In my part of the country, all-season tires are best. I have a real important decision to make this coming Monday. I wondered if you folks would share your opinions of your tires. From what I've read, both of these tires fare well in the catagories of hydroplaning, wet traction, cornering, dry traction, and steering response. I'm most interested in your opinions regarding treadwear, noise, light snow, deep snow, and ice (tirerack shows significant differences in these categories). These are the wheels and tires I'm trying to make a decision on:

. 16" Dunlop SP Sport 5000A DSST

. 17" Goodyear Eagle RS-A EMT

I'll be either accepting a new car with the 16" Dunlops, or ordering a new car with the 17" Goodyears. I've always been very picky about tires, especially when it comes to treadwear and foul weather handling. Tirerack shows the Dunlops as not faring so well in these categories. But what do they know. What I want to know is how you folks feel about them.

Also, any other comments you may have regarding these wheel/tire combinations would also be appreciated.

Thanks in advance for your help here.

 

My 2005 S has the 16" Dunlops. I have found them, after 10K miles, to be nice tires for rain and dry highway use. They started out a bit 'darty', but after about 5K miles they are better. I have a separate set of Hankook RS-2 summer HP 17" tires that I use for autocross competition. Have not used the Dunlops in the snow, but they have worked well for me in the low 30's on wet roads. Good treadwear so far.

 

I have had the Goodyears on both my MINIs and have had a loaner for ~800 miles with the Dunlops. I reeeally like the Goodyears for what they are, a 17 inch run flat all season. They do everything pretty well. They are never "scary" and usually have plenty of grip in all conditions.

I drove the car with Dunlops over the summer so I cannot comment on their cold weather abilities. In the dry the Dunlops were easily spun pulling away from a stop, it was making me giggle after coming out of my car with the Goodyears which does not do this (the loaner was a stock automatic and my S has a 15% pulley etc.). Much of that can be attributed to the lower rotational mass of the 16s with tires versus the 17s.

In the rain the Dunlops were SCARY. They had 3k New York City loaner miles on them by the time I drove the car so I will assume they were broken in. On damp roads where my car with the Goodyears would stick, the Dunlops understeered during NORMAL, not aggressive, driving. I actually had to slow down under the limit (even the recommended slow down below this speed on turns limit) to keep the car under control.

Based on those two factors, I still considered running them on my car because they ride really great. Much more comfortable than the 17s. But the way they drove in the rain was just bad, worse than any tire I've driven. I also had Yokohamas (summer performance) on my last S and they only did that during the winter, in the snow.

I would recommend the 17s based on my experiences overall. Most dealerships will have a stock of take off wheels or they should be able to switch them with another car. I would NOT go through the hassle of ordering another car. The dealership should be able to do something. Also, are you sure that the 07s (which is what I am assuming you are ordering) are coming only with Dunlops in 16? I was hoping for something better to come along.

 

I have the Goodyears in 16" on my Cooper, and am trying to wear them out 32k, and counting. No such luck...plus, they've been to MOTD/FOTD 3 times, have been tracked at 2 2-day HPDEs, and have traveled to MME twice. While they ride hard when cold, they also wear like iron and do well in wet weather, too...on and off the track.

I have the Dunlops in 16" on my MCS, and really like the ride. They do well in 4" snow, and in rain. I took a 2000 mile drive with them last week and they have been to 3 2-day HPDEs last summer. So far, so good...just under 12k....

While the Goodyears have been very good [wearwise], if I were to get another set of runflats, I'd go with the Dunlops, mainly because of the softer ride.

 

Ken:

First of all, the Dunlop SP5000 DSST 16"runflats and the Goodyear Eagle RS-A EMT are both known as 1st generation runflats. Dunlop's DSST stands for Dunlop Self Supporting Technology and Goodyear's EMT stands for Emergency Mobility Technology.

The Goodyear EMT tires were offered from factory on new MINI Coopers ordered with the optional 16" R83 5 star rims. The Dunlop SP5000 were fitted as OEM standard equipment on new MINI Cooper S hardtops (2002-2006) ordered with the 16" R84 V-spoke rims.

I have had 2 new MCS (2004 & 2005) both equipped with the Dunlop SP5000 tires from factory. The SP5000 is for the most part, a fairly decent tire but it suffers from the common problems found on 1st generation runflat tire technology:

* So-so thread wear life. My last set pf SP5000 Dunlops lasted me exactly 2 years or 24K miles with 5K mile rotation intervals. The tires were not yet "bald" but the thread was below the legal limit of 2/32nd inch (or 1.6 millimeters) thread remaining.

* Noisy

* Ride quality deteriorates as the tires wear and get old. The rubber gets very hard and stiff.

* Don't take bumps very well. They transmit every single road imperfection back to the driver's seat.

* Was not impressed with wet traction. It's OK but it is not confidence inspiring

Positives:

* Very good handling

* Decent dry traction

* Seem like they are built like a tank. Seems to withstand the use and abuse of daily life

* In case of a flat, you can drive up to 50 miles (80 Km) to safety.

I don't have first hand experience with the Goodyear Eagle RS-A EMT's but I am sure that most of the negatives/positives of the Dunlop's apply to these as well since both share the same old runflat technology.

Now, if you are ordering a new '07 R56 MINI (Cooper or Cooper S) your car will come fitted from factory with SECOND GENERATION runflats. I know that Cooper and Cooper S models ordered with 16"rims are fitted with Goodyear Excellence RunOnFlat tires which are totally different animals from the 1st gen runflats fitted to the 2002-2006 MINI R50/53 hardtops and the 2005-2008 R52 Convertible carryovers.

On Saturday, I replaced my factory Dunlop SP5000 16"runflats with brand new 16" Goodyear Excellence RunOnFlat tires. The difference between 1st and 2nd gen runflats is amazing, more like night and day!

See my review of the Goodyear Excellence runflats installed on my '05 R53 MCS:

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ad.php?t=93829

Goodyear owns Dunlop tires, so basically whatever new technology Goodyear offers in its tires will also be offered in the Dunlop product line. RunOnFlat technology was just introduced in Europe 2 years ago and these tires provide much better ride comfort, much better handling, improved roll resistance, better fuel economy, more safety (According to Goodyear they are sudden blowout proof) and better treadwear life.

I am extremely happy with my Excellence tires! Now my R53 rides very close to a stock R56 MINI and this is with the stock R53 suspension!

RunOnFlat technology is set to replace the EMT and DSST runflat technology from the first generation tires.

Hope this helps.

 

More info in Goodyear's new RunOnFlat technology:



http://eu.goodyear.com/home_en/tires/runonflat/

 

C4, you seem very pleased with the Goodyear Excellence runflats. I just got an '06 MCS that happened to come with with sport package, 17" webspoke wheels and Pirelli Eufori runflats. I'm not loving the ride, especially on our terrible San Francisco roads. Grooved pavement on the freeway is kind of scary! Do you know if there is an equivalent 17" second generation runflat that would fit my wheels? I kind of like the looks of the webspokes so I'm not eager to get rid of them so soon.

 

just replaced OEM Dunlops after 18K... and a huge difference with the Eagles

mind you both tires are 17's Eagle run flats... seem to be a much better tire!