I Owe Dunlop an Apology.

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Over the years, here and elsewhere, I have been very, very hard on Dunlop. I was exceedingly unhappy with both sets of Dunlop OEMs I had on my old Civic, and later on, on my wife's Sequoia. And I was not shy about talking about it.

Well, times are tough, and although it's a long story, I recently found a set of barely used Dunlop A/S Sport 7000s that someone had removed from a recent vintage Accord (I think it was an Accord), that are an exact size match for the Camry Hybird.

All I can say now is that these tires are SUPERB. I do run them somewhat overinflated 38-40 on the fronts, 2 less in the rear. Even overblown, they ride much better than my worthless OEM Bridgestones, they are whisper quiet except on pea-gravel pavement (which makes all tires sound off), and they exhibit no signs of undue sidewall flex. I bought them with about 80% meat remaining on the tread for roughly 1/4 what a set of new tires would have cost. One was bad, and I replaced it with a new one from TR. I just could not be happier.

Dunlop, I apologize for my harsh comments in the past. Not all of your products are great (whose are), but these tires are superb. Well done.
 
Thats good to hear. I too have bashed Dunlop. I have dad 2 sets of them on an older Mercedes and they were both the worst tires I have ever owned. I bought two sets because they said the new version improved on the balancing problem I had had with the original set. Well both sets sucked. Maybe a slight improvement on balancing but the wear was terrible. I do know some of them are good but I still would choose other tires over them unless I found as good of a deal as you did. Glad they are working out for you!
 
Dunlop makes some good tires. Had a few sets over the years.

Don't bother running them so hard. +2-3 psi over the sticker spec is all that is needed. I was a ~40psi guy years ago, not now.
 
Likewise, I can't blame Goodyear for the OEM RS-As that came on my Mazda. The lowest bid for a fuel-efficient tire doesn't get you much else.
 
"One was bad"

grin2.gif


That was always my problem with Dunlop tires- at least 3 sets, spaced over 20-something years, first set around 1973. I could never get 4 good ones at the same time! Glad to hear yours are working out well.
 
I have Dunlop RVXTs on the Jeep and Direzza Star Specs on the ti. No complaints- they are excellent tires.
 
i have some dunlops on my camry and am pretty happy with them. OEM tyre too down here.

Next time i may go for michelins.
 
I have always liked DUNLOP tires as I alway had good succuss with them. Most of my experience with them was years ago with tires such a Dunlop GT Qualifiers, and Gold Seal but. My daughters 06 Mazda3i has Dunlop Signature and they're OK only noisy but otherwise, Ahhhh, not bad! The noise that Im complaining about on her car could in fact be the front wheel bearings and I won't know until I change the tires. The noise does change with road texture and I have heard much about the Signature's being a loud tire. They do well in foul weather/snow.
 
Originally Posted By: mrsilv04
Dunlop = Goodyear/ Sumitomo



Fixed it for you. It all depends what part of the world you live in. In NA, Goodyear makes the Dunlop branded tires.
 
Originally Posted By: ekpolk
I recently found a set of barely used Dunlop A/S Sport 7000s that someone had removed from a recent vintage Accord (I think it was an Accord), that are an exact size match for the Camry Hybird.


I don't doubt you that they were from an Accord, but I do believe that these tires, and in your size, were the OEM tire on the 2005-2010 base model Avalon, at least for some of those model years.
 
Originally Posted By: Stuart Hughes
"One was bad"

grin2.gif


That was always my problem with Dunlop tires- at least 3 sets, spaced over 20-something years, first set around 1973. I could never get 4 good ones at the same time! Glad to hear yours are working out well.


My great apologies to everyone. I should have been much, much clearer on this "one was bad" thing. The one that was bad had a small tear in the sidewall (I KNOW it was a curb strike...). The used tire seller had missed it, and was profusely apologetic. He offered to take them all back, but I didn't want to mess with it. He gave me a pro-rated credit (1/4 of price) and I just sucked it up and a single new one from TR.

Anyway, to clarify, a torn sidewall is certainly not Dunlop's fault.
 
Originally Posted By: Papa Bear
My new '90 Civic came with Dunlop tires, they were horrible for ride and traction.....

Dunlop owes me an apology !!


No argument with you on that. As much as I like the set I have now, the OEM Dunlops on MY Civic were simply awful. So were those on our Sequoia. But again, current set is outstanding.

It's pretty clear to me that virtually ALL tire makers are willing and able to crank out mass volumes of OEM trash (even Michelin). My point was that I now realize that I was perhaps too critical in singling out Dunlop for guilt on this -- they all do it (wish that they'd all just say NO).
 
Originally Posted By: ekpolk
......It's pretty clear to me that virtually ALL tire makers are willing and able to crank out mass volumes of OEM trash (even Michelin). My point was that I now realize that I was perhaps too critical in singling out Dunlop for guilt on this -- they all do it (wish that they'd all just say NO).


I hope you realize that the problem isn't with the tire manufacturers - It's with the vehicle manufacturers!

I go into this in greater detail here:

http://www.barrystiretech.com/oetires.html

Bottomline: The vehicle manufacturer sets the specs and someone is going to supply tires to that spec. There are a number of good reasons for tire manufacturers to do business with the vehicle manufacturers - inspite of the negative PR that results.

If you want better tires on new cars, you need to complain to the vehicle manufacturers.
 
I agree with Capri. My BMW came with Dunlop SP Sport 01 DSST RunOnFlat tires and I've been quite happy / suprised with the ride quality, traction and noise. At the same time I've driven many a new car that had to hit a price point and the tires, regardless of brand have been noisy and lousy.
 
Originally Posted By: CapriRacer
Originally Posted By: ekpolk
......It's pretty clear to me that virtually ALL tire makers are willing and able to crank out mass volumes of OEM trash (even Michelin). My point was that I now realize that I was perhaps too critical in singling out Dunlop for guilt on this -- they all do it (wish that they'd all just say NO).


I hope you realize that the problem isn't with the tire manufacturers - It's with the vehicle manufacturers!

I think he does. That's why he wrote willing. They're willing to make what the client (vehicle mfg) asks them to make.
 
My personal experience with Dunlop has been a mixed bag. Dad's Nissan Primera came with SP200 as OEM and these tires were actually pretty good. They wore out fast, but they gripped quite well. This was in Europe though where there is no push towards achieving the highest possible fuel economy figures by sacrificing everything else.

Then there was a set o Dunlop Winter Sport M2s on the family V40. They worked out well, too.

Then there was a set of SP Sport Maxx on my 530i. They had a nasty tendency to flatspot within just a few hours. Granted, it was a temporary situation (they'd become round again once warmed up), but annoying nonetheless. Dunlop refused to take them back, claiming it's not a problem, it's a feature. My current Bridgestone RE960s sometimes flatspot as well, but it's nowhere near as bad as with the Maxx.
 
Originally Posted By: crinkles
i have some dunlops on my camry and am pretty happy with them. OEM tyre too down here.

Next time i may go for michelins.


I take my compliment to dunlop back. they don't like stopping too well with my camry.
 
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