Elise S2 - Dunlop SP9000 - "The full review"

[Guest]

Från den engelska BBSen

Guys,

As some of you may re-collect, I had tried and alternative tyre for our S2 111S after being a little frustrated with both the cost the original bridgestones' and the understeer and floaty feeling that is associated with them. They're not a bad tyre at all, but I was interested if I could find soemthing that was a little better.

Many people had tried the Toyo's and the general consensus seems to be that you can't run the 195's without it upsetting the balance, and needing to upgrade the suspension, but you could run 185's. The other issue that many people comment about with the Toyo's is that they tear badly when pushed hard.

So in my efforts to find a compromise, and in the interests of consumer testing, I thought I'd give th Dunlop SP9000's a shot. You can get them in 185/50/16 and the standard size for the rears at 225/24/17. I got 4 of them supplied, fitted and balanced for 370quid from kwik fits which is a great price.

OK after 1.5 Months and a 1st Lotus day with Mr Walsh, how are they? Well I'll break my conclusions into individual categories and score them relative to the bridgestones.

Turn In & front end grip!
Turn in as you would probably expect with a larger diameter tyre has been greatly improved with the Dunlops over the original bridgestones. Where it was common to invoke understeer with the bridgestone tyres by simply turning in hard, (wihtout the use of trail braking) with the Dunlop tyres this has been greatly reduced. I'd estimate about a 10-15% increase in front end grip. Understeer has not been completely eliminated as it can be with the Nitron kit that Andy Walsh has developed, but it is much reduced, feeling more like (although not as composed as) an S1 with 195 advans on the front. Breakaway in grip is loverly and progressive, with no snaps as grip is lost.

bridgestones 8/10
Dunlop 9.5/10

Dry Weather braking!
On the road the dry weather braking feels improved over the bridgestones. They feel less inclined to lock up than the bridgestones. However when we tested them at North Weald on tuesday, we found that the dry weather braking is about on par with the bridgetones, with perhaps a very slight improvement over the bridgestones. One of the big improvements though is in the feel of the tyre. The Dunlops are very, very progressive, and you can feel when they are going to lock up etc, allowing for (in my opinion)greater braking modulation.

Bridegetones 8/10
Dunlops 8.5/10

Rear end Grip
As the tyre sizes are exactly the same you would expect them to both perform very similar. I can confirm that they do indeed perform very similiar. They only thing that I would like to add to on this one though is that the Dunlop SP9000's seem a little more sensitive to tyre pressure's at the rear. On the first Lotus day, I originally had them at about 25.5 psi, and we found that the sidewalls flexed to much creating a strange floaty feeling in the rear end. We put them upto 27.5 and they worked fabulously. The transition from grip to breakaway is very, very progressive, and I would suggest that is the biggest difference over the Bridgestones, not that they were at all bad.

Bridgetones 9/10
Dunlops 9/10

Wet Weather grip
Another win here for the Dunlops. Wet Weather grip s better once again with the Dunlops over the OEM bridgestones. The bridgestones can feel a little bit like your on ice, especially under braking, and the Dunlops definately give a more direct and positive feeling under braking. I'd suggest that this is possibly helped by the larger contact patch at the front end. The rear end grip is also a little better when pushing on a bit, and is less likely to snap out when applying the power.
Bridgestones 8/10
Dunlop 9/10

Track performance
I've not had chance to run them on a proper trackday, but have used them as indicated on my recent 1st Lotus day. One thing did become apparent is that they certainly don't tear like the Toyo's do. Andy had fitted Toyo's to his 111S they day before, and in one day he managed to tear large pieces out of the tyre carcass. Andy did not spare my car, and niether did I, being the first person to manage to spin my Lotus all the way to the grass in the dry. (Doh) I can confirm that the tyres stood up really, really well, and looking at them you would not be able to tell that I'd been running it around a track allday. The tyres certainly didn't wear the edges of like the bridgstones have done when the missu did her 1st Lotus day. Obviously they're not a full on track tyre, and no doubt they would suffer badly being pounded lap after lap of a proper trackday, but I was pretty impressed.

Bridestones 8/10
Dunlops 9/10


Supension Balance
Now for the big one. Does using the Dunlop SP9000's upset the balance as the Toyo's (195's) (185's?) seem to do? Answer, no not noticeably. The front end grip does very slightly cause the front end to nod if your pushing very, very hard on the track, but it by no means upsets the balance of the car. Although I should mark the Dunlops down for this, their far superior progressive feel more than makes up for the difference here. A real coup this one I think...

Bridgetones 9/10
Dunlops 9/10

Noise and Road Comfort
A win here for the bridgetones. Road noise as in rolling road noise is about the same with the roof up or down with either tyre. The Dunlops however due to their tread compound/pattern do create a rather bizarre squeaking/squelching noise, which is clearly the tyre moving around. The bridgstones' do not exhibit this trait. The other downside is that I think the tyre carcass on the Dunlops is stiffer, translating into a slightly hard/harsher motion on the road. It's by no means bad, but it is noticeable.
Bridgestones 9/10
Dunlops 7/10

Bedding in period
The bedding period is much smaller on the bridgestones than with the Dunlops. I've run the Dunlops for over 500 miles on the road, and only pushed them hard a few times. They initally take about 50 miles or so to clean up, but I think they take longer to clean up fully. When we did the 1st Lotus day, you could still see clean parts of the tyre on sides of the tyre block of the Dunlops. After a session on the track this was gone and the grip levels improved to and even higher level. The bridgestones, as I recollect, didn't have this problem to the same extent.

Bridgestone 8/10
Dunlops 7/10

Conclusion

As you can tell I'm really pleased with the performance of the tyres. They have without a shadow of a doubt turned out to be a risk well worth taking. In most of the categories above, I believe that they are superior if perhaps only slightly in some categories. The big pros as far as I am concerned are that they remove some of the understeer, are beautifully progressive, are better in the wet, don't upset the elise's beautiful balance, and are cheaper to boot.

Are they the solution to remove your all of your handling problems with your S2? No. For that fit the Nitron kit Andy Walsh has devloped it's fabulous, but as a road tyre that is better the OEM, and provides everything you could want for the road. A resounding yes indeed.

(I'd like to point out that these are my own opinions and should not be taken as gospel for everyones needs, tastes and driving styles. I've just offered my opinion on the matter)

Andy G.

S2 111S

[Staffan]

Hej!

Instämmer med vår engelske vän. Rotationshastigheten i rondeller har gått upp i och med att understyrningen har minskat. I början var jag inte nöjd med däcken och tyckte att bilen slingrade sig - man körde liksomsom ovanpå vägbanan- men sedan släppte jag ut lite luft i däcken och bilen känns nu helt stabil. Däcken indikerar oxå tidigare att greppet börjar släppa med ett litet gnissel.

Har inte jämfört med annan Elise på bana ännu men kanske i höst om det blir någon körning i klubben

Staffan Dunlop SP 9000

[JohanZ3]

Jag får nog vara den som inte instämmer med britten.

Visserligen är jag inte i ägo av en Lotus Elise, men jag bytte till Dunloop SP sport 9000 på min Z3 Coupé. Dessförinnan hade jag Michelin F1:or..

Dunloop däcken är riktigt härliga i vått underlag, men i torrt tycker jag ärligt talat dom är märkbart sämre än F1:orna jag hade.

Min åsikt :).. Synd att det inte alltid regnar.

/Johan