I took advantage of the Dunlop fire sale posted here 6 weeks ago (thank you Matttheboatman) and wanted to share my impressions after my first trackday. I will preface this by saying these are the first set of non-Michelins I've purchased in over a decade, but they were hard to pass up at $500 and change shipped.

In short...these tires are garbage. On the street, they are downright scary when cold, but that is to be expected with R-comps so I wanted to reserve judgement until I had them on the track. Coming from Pilot Sport 4Ss of the same size, 265/35 and 305/30, I simply could not get comfortable pushing these tires. It took about 3 laps a session at Laguna to bring them up to temp (on an unusually warm day), all while fighting to maintain grip. Once up to temp, grip level was equivalent to a 4S anywhere in its wide operating range while providing significantly less feedback and response. The only positive I can mention is that they were fairly progressive when they'd let go, perhaps slightly more so than the 4S, but I'm stretching.

Of the three GT2RSs at the track, I noticed one of them was on the OEM Maxx Race 2s...different tires, but I figured close enough for feedback to be valuable. The owner laughed and literally said "they're garbage" upon first mention and didn't have anything positive to say about them. He did a better experience running them at elevated pressure (38/40 f/r cold), so I added air to give it a shot but found no improvement. For reference, I'd run the Michelins at 34 PSI f/r and tried varying combinations of the Dunlops between 30-40 PSI.

I'll wear this set out completely before throwing the Michelins back on, which shouldn't take long given that powerslides and rolling burnouts are more effortless than ever. My mistake was having the expectation of superior dry grip to the 4S, but that's definitely not the case.

 

Tried to tell 'em.

 

Not surprised either. Been to that concert before and even bought the T-shirt. Several times in the past I was tempted by cheaper tires, always a fail....

 

What about comparison to P-Zeros? Are they as garbage or more garbage than Pirellis?

Also, these are good old times people will be writing about when MP4S are no longer street legal for some reason. They are nothing short of miracle. At least as good, if not better, than what a track-only slicks would offer only a decade or so ago.

 

Having come out of an XKR with the Dunlops as OEM tyres (very little traction in the dry, like ice in the wet) into the F type with Pirellis as OEM, and while I appreciate that there is a different suspension setup and the XKR had a lot more power, I'd suggest that the P Zeros are far superior, with a nicer ride and far better grip in wet and dry. The dunlops are virtually dangerous in the wet, whereas the Pirellis only really got slippery if I pushed it. But 2 different cars and different engines

 

I'm glad I ordered four Michelin PS 4S's today at Discount Tires. They go on tomorrow. I suffered for over a year with the PZeros on the "S" and over a month with the OEM Zeros on the "R". Good riddance.

 

That's what I wold be doing, except that Michelin doesn't make any rear tires for a Base on 18 in wheels :-((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((( - or at least that's what their website says.

 

 

Unhinged, that's what I'd planned to do. However, the Road Index for my car is a 103, and the Michelin's are only 99...

 

 

Does that mean that I'm OK unless I load up the car by 2800 pounds?
Is that even possible in a F-Type? 500 pounds of passengers, maybe 96 pounds of fuel (16 gallons *6 # per gallon), and - I don't know, 2200 pounds of golf clubs or cowboy boots or gold bullion...
And why did Jag set the load bearing capacity so damn high?
And I'm a male of a certain age living in Texas, so regulatory busybodies don't mess with me...

 

 

The load ratings range from 94 for 19" fronts to 103 for 18" rears, according to the MY18 manual.

 

 

My owner's manual lists the load and speed ratings for 18", 19" and 20" wheels on the page showing tyre pressures. For 20" it shows 97Y front, 101Y rear; 19" is 94Y front, 96Y rear; 18" is 100W front, 103W rear. The spare is 105M ...

 

I noticed that the owners manual shows a max cargo (trunk) weight of 34 pounds! (Convertible)

Better leave the Heavy Metals at home...

 

The forum member who said he carried a wench in the trunk/boot better reconsider.

 

LOL. There are few things in life I've paid less attention to than a tire's load rating.

 

My F-Type has a "tyre placard" (ie a sticker) on the driver's door pillar which shows the load ratings for 19" and 20" tyres.
It also lists the 18" tyres but the load rating boxes for them are blank - maybe coz it's an S with the 380 mm front brakes and 18" wheels can't fit?
Do you 'muricans have this placard as well? If you do it could be on either door pillar, or else it could be an Australian Design Rule and only us in Oz have it.
Anyway, my placard says:
19" front 245/40ZR19 94Y
19" rear 275/35ZR19 96Y
20" front 255/35ZR20 97Y
20" rear 295/30ZR20 101Y.
I checked my 20" MPS4S tyres and they are the exact same size and ratings as above.

 

Well, tire loading could tell you how much room you have to play with tire pressures. So if I wanted to tweak over-steer by bumping pressures, I probably wouldn't do it if I already exceeded load rating.

That, and towing, but I don't think anyone is towing with F-type.

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On related note. Once I forgot to adjust tire pressure for the track. When I noticed that it was getting greasy and pulled into pits, I was at almost 50PSI at the front. Woops. Thankfully, tire held.