Dunlop Winter Sport 5 vs Radar Dimax Alpine
The Radar counters with competent snow manners, low noise, and attractive pricing. But the gap in wet braking and stability is substantial in multiple sizes, which has clear implications for everyday winter driving where cold, wet roads are common.
Test Results
Independent comparison tyre tests are the best source of data to get tyre information from, and the good news is there have been six tests which compare both tyres directly!
| Tyre | Test Wins | Performance |
|---|---|---|
| Dunlop Winter Sport 5 | six |
While it might look like the Dunlop Winter Sport 5 is better than the Radar Dimax Alpine purely based on the higher number of test wins, tyres are very complicated objects which means where one tyre is better than the other can be more important in real world use.
Let's look at how the two tyres compare across multiple tyre test categories.
Key Strengths
- Class-leading wet braking across all shared tests
- Excellent aquaplaning resistance (straight and curved)
- Confident dry handling and braking
- Competitive rolling resistance versus Radar
- Good snow balance (occasional wins in snow braking/handling/circle)
- Very low exterior noise in Sportscars test
- Affordable pricing
- Acceptable dry braking for its segment
Dry Braking
Looking at data from one tyre tests, the Dunlop Winter Sport 5 was better during one dry braking tests. On average the Dunlop Winter Sport 5 stopped the vehicle in 0.46% less distance than the Radar Dimax Alpine.
Best In Dry Braking: Dunlop Winter Sport 5
See how the Dry Braking winner was calculated >>
Dry Handling [Km/H]
Looking at data from one tyre tests, the Dunlop Winter Sport 5 was better during one dry handling [km/h] tests. On average the Dunlop Winter Sport 5 was 1.09% faster around a lap than the Radar Dimax Alpine.
Best In Dry Handling [Km/H]: Dunlop Winter Sport 5
See how the Dry Handling winner was calculated >>
Wet Braking
Looking at data from six tyre tests, the Dunlop Winter Sport 5 was better during six wet braking tests. On average the Dunlop Winter Sport 5 stopped the vehicle in 11.27% less distance than the Radar Dimax Alpine.
Best In Wet Braking: Dunlop Winter Sport 5
See how the Wet Braking winner was calculated >>
Wet Handling [Km/H]
Looking at data from one tyre tests, the Dunlop Winter Sport 5 was better during one wet handling [km/h] tests. On average the Dunlop Winter Sport 5 was 5.96% faster around a wet lap than the Radar Dimax Alpine.
Best In Wet Handling [Km/H]: Dunlop Winter Sport 5
See how the Wet Handling winner was calculated >>
Straight Aqua
Looking at data from one tyre tests, the Dunlop Winter Sport 5 was better during one straight aqua tests. On average the Dunlop Winter Sport 5 floated at a 10.87% higher speed than the Radar Dimax Alpine.
Best In Straight Aqua: Dunlop Winter Sport 5
See how the Straight Aqua winner was calculated >>
Curved Aquaplaning
Looking at data from one tyre tests, the Dunlop Winter Sport 5 was better during one curved aquaplaning tests. On average the Dunlop Winter Sport 5 slipped out at a 47.97% higher speed than the Radar Dimax Alpine.
Best In Curved Aquaplaning: Dunlop Winter Sport 5
See how the Curved Aquaplaning winner was calculated >>
Snow Braking
Looking at data from six tyre tests, the Radar Dimax Alpine was better during five snow braking tests. On average the Radar Dimax Alpine stopped the vehicle in 30.21% less distance than the Dunlop Winter Sport 5.
Best In Snow Braking: Radar Dimax Alpine
See how the Snow Braking winner was calculated >>
Snow Traction
Looking at data from one tyre tests, the Dunlop Winter Sport 5 was better during one snow traction tests. On average the Dunlop Winter Sport 5 had 4.88% better snow traction than the Radar Dimax Alpine.
