People's opinion of Dunlop SP Sport A2 Tire

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I have been to tire rack and all reports are confusing.

Questions:

Rid Comfort?

Performance Cornering?

Braking?

NOISE????

Thanks, I often recommend this tire and most of my reading has been limited to Dunlop literature.

I do like the the fact they are AA/A DOT Traction/Temperature rated
smile.gif
 
I used to have Dunlop SP Sport A2 tires, and I replaced them with the BF Goodrich Traction T/A tires that came out a few months ago.

I'm hoping the BF Goodrich tires will last longer than the Dunlops did. They're much quieter and braking, cornering, and ride comfort are about the same.

Plus I can get the BF Goodrich tires at Costco. Can't get the Dunlops there.
 
Consumer Reports had rated them their best buy a few years ago and I had inherited some on the used car I bought, so I bought 4 new 4 years and 60K ago as replacements. Still may have another 10 - 15K to go. Noise was okay at first, but has gotten progressively worse in the last couple of years. Actually, I was blissfully unaware until my fiance bought a pair of NTB brand Z for her car. I was stunned to realize her same model car was quieter than mine on the freeway solely due to tire noise. Still, they grip in the rain like a son of a gun and stop very well. Snow performance has been so so, but that is more because of my car IMO. Cornering and ride comfort over bumps actually has been quite good too.

If you are okay with cranking the radio up a bit more than usual, you may want to give them a try. I may try something else next time - I want to try something with a quieter reputation. I am having a tough time finding anything close to it in price and performance, though.
 
The SP Sport A2s i had wore out very quickly. VERY Quickly. I've found that i get more miles out of an actual summer tire.

Performance cornering will kill them quickly, i found that in one autocross i lost about 5000 miles worth of tread. And they really aren't that great while you're doing it.

They SUCK in the snow at anything that isin't 100% full-tread depth.

All in all I was dissapointed by mine. Your mileage may vary.
 
I have had the A2s before, and they wore out quickly too (about 35k).

I have Bridgestone RE950 on right now (205/55/16), a very good tire.

If I were to get new [all season] tires, it would be between the Bridgestone RE950 or the BFGoodrich Traction T/A H or V speed rated. The RE950 and Traction T/A were neck and neck in Tireracks' tire tests, for both H and V rated speeds.
 
I've had multiple sets of Dunlop D60's (the predecessor of the A2) and Bridgestone RE950's. I feel the RE950's had comparable performance (maybe slightly less grip) than the D60's but had a smoother, quieter ride.

On treadwear, I'd say 30-40k miles is about right for this class of tire. I've got right at 30k on a set of RE950's (195-65-15) and they'll need to be replaced pretty soon. With the more worn ones now rotated to the back, I might get another 5k miles out of 'em but that's about it. To consistently get 40k+ from a tire, I'd expect you'd need to move to a less performance oriented tire (sacrifice performance for longevity).

My current RE950's have gotten noisier and stiffer as they approach the end of their life which is normal in my experience with any tire. As such, it's not fair to compare a worn set of one brand with a new set of another brand and
draw any meaningful comparison.

Matt
 
This is a low cost performance tire. It cant be expected to do all things well. Low noise, snow traction and long wear are not top priorities in a performance tire.

According tire salesmen at Sears and Goodyear (now also part of Sumitomo Rubber, like Dunlop), quality has slipped a bit in recent years with Dunlop.

I went with Yokohama AVS Db S2s to replace the OEM Pirelli P600s on the BMW, based on Tirerack ratings. They are too new for me to have an opinion yet.
 
At 60k I replace my OEM Yokohama (POS that have only 180 trendwear rating) with the Dunlop SPA2. They were quiet at first but now getting noiser and noiser. Grip is good in rain and dry. Now at 130k I am wearing down to about the same as the OEM Yokohama I replaced.

If you are planning to keep your car for a short time they are very very good, otherwise I would chose something quieter and last longer, like Bridgestone Potezna RE950.
 
I hated my RE950s. Dangerous tire. Zero snow traction, poor wet traction. Ok for a long-wearing performance tire. I like the 20 or so SP A2s I have used. Spooky quiet and smooth. Our Quantum Syncro could climb our sledding hill in 1 foot of snow with them. SP5000s have more sidewall performance, but overall similar tires. Falken Ziex 512 is what I buy now in smaller tires, ContiExtremes in larger ones. To the RE950 owners, try the Conti's next.

[ June 21, 2004, 11:33 PM: Message edited by: Audi Junkie ]
 
every set of dunlops i've had, motorcycle or car, have started out great and quickly gone to **** .

the new set on my bike is supposed to be good and since it's a cruiser i won't wear them out like my sport bikes.

as far as car tires, i'm now using the contiextremes and am extremely impressed with grip and ride quality. snow traction is excellent. gas mileage has dropped a bit though.
 
I don't know about this particular Dunlop tire, but I have been impressed with the Dunlop's on my truck, especially considering their cost. Dunlop Radial Rover AT's, about 35-50% of the cost of most other Brand name AT's. I figured at the price I got them at, it was worth it to replace them, even 15-20K miles sooner than some of the other more expensive tires I was looking at. I admit I am dissappointed to hear the quality control issue mentioned above, as based on my experience I would buy Dunlops again.
 
I use the A2s as my winter tire on a '93 accord:
The soft sidewalls are the downfall to these tires. Turning responce is therefore somewhat sloppy if taking a hard turn. A bump midturn during hard cornering can really make for a "fun" time. Good thing these tires have good grip on the road to get the car back on corse fairly quickly. Ride comfort is very very nice on these tires, it feels the same with me doing 80 as it does doing 30. very nice highway tires! I havent had any noise problems with mine yet (cant hear the tires at all doing 80 with the radio on softly and windows up). They seem to be holding up very nicely treadwise. Dry traction is very good. wet traction is pretty good. I really didnt have too much driving time in the snow to say much, however the time that i did have was enough to say they can be used in the snow, you just have to drive very carefully (like everyone else should be doing in bad wether). overall Ill give them a 7 out of ten.
 
Neonmike - that's interesting. 4-5 years ago, a lot of the Neon guys swore by the D60A2 (the SP Sport A2's predecessor).

I used a set of D60A2's on my '98 R/T for a winter (rain) tire. No autocrosses on them: just commuting in the SF Bay Area. For that purpose, it was a good tire, especially considering the closeout price of $36 a piece at tirerack
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mr
 
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