Dunlop Sportmaxx Tyres

[DOTE]

Hi all, Have just been reading the huge thread about the various new tyre options, and noticed that the Dunlop Sportmaxx tyres are acknowledged to be pants.  Interesting, as I have 4 of these bad boys on my GTI and I can't say I'm particularly impressed with how quickly they give up grip, especially away from the line, but this could of course be down to lack of driver talent and a heavy right foot so I'd be interested in others opinion on them.  It seems like the F1 Asymmetrics and the more expensive PS2's are universally applauded, my question is under normal spirited road driving would the average driver notice the difference between the Dunlops and the superior Asymmetrics or PS2s?  Anybody made the change and care to comment?  The reason for the question is I've owned the car from 9000 miles, and its now done 13000 and, despite my best efforts, the tyres appear to have LOADS of tread left, hence I'm wondering if its worth the expense of replacing them early; if there's not much difference then I'll leave it, if changing the tyres makes a huge difference then I might as well do it now as these Dunlops appear indestructable and capable of lasting forever (or maybe I need to try harder...)

ATB

[R32UK]

I had the dunlops on mine from new and like you said they do seem indestructable! However I did notice excessive wearing on one side of the tyre. From what I can remember I wasnt the only one with that problem.

I found them quite decent in the wet, but as soon as the front 2 looked to be going I switch the the eagle F1's and noticed the difference sraight away. Bearing in mind that the F1's seem to take about a 1000miles to bed in.... they are excellent once they are!!

No point throwing away money and getting your current ones changed.... but once they are ready to go the F1's or PS2's are two of the best and the difference between them and the sportmaxx is night and day

[Saint Steve]

Always have Dunlop sportmax's on 2 of my 3 Mk5's , other having bridgestones which were sh!te!.

Ive bought dunlops for the simple reason, they are not always as bad as some people make them out to be, the are fit for purpose, ok may suffer a touch of road noise, but dont wear out as fast as others which is good considering the type of car it is. Never had uneven tread issues as some people are saying, and recent tests put Dunlops 4th overall in performance testing,and seem imo the best to get bargain price's on them. (in my experiance anyway)
You either buy better softer more expensive rubber for some extra grip/quieter on the road, on the down side they also tend to wear out faster.
F1 Asymmetrics seem to get the most praise, but if you do change make of rubber insure you change as an axel pair and but the new boots to the rear first.

If your an out and out racer/track day or find those dunlops too noisey then yes change brand, but if you tend to use the car in a sort of normal mode, i find them fine.

[ub7rm]

I had the sportmaxx and in all fairness they are not terrible tyres.  My main complaint with them is that I had to replace them slightly prematurely as the insides wore away to nothing when there was still 3-4mm across the rest of the tyre.  This wasn't an illegal tyre, but the effect on traction was quite noticeable.

If you want a good, cheap tyre I would strongly recommend Falken FK452.  I paid £101 a corner fitted and tbh I think i could have got this cheaper by buying online.  The cornering grip wet and dry is simply phenomenal after coming from the sportmaxx.

In addition there was a droning / bearing sort of noise from the sportmaxx's which has now gone 

Can't comment on the wear of the falkens as I've not had them that long.

All considered Id say the dunlops were more averagemaxx than shytemaxx as I may have previously called em.

[R32UK]

Just to give you some idea I paid £112 fitted for the goodyear eagle F1 assyms. Not alot in it cost wise imo

[DOTE]

Interesting posts guys, thanks for the info.  Its tough to know whether to change tyres without trying them out (which is of course impossible!), would be a tough break to change all the tyres for around the £500 mark and then not be able to tell any difference!    Mind you I have wasted loads of money on cars and it's all been massively enjoyable, if not sensible.  I just wonder if these Dunlops will ever wear out, I mean I didn't own the car for the first 9000 miles and maybe its done a lot of motorway miles, I certainly do my fair share of motorway driving now, but the rears look almost perfect, and the fronts are even with tons of wear remaining!  Road noise is an interesting point, not having anything to compare with I've never noticed it before - but now its been mentioned on here of course it was the 1st thing I noticed when I went out in the car earlier!!   

[illyun]

The Dunlops I have had on my cars have all without exception been shyte and ruined the experience... and I have tried many others.  Not for nothing have they earned the alias 'Shyte Max' by many disgruntled owners.

[DOTE]

illyun, don't sit on the fence mate! 

So, seriously, in my position would you bin 4 part worn Dunlops (that seem to have infinite life!) for 4 F1s, or PS2s or whatever tyre floats your boat and you're telling me that the next time I drive down a fine A road I'll notice the improvement in handling, grip etc etc.  Because if thats the case I'll happily do it, what I don't want to do is spend the cash to find that, in reality, as a normal driver I can't actually tell any difference between the Dunlops and anything else.

ATB

[Hurdy]

I reckon most drivers would notice the difference between tyres.

It was suprising to me just how much extra grip I had when I changed from Conti's to Ultrac's .....and Conti's are generally considered good tyres.

I've recently swapped to 19" alloys from lightweight 18" alloy and straight away I could feel the difference. I have slightly more mechanical grip, but at the expense of feel (which is strange as I thought I'd get more feel with less rubber depth!).

[Cass]

Got these from new on my GTI and after doing only 15k in 2 1/2 years I guess I'm keeping them until they wear out. 18" rims and after about 500 miles they became very noisy, but I ain't heavy on my tyres (never have been) and they do the job, so I ain't throwing away good tread for the sake of more grip and (probably) more wear

Cass