Dry grip and dry handling are the clearest shared positives for the Dunlop SP Sport Maxx. Tread life is mixed, with longer-term accounts ranging from early replacement to substantial mileage, although wear complaints outnumber praise overall. Around a quarter of owners criticise noise, while a smaller but sizeable group finds it quiet. Wet-grip opinion is almost evenly divided, so neither strong wet confidence nor poor wet grip is a consistent verdict. Most reviews do not identify life stage, and repeat reviewers move in both directions, giving no clear shared ageing trend. Comfort is also mixed, with criticism somewhat more common than praise.
What owners mention most counted across 142 reviews
After having shocking Pirelli pzeero rossos i went for some sport maxx for my saab and what an improvement.
Pzero ?185 Dunlop ?120 so on the cost side the dunlop look good to start Pirelli 8k Dunlop 12k so mile for mile the dunlop come out better to.
The tires gripped the road well in the dry and wt performance was good. they wore a bit more in the middle due to overinflation so i reckon i would have got 15k out of them. with 275bhp through the front wheels they did well. I would have put these on again but finances ment 2 Enduro 916+ at 132 fited or 2 dunlops at 260 fitted the cheapos won. Enduros have covered 6k and have about 4-5 mm tread left Admitidly they are not as good as the dunlops but both the enduro and dunlops are far better than the Pirelli pzero and pzero rosso's
I got 14,000 kms out of these tires, grip was exceptional in wet and dry. Wear on shoulders shocking...
Noise of coarse roads almost unbearable...
Check out how the BEST all seasons tires perform against premium summer and winter tires!
93%
Member
Mercedes Benz
255/40 R18 W
13,000 miles
A Combination of Roads
Spirited
It's the best Dunlop tire I've used. SP9000 and SP01 are rubbish. Maxx is a big improvement, henc e being the flagship tire. I buy Dunlop because they are reasonably priced for a premium brand. Credit crunch time.
Better than Michelin PS2 in the wet. But not as good in the dry. Still top quality tho. I've done emergency stops with Dunlop Maxx and the wheels did not lock up a bit, really really impressed and saved me an accident. Unfortunately got a speeding ticket because the noise from the tires encourage me to drive fast. Wear ok. Overall, a tire which gives you confidence. Next time I might go for GY F1 Asymetric it is's cheaper. I would only go for these 2 brands becuase of their quality/price combination. I've seen the Maxx very popular on the Audi Q7s, BMW X5s and 5 series, mostly on german motors. I've also seen them on the Jag XK ( i think)...don't really know Jaguars too well...but aparently the maxx help to make the Jag feel good...
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This tire was came top in straight line aquaplaining in the Evo tire test and it's the single reason I bought this tire. Aquaplaning is one of the single biggest reasons for accidents on the motorway and it's not a nice situaion to be in. Dunlop overall didn't do too well but let's face it, all premium brand high performance tires perform well enough and much of the scoring is subjective. Aquaplaning for me is most important in a tire test. Apart from Goodyear F1 Asymmetric, there is no better tires. Maxx has the best rim protection too.
Very good tire for a high performance grand tourer like my CL. Given that it's a very heavy car, these tires are very good and provide superb grip in both dry and wet. I prefer these then Michelin PS2 as these Dunlops seem to be firmer with the side wall.
I had to replace my front tires after getting a serious puncture from a pot hole. Had to call a mobile fitter and they only had the Dunlop Sport Maxx in stock for my size. I originally had the Continental Sport Contact 2, which I rate highly except for its unacceptable wear.
Had driven the Dunlop for a while and I have noticed it is outrageously noisy on motorway! I have to turn up the radio to get rid of the road noise. I've had the Dunlop SP01 before for my previous car (a bmw 5), which was very good for wear but had rubbish grip. This time, I feel that the Maxx are very good in the dry but the wear is rubbish. In the wet, it's not as good as the Conti Sport Contact 2.
To summarise, Maxx is a good tire especially in the dry but very noisy. If you have the money, get Michelin Pilot Sport. But in times of recession, a Dunlop will do.
This is by far the worst tire I've ever had on any car I've ever owned. It manages to turn my Golf GTi into a 1.0 Nova with no power steering. The grip is poor in the dry, frequently wheelspinning on a flat clean dry road going straight ahead but in the wet it's just downright dangerous. I find myself dreading corners or when there's bends on a motorway flyover. I'll be the plonker on the inside lane doing 50 looking nervous. It aquaplanes at the merest idea of a puddle let alone standing water. The road noise is deafening and one of the rear tires has inexplicably developed an egg in it this week which delivers an interesting thunking noise should you get bored of the usual drone. The only thing I could say about this tire is it never seems to wear out, but let's be honest, when it's this bad it'll end up in a skip or on the car at the scrappy after a crash before it'll wear out.
Very grippy on wet and dry road.
Good rim protection against road curb damage.
Moderately comfortable.
Unable to compare with other tires because still using original tires.
May replace them with Bridgestone adrenalin RE001.
Had new tires fitted all round,fronts show little wear after 8,000 miles but rears down to legal limit,wouldnt buy such a bad wearing tire again! Performance fine but too expensive to run.
DO NOT BUY Dunlop tires! My car came with them already fitted and the front offside tire developed a defect after about 10000 miles in the form of an egg in the sidewall. As my car is a quattro I had to replace two tires at a cost of almost ?600, but expected to get a refund once Dunlop had confirmed the defect. Instead they insisted that there was no manufacturing defect, and refused to refund me the cost as they said I had either gone down a pothole or kerbed the wheel. I was interested to know how I would kerb an offside wheel! Apart from the fact that it was an offside wheel I don't make a habit of driving at speed into kerbs with wheels which would cost a small fortune to replace. I also told them that I hadn't been down any potholes with that particular wheel, although the nearside front has been down some enormous potholes without any damage.
I am still in dispute with them, but I've lost total confidence in their products, and certainly won't be replacing any of my currernt tires with Dunlops.
Apart from the above they are also quite noisy, sometimes the only thing I can hear, apart from the stereo, is the tire roar.
Very good driving tires - stick like the proverbial poo to a blanket - and very good in the wet as well. Not sure if it will be common problem for me with any tire, but the front wheel drive diesel vRS has serious problems with wheel spin at take off and I have chewed these tires out in only 16,000 miles (26,000ks) which is disappointing really. Every company car I had previously got at least 40,000ks out of a set! The other major problem with these tires is the road noise - lucky for me I listen to the stereo REALLY loud which drowns out the drone!! Hard ride, you can really feel the grip, great for very windy roads (even when pushing real hard) and really made the vRS Octavia FLY in tight sections (typical of New Zealand roads).
