Looking at getting a set of these for my street car, good or bad?

 

Dave, what kind of car? What are you looking for the tires to do; handle, ride, longevity?

 

Just my daily EG beater, with the blown and turbo'd and fogged D16.

 

good... great for the price

 

They arent bad for the price... They have a very soft sidewall and dont have a very good tred life.

 

The Dunlop Direzza DZ101 are good "budget performance summer tires", similar (in both price and performance) to the Yokohama AVS ES100, Kumho Ecsta SPT, Avon Tech M500, etc. All of the best tires in this segment (and these are indeed the best ones) offer a very reasonable price, along with pretty good dry traction, excellent wet traction, and excellent tread life with treadwear ratings in the 280-340 range (I don't know why Tim said otherwise, unless he prefers crappy all-seasons that last longer, or he's thinking of some other tire). They're great for daily driving, and good enough for a novice to take them out in an autocross or track event. However, their performance on dry pavement is not as good (not even close) as specialty tires like the supersticky Azenis RT-615 (which wears faster) or the best summer tires like the Goodyear F1 GS-D3, Michelin Pilot Sport PS2, Bridgestone S-03, etc (which cost more).

Of the tires in this segment, the Kumho SPT is usually priced a bit less than the others and its performance is a bit better, so that's usually my top recommendation for daily driving. However, through June 24, there is a $50 rebate on a set of four of the DZ101, so that makes them an equally good choice. Go for it!

These are all summer tires, and they will all suck in snow and frigid cold.

 

I have them on my daily driver. They're not bad. I'd say grip is about the same as the es100 which I've also used. Enough grip to have fun on the street and they wear like steel so far. I mainly got them becuase edgeracing had them for I think $43 a tire in 205/50/15. I would have liked to get the Kumho SPT's, but they were a little bit more.

 

I'm pretty pleased with my set, I purchased them last fall for $56 at tirerack.com, + I purchased the road hazard warrenty for $26 or something. They actually grip fairly well for autocross...but the sidewalls are definitly spongy. I actually manage really good times with them. They barely show any signs of wear after four autocross events and 3-4 months of daily driving, (had them off the car over the winter). These are great tires for daily driving.

Here are a couple runs from Sunday's third Solo event of the year.

Enjoy

Fun Run 1

Fun Run 2

 

i too have autox on my dz101.. they arent bad

 

From gabebauman vid (btw, thanks!)

They sound like they love to howl during turns. Is this true for everyone?

 

Yeah...they definatley scream if you push them hard...haha.

 

ya they are kinda loud... but they take a little while to warm up then get sticky.. at least from my experience


Modified by vietnameeh at 7:43 PM 5/28/2006

 

yeah im rockin them dave. i like them ,GREAT tread life so far, and very nice grip. the sidewalls are a bit soft but you get used to that feeling

 

I know this thread is old, but just switched from the Hankook R-S2 Z212's to the Dunlop DZ-101. Initial impression is the Hankooks are sorely missed. Grip is good, not too much off the Hankooks for daily driving. Where I and my brother are concerned is the soft sidewall feel... "the sidewalls are a bit soft" is an understatement! Too much of an elastic slingshot feel in rapid side-side transitions. First thing I did was rapidly move the steering wheel side to side (but not big wheel movements, small wheel movements) to see tire response and what it did was induce a yawing oscillation of the sidewall and car body while the tire treads tracked straight (this was at 35psi, aired them up to 40psi all around and not much change at all).. Funky handling trait. This handling trait makes cornering interesting though given the proper steering response (which needs to be input with slower initiation of turning the wheel [to set the sidewall] followed by a quickening of the steering input) and throttle input (once you set the sidewall go full throttle quickly.... ). That one aspect of the tire can put a smile on my face and is followed by a little giggle. But the quick transional feel is just plain weird! The 70 profile 14" BFG TA's on my Tacomas stock steel wheels are more responsive in transitions than these 205/50-15 DZ101's! They are nowhere close to the responsiveness of the Yokohama ES-100's or any other tire I have had... Makes it easier to steer the car at low speeds though with no power steering and 320mm steering wheel.

I'm thinking we should have went with the Kumho SPTs... Reason we went with the DZ101's over the SPT's was the $50 rebate offer. My brother says he can't wait to wear these tires out and go back to the Hankook R-S2 Z212's... I agree. If it weren't for the excessive sidewall deflection these would be excellent tires.

Grip Very nice grip level!
Responsiveness Funky sidewall response... needs more sidewall stiffness to match the tire compound grip level.
Price good price but for $20 a tire more could have gone with the Hankook's again...

 

hankooks are on a diff level than the dunlops though the hankooks have tons more grip

 

Great tire for a DD.

I ran them in 2 auto-xs, and about 8k miles DD. Looks like they still have 80% of tread left. They dont squeal much, except at the upper part of the limit, which I dont like.

They do get sticker once they get worn in, and when warmed up.

I got a great deal, 4 tires installed for $240, 205-50-15!

 

they are ohkay...

i have them on the b20 ek hatch right now

they are really loud in the turns....not squeely loud just loud when you push a corner.

so far good life out of them considering how i drive.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Vracer111 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">good price but for $20 a tire more could have gone with the Hankook's again...</TD></TR></TABLE>

Keep in mind that the Dunlops will probably last about twice as long as the Hankooks (typically 30-40K miles vs 15-20K). So it's not really "only $20 a tire difference"; you need to compare the price of two sets of the 'kook Z212 against one set of the DZ101.

 

They suck. Bought them new and sent them back within a week. Ride was decent, but the sidewalls are way too soft. Car moves around too much under cornering and braking. I traded them for a set of Kuhmo SPTs. They should last about the same length of time.

 

SPT have them on my S2000 for DD. not nearly as stiff sidewall as my stock S02's, but i like it softer for the street anyway. S02's i save for the track.


i hope the new S.Drive that yokohama is replacing the sorely disappointing ES100 with is more inline with the AVS Intermediates of yore.

 

Yeah I like them, And the are a little softer than my old 712s and SP8000s. SO the ride with 700 and 800 springs isn't as bad as it could be. Plus as I now have DOT-Rs I don't need as stiff a sidewall and gummy street tire.

I really gets expensive to replace tires every year, because they wear out.

 

i believe dunlop just released its new direzza z1 tire... i hear they are suppose to be pretty dayum good

 

Our Miata has Kumho 711s and the P5 has Kumho SPTs. I really like the SPTs, and you really can't beat them for the price. We had low end Dunlop performance tires on both cars before and neither my wife nor I liked them much.

 

I have them on my DD...like other have said, he sidewalls feel spongy to me, lots of movement in quick corners and under hard braking, but it's a good tire for the street. I'd take it to a drive-to-it auto-x without a problem, but I wouldn't use it for anything serious.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by vietnameeh &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i believe dunlop just released its new direzza z1 tire... i hear they are suppose to be pretty dayum good</TD></TR></TABLE>

That's a different tire from the DZ101. The Tire Rack put them in their "extreme performance summer tire" category, where they classify tires optimized for dry performance, generally not that great in rain and fast wearing (e.g. Yokohama Advan Neova AD07, BFG g-Force T/A KD, Bridgestone Potenza RE-01R, etc). I'm sure if Tire Rack sold Falkens, they would put the Azenis RT-615 in that category.