Quote:
Originally Posted by maxnix
I haven't had Pirellis in quite a while, but I have the had the Dunlops they are a bad joke in terms of construction, longevity and performance. Dunlop is not a top tier tire manufacturer and hasn't been for decades.
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Which Dunlops have you tried? The OEM RFTs or the Star Specs?
If the latter, you are part of a very small minority that doesn't like them. Car and Driver tested 9 "affordable summer tires" against Michelin PS2s, and found the Star Specs to be "head and shoulders above the other tires, including the benchmark Michelin PS2s."
So your comment about "tiers" prompted a bit of research on my part and I discovered that, while it's true that Dunlop is considered a Tier 2 tire manufacturer, the whole tier system is really not meaningful at all from the standpoint of the consumer. It's just industry lingo.
I found this from an article on the subject:
In its recent testimony before the International Trade Commission (ITC), the American Coalition for Free Trade in Tires responded to a United Steelworkers' petition asking for quotas on Chinese consumer tire imports. The coalition tried to explain our industry's tier system. Here's what it had to say.
"From time to time in time in this debate, you will hear various tires and tire companies being described as tier one, two or three. The tiers are used in the U.S. tire market to describe differences in terms of price and profit margin. Tiers do not correspond to performance."