I love mine - this is my first set.

Great performance on the track for an intermediate DE driver (7 days this summer plus about 4K street miles). Rears will probably get ~6K miles till bald assuming no more track this year - not bad at all for a tire with this much stick. Will see, and report back once I have a final wear tally.

Good price too, paid less than $800 shipped for 225/265 18's. Other than going to a 235 front, not sure I would appreciate a wider rear. Not lacking for rear grip, that's for sure...

M

 

Dredging up this thread to see if anyone can report longer term experience with this tire. Considering these vs. Bridgestone S-04s (I know tirerack has these in a different performance category). How many miles are people getting out of their Dunlops?

TIA

 

Still love mine, on my 3rd set. A lot of guys here run them as well as a good dual purpose DE tire you can safely drive in rain.

I heard there was a new version of the Star Spec to be released. Tread looks even racier.

If I was shopping, I'd look into these.

Best,

Matt

 

Not many miles on mine, but seem like a good sticky street tire, as far as I'm concerned. Did one track day on them, and they performed impressively. They started to degrade a bit when smokin' hot, but they were still impressive. Sorry I don't have more long term data to share.

 

Matt, if you're on your third set, about how many miles are you getting out of the rear tires? Seems like you're doing an AX or DE event now and then too.

Thanks.

 

How do they compare with the Toyo RA/1 on the track?

 

Everyone, look at the Car & Driver test that just came out yesterday for reviews of this tire (so-so) and others also - great review.

 

If you've got a link, can you post it? The only one I've seen is from 2009 and they thought the Star Spec was great:

http://www.caranddriver.com/comparis...r-spec-page-11

 

Not available for free online - you need to go buy the magazine. In the meantime, you wanna know dry performance ratings or ?

 

Direzza finished 8th out of 9. Wet performance was pretty poor. All the other tires in the test were newer design than the SS Dunlops.

Dry: Yokohama AD08 #1, Hankook #2, Ventus R-S3, Michelin SS #3, Dunlop SS #4.

 

Good question, considering I had nail damage in a set of rears and am running 2 sets of wheels.

If I had to estimate, I would say probably 8K miles for rears, and that would include a dozen DE days. Fronts seem to last forever (at least 2 sets of rears).

One of the main benefits (to me) is that they come up to temp fast. Makes a difference with short DE run sessions, esp. when the weather up here does not cooperate.

Best,

Matt

 

That's odd, because all of the reviews and TireRack ratings say their wet performance was very good. Hmmmmmm.

Thanks, I will check out the article.

 

They are good. It's just that time has moved on and new leaders have emerged on the tire scene.
Also recall that Tire Rack and C&D ahve always been cozy, so with regards to prior tests and TR tests - I'd trust this test all the way. It is good stuff, pick up a copy - well done.

 

I have very little interests in TR tests (and even less interest in C&D tests - they should stick to testing Yugos and proclaiming them great cars as they tend to do). The reasoning is pretty simple. Whatever tests TR does seems not to jive with what fast people run in Street classes at Autocross, both regionally and nationally. To me, autocross is as close to a real proving ground for a street tire, as it gets.

So... today there are 4 tires that garner any attention of fast people (and mind you, money is absolutely no object there, so lack of any Michelins, Continentals, BFGs and other high $$ advertisers should tell you all you need to know). The 4 are: Dunlop Direzza StarSpec, Yoko Advan AD-08, Hankook R-S3 and Toyo R1R.

The rule of thumb seems to be that Yokos do everything exceptionally well but cost more, StarSpecs are good but a bit outdated (they used to be pretty much spec street class tire 3-4 seasons ago) and the argument between R-S3s and R1Rs comes down to weather. Hankooks need _a lot_ of heat to work. They also, apparently, need a wider rim. R1Rs (this is what I currently run on my street 993 with occasional autocross) are better for cooler and wetter weather conditions.

Tires do get replaced by newer models and go by wayside - witness Falcon Azenis, despite compound improvements. But it doesn't happen that easily and a newer tire is rarely the best solution. If you are, like me, looking for good street (and occasional autocross) tires today the obvious choices are aforementioned Yokohama AD-08, Hankook or Toyo and StarSpec in that order. Of course each and every one of you is free to spend their money any which way you feel like, including purchasing a Yugo. Or Michelins and Continentals that Tire Rack has been pushing hard for at least the last 10 years. They are always "much better and take care of all the known shortcomings of previous model". Aha. If you really want a decent tire comparison, see Grassroots Motorsports.

PS. Craig, nothing at all against you personally. This has been my long standing belief about C&D and TR.

PPS. Discount Tire and DiscountTireDirect are doing $100 off 4 tires again this weekend. Buy be very careful - this time not all tires are covered.

 

Grab the issue and read it through, it is quite good nonetheless.