We are in the market for a cheap replacement tire from OEM. The car doesn't get that many miles a year so we are looking for budget high performance summer tire. I've heard good things about these tires and was wondering if anyone had these on their 3X8.
Hmmm.....high perfomance.......Ferrari......budget tire..... Which of the items above does not 'belong"???? j/k Normally I have had good luck with Dunlops, what is the Speed Rating??? The OEMs are "V" rated and it is hard to get them in the 205/70 V14s
I don't have these on a 3x8 but I do have them on both my Subaru WRX and Porsche 944. I think these tires are the best all-around deal going for summer tires. They are very sticky and have predictable breakaway. The sidewalls are stiff for excellent steering response in the 16" size. On the practical front, they aren't too noisy, have acceptable wet performance, and are priced very inexpensively. You 95%+ the performance of the mega-buck tires at half-price or less. Mileage wise, with rotation I get about 20,000miles out of them on the Subaru.
Yokohama offers the right size, in one speed rating down....."H", IIRC... Looking, it gets good reviews as a "summer only" application, trading tread life for grip, it has a very low tread life number.....go for it and tell us how it works!!!! I'm on Goodyear FULDAS, myself.....
While I don't have the Dunlop Direzza Z1 Star Spec, I can say that I had them on a Porsche (I have the Dunlop SP Sport 8000 on my 308's 16-in Speedlines). I didn't drive like tomorrow wasn't coming, but liked the look and stickiness of those tires.
Those dunlops are $750 installed for a set of four from tirerack. Local tire dealer will give me the Bridgestone RE-11's for $1000 all-in. Think I am going to go for the RE-11's.
I have them on my car, about 1000 miles so far. That includes rain/wet pavement, sudden puddles at speed, 850 miles on the highway and a couple fun runs. FWIW I've been autocrossing and racing for about 15 years and have tried all manner of street and track tires in all kinds of conditions. So far I am very impressed with these tires. Quiet and smooth with excellent grip that comes up quickly - very little warmup time needed. I have not pushed them to breakaway yet but that's coming. Hitting a *large* pool of water at 45mph, big enough that water blew up and covered the entire car and blinded me for a sec, didn't cause so much as a bobble. Just tracked straight through with zero loss of control. Highway driving was a cakewalk - bumps, transitions, grooves, nothing caused any wandering, fingertip control at all times, and the car simply tracked straight. Some reviews said there was a little road noise but quite frankly I can't hear a thing, windows up or down. I like them a lot, much better than the Bridgestones on the 928 and so far better than most of the performance tires I've run.
When I bought my 308 it had half worn Goodyear Eagles. I asked Gary Bobileff if I should stay with them. His recommendation was; "put Dunlops on it - they will transform the car" I'm no tire expert but I pretty much go with any of Gary's opinions on Ferraris. I recently had them replaced again (with Dunlops) Just north of $400 from Tire Rack and $90.00 for Symbolic Motors to mount and balance them
I have the Dunlops on my GT4 and I LOVE them! VERY nice, sticky tire. I'd buy them all over again if I had to. JIM
I am looking forward to the dunlop star specs. should be in any day now. $240 each for the rears, 255/35/18. chris
Thanks everyone for the good info. Having some trouble with my DD so I will get to ordering them as soon as that passes. Hopefully my local discount tire can get them with as little headaches as possible.
One more question for everyone. I have an appointment to put these tires on tomorrow. We store our 328 in a non heated garage over the winter. Does anyone know if they will be fine in storage and has had experience with leaving them on the car over the winter? We live in Indiana and it dips below freezing a few times during the winter.
I've had them on my S4 since about November, and love 'em. Not good in snow/ice (even with AWD), but I learned to avoid most drivers in the dry and wet, never mind the snow, so I try to stay in. Nevertheless......HAD to drive to my parents' during our holiday snow storm, and they were better than the SO2s and Conti SC2s (OE tire), and infinitely better than the BFG KDW-2s through the white stuff (and quieter in the warm months, too) You'll be fine; just consider what you're rolling on when you hit the fluffy stuff.
