a wider one, which is what you want.

[Ace Protege]

Stuffing a wider tire onto a smaller wheel will gain you very very little. If you want an optimal setup you need to get a wheel with the width to match. Also, tire compound plays a lot more as a traction factor than a small bump up in tire width.

[Eternal Motion]

Originally Posted by aggierandy You picked the best tires for the money in my opinion. Rotate them often and get an alignment to rid yourself of as much toe as you can. If it is your daily, consider some adjustable arms in the back to lessen the camber. RapaTapTap

thanks! it is my daily, begging the wife to let me get a shitbox as a DD... we're still in the midst of negotiations.

[Mchart]

Originally Posted by Nliiitend1 Wait...Do people really think that their contact patches "grow" when moving to a wider tires??

Well, as you know it depends.

What if I moved to 9'' wheels but stayed with a 235 tire? At that point moving to a larger tire would definitely help out.

But yeah, with the stock 7.5'' width wheels moving beyond 225 won't do much.

[Nliiitend1]

Wheel width has very little bearing on contact patch size.

Again, your contact patch gets wider, but it also gets shorter...

[nayilsi]

2 of my tires were replaced under warranty today.

Both were out of round.