Dry grip and dry handling are the clearest shared positives for the Dunlop SP Sport Maxx. Tread life is mixed, with longer-term accounts ranging from early replacement to substantial mileage, although wear complaints outnumber praise overall. Around a quarter of owners criticise noise, while a smaller but sizeable group finds it quiet. Wet-grip opinion is almost evenly divided, so neither strong wet confidence nor poor wet grip is a consistent verdict. Most reviews do not identify life stage, and repeat reviewers move in both directions, giving no clear shared ageing trend. Comfort is also mixed, with criticism somewhat more common than praise.
What owners mention most counted across 142 reviews
Traded in rears at 78,000 kms and 4 years (front replaced at 60,000kms with poor alignment.). My Lexus and I loved the tyres. I am considered to be an aggressive driver so I am not kind to tyres. Good grip wet and dry. You need to be a little careful of keeping alignment good as they wear quickly if out of kink. Tried to buy again but no longer offered. See how the Super Maxx 050 goes.
I kept a track on the wear on my Dunlops (Dunlop SP Sport MAXX 255/35R20 97 Y XL J) - they were fitted on 14 Nov 2014 when the car had 77,734KM ... today it had 105,300KM ... so I managed to get 27,566km (thats 17,128 Miles for our UK viewers) out of them ... I'd consider my driving style as slightly competitive at the lights but not crazy aggressive. But I do like to feel the full power of the car from time to time. The car is an XF S 2009 which I mostly drive in standard D mode (the odd time I put on S mode and Dynamic but maybe once in a three month period) ... if it was summer I could probably squeeze a few more miles out of them and maybe get it to 32,000KM before they would be close to the legal minimum.
In terms of the performance of the tyre itself. Road noise levels were pretty good without being stellar. Handling was good overall, I rarely felt out of control and only lost the back end a few times in the wet.
So overall I'm neither happy nor unhappy with this wear ... I'm not sure how I should feel, but I think I'll try something else either way.
Check out how the BEST all seasons tyres perform against premium summer and winter tyres!
These were fitted to a jaguar xk 4.2l and are the jaguar recommended tyre. Overall comfort, noise level and grip were good but the most significant failing was on wear. They only lasted 6,000 miles before they were below the legal limit. This was after normal usage and mainly motorway travel. I am not a boy racer (I am over 60) or a top gear presenter.
I sent them back to dunlop who tested them and confirmed that there was nothing wrong with the rubber compound and that they appeared to show normal signs of wear. i.e. not under inflated or tracking out (this had been done when the tyres were fitted) or excessive driving.
Therefore, I am left with the conclusion that this is the expected mileage to get out if these tyres. I have now changed to Pirelli.
Which tyres do you drive?
Researching the Dunlop SP Sport Maxx? Rate the tyres you actually drive - and help the next buyer choose.
It's not cheap, but it grips well on Mk4 Mondeo 140 and the reduction in road noise is significant. Also the comfort or the ride is improved.
BUT....... the wear is terrible!! a year in and less than 8000 miles and they're about done.
If money was no object, I would buy these again in a heartbeat, but it is and there is no way I can justify the expenditure for miles traveled
These tyres, 215/40 R17, came with the car, a Polo BlueGT and whilst they're good in the dry, are pretty much a let down in every other regard, excepting possibly wear. After around 28,000 miles, there's about 3-4mm left. Putting the power on in a corner, it is quite easy to lift a back wheel off the ground, but without power to pull the car through, the under steer is terrible. I am not confident with these tyres in the wet and once the temperature falls below 5 or so degrees, there is no grip at all except on a totally dry surface (hence the winter tyres). The Polo chassis probably doesn't help, but I have driven other Polo 6R's (loan cars) that felt more sure footed.
These tyres give the car a very firm and jittery ride, don't react well to surface imperfections and so noisy, even winter tyres (Goodyear Ultra 9) are noticeably quieter.
