Has anyone tried the Dunlop Direzza Sport Z1 Star Spec (how do they come up with these names?) or know how they compare to the Hankook Rs2 Z212?

 

I bought these as my summer tires this year and to run test n tunes to save the tire budget. I haven't used the Hankook's but the Z1s have much better grip(on asphalt) than my Falken RT-615's I ran last year. They didn't get greasy after they heated up like the 615's did. I made around 35 runs at the test n tune with no noticeable change in grip throughout the day.

On a side note they seem to be wearing pretty good on the street too.

 

What kind of pressures did you finally settle with?

 

I'm planning on ordering these in 215/45-17 for street and autocross. Has anyone tried this particular size on 17x7 stock wheels?

 

They should fit fine. The stock 17's I believe have an offset of -50et. The overall diameter is 23.8" so your speedo should be accurate.

 

I've changed my mind, and after talking with some people that I consider very experienced autocrossers I'm going to order 225/45 17s!

 

You are going to give up acceleration speed. The tire you choosing is .5" taller then stock. You loose more then you gain.

 

I'm using them in 205x50x16. They are nice tires -not too noisy for full-time use, and very sticky. Not as good as I'd hoped in the rain, however.

 

The Z1 star specs are far superior to the RS2 and Falken RT-615. They are a top tier competitive street tire class tire like the RE-01R and Neova AD07

 

Also competitive-

Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric (not as good for MINI sizes)
Bridgestone RE-11 (future for next year- available in Japan now).

The Dunlop Z1 Star Spec is well priced, comes in friendly sizes for the MINI and works well in dry OR wet weather.

 

I'm not sure I'd go quite that far... I'd say they are somewhere between them - Dunlops didn't fare all that great at Nationals, which were dominated by Bridgestones and Yokos, with a surprise Toyo 1st place in STS.

On a track, I've noticed little difference between the Z1's and the RS-2's - both are quite good (better than the RT-615 on the track, for sure).

 

In wet I think the Dunlop Star Spec is better than the RS2.

Tire sizes are very good for the RS2 for the MINI which is a big plus. Unless of course they are out of stock of what you need.

Also there may be differences when comparing these tires for-
Track vs Lapping vs Driving school vs Autocross.

Even in autocross some courses are routinely 60 sec but in my area we have a limited total area so our runs are about 30 seconds each for the fastest. This means unless you have two drivers, tire temperatures are lucky to be much above 145 to 155 degrees for the MINI which is on the low side of operating temperatures (for R comps).

 

Our courses in the AZ Region in Phx are generally 30-40 seconds. I currently run a rt615 205/50-15 on my STS justa. With about 15min between runs the tires warm but not too hot to even get the slightest greasy feel and work well for me but I haven't really ran on any other tire. In 09 I'm going back to HS and I'm looking for a nice 16" tire in a 215 size. Any suggestions for a ST?

 

ST= Street tire????

Using a 16x6.5" rim
Dunlop Direzza Z1 Star Spec
205/50-16
225/50-16 if you don't mind 24.9" tire diameter (taller than stock).
Bridgestone Potenza RE-01R
205/45-16
225/50-16
Hankook Ventus Rs2
205/45-16
205/50-16
215/45-16 (better with 16x7 rim but not legal for HS class)
225/45-16 (better with 16x7 rim but not legal for HS class)
Kumho Ecsta XS
215/45-16

 

ST=street tire.

Thanks for the sugestions.

 

I have the Dunlop Direzza Z1 Star Spec in 225/45-17's on my stock 17x7 wheels, and I really like them. The do have better feedback than the 225/50-16 tires I had on before. When I went over a big undulation on the highway with a passenger at speed I did get a brief period (1/4 second) of rubbing, but nothing I consider to be a problem. These tires have very good acceleration/braking traction, but there are no autocross events for a week or so I'm not sure how they compare on lateral traction and transitional performance. Here in SoCal (San Diego, and Los Angeles regions) we tend to run longer courses >60 second is not uncommon. I can't wait to try them out!

 

I bet you like those Z1s even better after you autocross them a bit

I think they're relatively quiet and well mannered on the street, but wasn't expecting them to be markedly better than the 225/45-15s Hankook RS-2s I ran last season (wider is better, right? I thought...)

Here's what I measured.

The 225 Kooks ran 1.06 and .98 dry and wet on their best days.

The 195 Dunlops ran 1.14 and 1.03 dry and wet - unshaven in the first 500 miles.

I've had them for ten events and 15,000 street miles and still like them a lot.

One of the gentlemen that beats me regularly in STX with RE-01Rs on an '89 Civic co-drove my car this year, and he liked them a bunch (and beat me in my own car ;-) ).

I think they're the pick of the bunch and if I wasn't running 15x7 I'd be at 205 or more and probably having even more fun.

I hope your experience is similar.

Cheers,

Charlie

PS: on my car, which is not a stock suspension, the Z1s seem to like pressure. Max grip on the front end I found was 40 lbs, and for optimum balance and rotation on course I run 48 psi rear. YMMV of course!

 

Yeah, I did like them a lot. They have communicative feedback, and they help my car rotate more easily than with the Bridgestone RE-01R's. I ended up with 1st place in my class, and I'm really glad I replaced my worn out old stones. FWIW I think that using 225/45-17 is better than my previous 225/50-16 setup. It seems to put down power more effectively, and utilize the available tread width better with the wider 7" (stock) wheel.

 

FWIW I autoxed Sun with my 615's 205/50 15 and a friend was on Dizera's 225/40 16 and the lateral g's on each were very close. 615's held to 1.08 g's and the dizera's to 1.07 g's. Neither suspension is stock I'm running h-sport springs with stock cartriges rear control arms and camber plates, he's running Cross coilovers and control arms. Outside temps were a perfect 75 deg. I do have this to say the 615's grip never fell below 1.06g's cold, warm or hot where the Dizera's needed to warm up and by the third run was pulling 1.07 and no higher. Were both running the same camber and toe front and rear I'm driving an 05' justa and he's running and 07' S. With that said I'm not so sure that the 615 is going to be so easily replaced.