A new top tire?

[StarPD]

While perusing Tire Rack's pages, I came across a new tire that shows great promise. It's the Dunlop "Direzza Sport Z1 Star Spec ", and it seems to beat out the PS2 and RE050A "Pole Position". One great point is that is costs $189 vs $225 for the RE050A "Pole Position" in my size, 245/45 Z 18, and $277 for PS2.

My current RE050A "Pole Positions" only have a 140 tread wear rating, but so far I have around 18,000 miles on them and they still have 5/32" tread left. The Direzzas have a 200 tread wear rating, so I think they might give pretty good tread life. I do note that the Dunlops have a lower load rating than the Bridgestones, 96W vs 100W.

Anyone have them yet, or any comments on Dunlop's overall quality and performance characteristics throughout their life? Some tires are great when new, but after being worn, lose their superior handling/ride benefits. Some suffer quality and consistency problems, especially as they wear.I'm considering getting a set of these when my RE050A "Pole Positions" wear out, which may not be for a while considering the good wear I've gotten so far.

The "Direzza Sport Z1 Star Spec" can be checked out on Tire Rack's pages and compared to other Max performance summer tires in its class there.One of my concerns is that they test these tires on light cars, BMW 3 Series, which are a lot lighter than Q45s. Not sure how their testing results might apply on a heavier car like the Q.

Comments?

[maxnix]

After severe cupping on the Direzza DZ101 after only 10K miles, I will never run Dunlops again. Even the Dunlops Infiniti tried as standard fitment in 1994 were subject to a factory recall.

Best tire on tire rack the last time I looked were the Pirelli P Zero barely edging the PS2. Too bad they don't test them with 10K on them.
Modified by maxnix at 4:52 PM 8/2/2008