Dunlop Sport BluResponse Reviews - Page 13

Fitted to the front on an 04 Zafira 2.0dti. Spent a long time looking through reviews of tires before going for these, the wet grip, noise reduction and eco credentials sold them well. Yes, they grip well, although we don't push the car too much, it's just a desiel family car. I wanted something safe for the wife and kids, thus wet grip was very important, as was breaking performance. This tire therefore fits the bill perfectly.

However, they have only lasted 1 year and 1 week! They have only done about 12500 miles and I'm not talking about tire scretching, wheel spinning miles. These tires simply do not wear well and I would doubt have really saved anything in the way of fuel to counteract this.

The point is that I would not recommend these tires for a family car, there are others with similar characteristics that wear far longer and are thus more economic.

Bought these tires as I use Clio 172 for a 70 mile commute as they appear to tick all the right boxes for my needs.

Now that I've done 15,000 miles on the tires across normal commuting and spirited weekend drives, here's my pro's and con's of the tires:

Pro's:
Excellent value for money as they are a cheap performance branded tire
Great wear rate so far (expect 20k miles from them)
Low noise from the tires
Lower rolling resistance compared to my previous Kumho tires
Predictable grip when tire starts to breakaway at their limits.
Excellent braking performance
Good levels of grip on wet surfaces

Con's
Softer sidewalls made the steering feel more numb and reduced response.
Likewise the softer sidewalls meant the car felt it was leaning into the corners more when pushing on.
Dry grip is good, but is not to the level of other performance tires.

I would highly recommend these tires for anyone who wants a safe, reassuring and comfortable tire on their commuting car. However if you spend more time driving the car in a spirited manner, then I might recommend looking at a tire with a stiffer sidewall as unfortunately it has taken the handling edge away from my Clio 172 and made it softer in the corners.