I had them stock on my .:R32. I easily got 25K miles out of the first set, but could easily have gotten 30K had I not bubbled one and blown out another in on of the 3 winters I have had the car. At 25K I got 2 more tires and the noise is about similar, so they didn't get too loud after 2 years. They actually are a lot quieter than the new Contiprocontact tires on the new TDI, designed to be low rolling resistance and quiet.
I just got 4 Sumitomo HTR Z III's and they were super cheap, 300 treadwear rating, pretty sweet tread pattern, and reinforced sidewall, all for $107 a piece from TireRack, pretty reasonable. There's almost no road noise and they grip pretty well, I just hope they last!
I have them (Dunlops) on my MINI (215/45/17) as my summer road set. They've seen some auto-x (6 events) over the past year and a couple of track days (4-6 hours total). They've held up quite well. Great feel when breaking away from traction, handle heat well and for the type of tire they are, wear quite well. I've had them for ~10,000km.
These are not the tires for you if you are at all concerned about economy. I got 13,000 out of mine last time plus two HPDEs. That last time being the last time I daily-drove those tires too.
my 195/55/15 direzza's lasted last summer. approximately 7k, with over 40 autox runs, and 4 hot laps at a local track. they were about 50% remaining tread. keep in mind they were on a miata.
My experience is that they balance just fine but yes, they do have a thin (2 ply nylon?) sidewall, which is why I inflate them to 51 PSI as per manufacturer's spec and they do great! This is a diesel Jetta so the fastest I've driven them at a constant speed was about 80mph from central Connecticut to midcoast Maine. I also drove the Jetta from Maine to Seattle 2 summers ago with over a thousand pounds of "stuff" in and on the car. They behaved just fine and did excellent in the horrible rainstorms I encountered in Illinois.
Had them on the Jetta for 2 years now. Great summer tire for general use. Don't expect it to handle sporty or go anywhere in the snow. But they do have a very low rolling resistance and will reward you with better mileage.
Last year it was Dunlop Wintersport M3s, which were ok, but not as good as the Semperits
Having had bad experiences w/ a few different sets of Dunlop tires (most recently the craptastic SP Sport 5000s on my Genesis which are 90% worn with only approx. 10k miles on them since I run snow tires in the winter), I have to say I'm not a fan of their tires generally speaking.
The OEM A/S Dunlop has a 92 sidewall rating; it certainly isn't "soft." it is, unfortunately, just a weak tire design/build in this case I've lost 3 already as well and currently running a 4th with a bubble... they suck
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