Dunlop Direzza DZ102 UHP summer tire UTQG 460!!!

[tommygunn]

That is freakishly high for an ultra high performance summer tire! That 460 rating rivals all-season tires and is ahead of even grand touring summer tires and miles ahead of other performance summer tires! In fact, it matches Dunlop's own SP Sport Signature high-performance all-season tire for treadwear (460 for H/V, 420 for W/Y), although the SP Sig is an older design. The DZ102 is made in Thailand (boo), as opposed to the US where many of their all-season tires are made, or Germany and Japan where many of their summer tires are made.

Question is, are they any good in terms of performance, dry and wet traction? Just how much handling and grip did they have to sacrifice to expect such a long life (for a summer tire)? I suppose it must be good enough for the Tire Rack to classify it as UHP summer as opposed to just high performance, or grand touring.

 

[Rand]

there are all sort shenanigans with treadlife rating.
I'd wait till a major site reviews them or they get a few years o them.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: Rand
there are all sort shenanigans with treadlife rating.
I'd wait till a major site reviews them or they get a few years o them.

+1

These UTQG treadlife ratings aren't very accurate. I wouldn't hold my breath.

Now, if a tire comes with a 75K mile treadlife warranty, that's more useful. DZ102 does not come with any kind of treadlife warranty, so that right there should tell you something.

Then again, most people specifically shopping for UHP summer tires know what they're doing, and long treadlife isn't really high on their list of requirements.

 

[Cujet]

I think there is very little real world info and certainly few reviews on the DZ102. The DZ101 (note the 102 is based on the 101, with minor changes, from what I hear) was a sub-par tire as far as the S2000 group goes.

I never thought they were all that great. In fact, I believe it was supposed to be Dunlop's competition for the cheap, imported tire market.

 

[Rand]

my kumho 4x are a UHP all season and have high treadlife..

they are plenty of performance for my 9" ground clearance forester...

I wouldnt class them as a "TRUE UHP" though.. I think that only reflects W-Speed rating.

I've driven some H rated tires that were much stickier.

 

[gathermewool]

UHP must be a bit of an exaggeration then...

 

[JHZR2]

My Dunlop sp sport 01 run flats have 2/32 wear in 10k miles. That means that to get to 2/32 limit, I should get 40k miles.

That tire is rated at 280 for tread wear.

So a 460 tire should be a 60k mile tire or so. I see that as very doable.

 

[heynow]

What are the specifications for an "Ultra High Performance" tire?

Or does the mfg just classify their tires however they feel like?

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
My Dunlop sp sport 01 run flats have 2/32 wear in 10k miles. That means that to get to 2/32 limit, I should get 40k miles.

That tire is rated at 280 for tread wear.

So a 460 tire should be a 60k mile tire or so. I see that as very doable.

A lot of it depends on the application, too. I had a set of Dunlop SP Maxx a while back. They had a 280 treadwear index. I barely got 20K miles out of them.

 

[Rand]

Originally Posted By: heynow
What are the specifications for an "Ultra High Performance" tire?

Or does the mfg just classify their tires however they feel like?


usually the speed rating plays a large part how they are classified..

hence the kumho 4x being UHP all season
from the W speed rating

 

[Samilcar]

I just bought 4 of these for our third car (1993 Geo Storm - 205/50/R15) and will report back once they have a few miles on them. Major selling points were that they were cheap for a UHP tire ($67 each delivered to my door after rebate) and they are supposed to have improved wet traction over their DZ101 predecessor, which was regarded as a major weakness in that tire.

 

[tommygunn]

Originally Posted By: heynow
What are the specifications for an "Ultra High Performance" tire?

Or does the mfg just classify their tires however they feel like?


The Tire Rack provided this classification, not the manufacturer.

Yeah I know that treadwear ratings aren't the most accurate thing to go by, but I thought at least they'd be of some value for comparing tires *within* the same brand, like the example I gave in the OP: both the DZ102 and the SP Sport Signature are rated 460. Even though I seriously doubt my SP Sigs will actually last the 60k warranty period (remember only H&V rated get this warranty; the W&Y do not), and there's no way in he|| the Direzzas will, either. The summer tire is available in V and W speed ratings.

@Samilcar, I can't wait to hear your experience. Good luck with them!

@Rand, how many miles on your 4X's?

 

[y_p_w]

Originally Posted By: Rand
there are all sort shenanigans with treadlife rating.
I'd wait till a major site reviews them or they get a few years o them.

Tell me about it.

The notorious OEM Bridgestone Potenza RE92 comes with a 160 treadwear rating in most sizes. And a lot of people who were looking for them to just wear out (because they hated them) found out that they lasted a long, long time. I remember a set of Pirelli P6000 tires with a 180 treadwear rating lasted about 30K miles on my '95 GS-R.

That the treadwear rating almost never changes with tire size says a lot. It's pretty obvious that the tire companies don't re-test every tire size or for different applications. It's a guess, and one that probably isn't accurate over the years when comparing tires introduced at different times.

 

[krzyss]

When I asked Capriracer about it he said manufacturer must provide UTQG number that is equal or lower than what they got in testing.
Common sense would indicate that the highest number should be used but marketing people may want to make the tire look more sporty than it is.
My RE92 on Subaru Legacy GT lasted too long time.

Krzys

 

[CapriRacer]

Originally Posted By: krzyss
When I asked Capriracer about it he said manufacturer must provide UTQG number that is equal or lower than what they got in testing.
Common sense would indicate that the highest number should be used but marketing people may want to make the tire look more sporty than it is.
My RE92 on Subaru Legacy GT lasted too long time.

Krzys


I would have put this differently.

Wear is an extremely important marketing tool - and few people are aware that treadwear and traction are in opposition. You can't get both high treadwear ratings and high traction ratings. (and fuel economy is in the mix as well.)

As I explained in the thread on speed ratings, where this usually plays out is in the overall nature of the marketing of a brand. Some manufacturers are conservative and some are .... ah .... let's say "Bold".

Then there is the issue of trying to differentiate between tire lines. Sometimes a line of tires will be under-rated simply because the marketing folks don't want them too close.

 

[Samilcar]

500 miles on these tires so far. Dry traction is more than adequate (about what you would expect of a UHP tire). Wet traction, which is what I was mainly worried about, is acceptably good. Under WOT acceleration on wet pavement, the tires will break loose for what seems like one revolution of the tires, then immediately hook back up and jerk the entire car forward, without having to lift off the gas. This is much better than the all-season tires that were just replaced (Falken Ziex ZE512's) which would break loose under the same conditions and not hook back up until you got completely off the gas.

No drama with hard cornering on dry pavement, the tires will start to slip if pushed hard enough, but loss of traction is gradual and very controllable, with just a slight squeal as the tires are sliding.

The ride is just a little harder than the previous all-seasons, but not greatly so. No noise at all under any conditions, which I hope keeps up as the tires wear. I've had bad luck with previous summer-only tires getting noisy as they wear.

The only real downside that I've noticed so far is that heavily-grooved concrete road surfaces will grab ahold of the tread and create a slight squirmy feeling while driving. All in all, a great value buy for a summer tire.

 

[tommygunn]

Thank you for posting the review of your experience! I hope they last a long time

 

[QX1]

hy
does any body know dunlop direzza dz102 245/40/18 noise level in db?

 

[leeharvey418]

Originally Posted By: KOIT
hy
does any body know dunlop direzza dz102 245/40/18 noise level in db?

It's going to depend as much on the pavement surface and the particular car as anything else.