So, I've had enough of them and will be replacing the 17 inch wheels with 16 inch in order to change to slightly narrower but thicker and (thankfully) quieter tyres.
Fitted these on my XKR, 420bhp all through the rears. Good on noise and dry grip though prone to let go unpredictably in the wet. I pushed these hard and was pleased to get nearly 7500 miles out of them.
Jaguar XF sportbrake, I have just refreshed the oem 'J' rated sport maxx with another pair on the rear at exactly 12000 miles. Sounds low but i would get lower milage than this on my old octavia and mondeo across a variety of brands, so im quite happy
These tyres are on the 'good' side of fine. They have tons of standard driving grip in both the wet and the dry for daily standard driving up and down a mix of A roads, motorway and towns around London.. They've never given me cause for concern, are comfy and quiet for what is a low profile with a huge footprint on 20" rims. I keep saying standard because these feel reall well balanced for a daily drive on a heavy but fast car.
The sportbrake when loaded weighs over two tonnes and has 200ps, but seriously it has never lost grip when I've been sensible. They do allow the back to step out if that's what you want, but as above this is a BIG and heavy vehicle. Stepping the rear out on a public road in this car may not be the most sensible thing to be doing ... I whave also been mightily impressed with the motorway wet grip , in the worst rain conditions i can remember for years, and in the dry they seem to just dig in (most of the time).
I know the jag spec is xl, and comes with a different model number on the dunlop website to the non jag spec (and actually worse noise and wet grip ratings!) but i am really happy , the tyre does feel especially well suited to the car, which after all is a fast family luxury vehicle / battlecruiser when it wants to be. Its not a GTi and isnt designed for racing through town, but comfy cruising at speed.
A good mid range tyre, bought for my Ibiza TDI FR with 200bhp and the grip is good in both dry and wet. However when pushed its hard to find the moment of progressive grip loss, you either have lots of grip or none. Wear is acceptable to very good, they have lasted 10k on the fronts so far and have 4mm left so id expect another 5k before being replaced. Main reason i bought these was to reduce tyre noise which admittedly did help compared to Bridgestones, but im have just found quieter ones with theHankook ventus prime and trying those next.
I found these tyres really quite disappointing. I put them on as my preferred choice were unavailable; and I needed to get the car through an MOT.
I found the wet grip to be treacherous, with very little feedback. They'd just completely let go all of a sudden. They've worn pretty quickly; lasted 12 months exactly, maybe 12-15k I've not kept a detailed record, but in defence of the tyres I did push them pretty hard at times. Dry grip isn't bad at all; but since a properly clean & dry road is so rare in this country, far less useful.
Noisy tyre..wear on both edges..Tyre pressure and alignment okay...But only on front axle from the w221 s320 cdi.... Rear axle wear okay
Total 25.000 Miles
My car came fitted with these (Jaguar rated) tyres when I bought it. The rears were new and fronts I imagine quite recent. The XF-S is a 1.8 tonne 275bhp/600Nm car so with a lead foot driver, the tyres take a hammering. That said, even on full throttle out of a junction I've rarely seen much wheel spin, in the wet the tyre is confidence inspiring and on the dry they grip well, making the car very chuckable.
After 18,000 miles in 16 months rears are 2mm in the middle but still 4mm on the edges and the fronts are badly tracked but still have over 3mm elsewhere. so If I'd rotated them and dropped the rear pressures a bit I suspect they'd easily have done another 3-4,000 which would have been pretty good imho. Usage has been mainly 6 mile commute with a number of 200 mile runs.
Recently I've noticed some tram lining and a bit of vibration and of course the ride isn't as good as it once was but as the tracking is clearly out, that may explain some of it and grip has remained excellent throughout, even in the wet.
Considered Avons and Khumos as replacements (used to use them on my Merc) but whilst they are probably as good grip wise and probably comparable on wear, I had to frequently rebalance them, which I haven't on the Dunlops. I guess thats where the extra quality shows. Just ordered 4 more.