Best In Snow Traction: Dunlop Winter Sport 5
See how the Snow Traction winner was calculated >>
Snow Handling [Km/H]
Looking at data from one tyre tests, the Radar Dimax Alpine was better during one snow handling [km/h] tests. On average the Radar Dimax Alpine was 3.7% faster around a lap than the Dunlop Winter Sport 5.
Best In Snow Handling [Km/H]: Radar Dimax Alpine
See how the Snow Handling winner was calculated >>
Snow Circle
Looking at data from one tyre tests, the Radar Dimax Alpine was better during one snow circle tests. On average the Radar Dimax Alpine provided 2.7% more lateral grip than the Dunlop Winter Sport 5.
Best In Snow Circle: Radar Dimax Alpine
See how the Snow Circle winner was calculated >>
Noise
Looking at data from one tyre tests, the Radar Dimax Alpine was better during one noise tests. On average the Radar Dimax Alpine measured 3.73% quieter than the Dunlop Winter Sport 5.
Best In Noise: Radar Dimax Alpine
See how the Noise winner was calculated >>
Rolling Resistance
Looking at data from one tyre tests, the Dunlop Winter Sport 5 was better during one rolling resistance tests. On average the Dunlop Winter Sport 5 had a 10.38% lower rolling resistance than the Radar Dimax Alpine.
Best In Rolling Resistance: Dunlop Winter Sport 5
See how the Rolling Resistance winner was calculated >>
Real World Driver Reviews
Tyre Reviews also collects real world driver reviews for the Dunlop Winter Sport 5 and Radar Dimax Alpine.
In total the Dunlop Winter Sport 5 has been reviewed 43 times and drivers have given the tyre 84% overall.
The Radar Dimax Alpine has been reviewed 1 times and drivers have given the tyre 84% overall.
This means in real world driving, people prefer the Radar Dimax Alpine.
Conclusion
The Radar Dimax Alpine shines with quiet running and decent snow feel, occasionally edging the Dunlop in snow braking/handling by small margins. However, its wet-road limitations and high rolling resistance undermine its overall value unless price is the overriding factor. If you frequently face mixed winter conditions (cold rain, slush, thaw/freeze), choose the Dunlop; if your winters are predominantly packed-snow at low speeds and budget is tight, the Radar can suffice, with awareness of its wet-safety trade-offs.
Key Differences
- Wet braking advantage strongly favors Dunlop (e.g., 48.8 m vs 62.1 m in 235/35 R19; ~21% shorter)
- Aquaplaning performance decisively better on Dunlop (straight +12% speed; curved +92% g in Sportscars test)
- Dunlop consistently ranks higher overall (6/6 test wins)
- Radar marginally better in some snow sub-tests (snow braking/handling/circle) with small gaps
- Noise comfort favors Radar (≈2.7 dB quieter in Sportscars test)
- Rolling resistance lower on Dunlop in the shared detailed test; Radar flagged for very high RR
Overall Winner: Dunlop Winter Sport 5
Based on the tyre test data and user reviews we have in our database, the Dunlop Winter Sport 5 has demonstrated better overall performance in this comparison. However, as you can see from the spider diagram above, each tyre has its own strengths which should be considered in your final tyre buying choice.Similar Comparisons
Looking for more tyre comparisons? Here are other direct comparisons involving these tyres:
Radar Dimax Alpine Top Comparisons
No other comparisons available for this tyre.
Footnote
This page has been developed using tyre industry testing best practices. This means we are only comparing tests which have had both tyres in the same test.
Why is this important? Tyre testing is heavily affected by things like surface grip levels and surface temperature, which means you can only compare values from the same day. During a tyre test external condition changes are calculated into the overall results, but it is not possible to calculate this between tyre tests performed on different days or at different locations.
As a result you will see other tests on Tyre Reviews which feature both the %s and %s, but as they weren't conducted on the same day, the results are not comparable.
Lots of other websites do this sort of tyre comparison, Tyre Reviews doesn't.