Dunlop Sport BluResponse Reviews - Page 13

Fitted to the front on an 04 Zafira 2.0dti. Spent a long time looking through reviews of tyres before going for these, the wet grip, noise reduction and eco credentials sold them well. Yes, they grip well, although we don't push the car too much, it's just a desiel family car. I wanted something safe for the wife and kids, thus wet grip was very important, as was breaking performance. This tyre therefore fits the bill perfectly.

However, they have only lasted 1 year and 1 week! They have only done about 12500 miles and I'm not talking about tyre scretching, wheel spinning miles. These tyres simply do not wear well and I would doubt have really saved anything in the way of fuel to counteract this.

The point is that I would not recommend these tyres for a family car, there are others with similar characteristics that wear far longer and are thus more economic.

Bought these tyres as I use Clio 172 for a 70 mile commute as they appear to tick all the right boxes for my needs.

Now that I've done 15,000 miles on the tyres across normal commuting and spirited weekend drives, here's my pro's and con's of the tyres:

Pro's:
Excellent value for money as they are a cheap performance branded tyre
Great wear rate so far (expect 20k miles from them)
Low noise from the tyres
Lower rolling resistance compared to my previous Kumho tyres
Predictable grip when tyre starts to breakaway at their limits.
Excellent braking performance
Good levels of grip on wet surfaces

Con's
Softer sidewalls made the steering feel more numb and reduced response.
Likewise the softer sidewalls meant the car felt it was leaning into the corners more when pushing on.
Dry grip is good, but is not to the level of other performance tyres.

I would highly recommend these tyres for anyone who wants a safe, reassuring and comfortable tyre on their commuting car. However if you spend more time driving the car in a spirited manner, then I might recommend looking at a tyre with a stiffer sidewall as unfortunately it has taken the handling edge away from my Clio 172 and made it softer in the corners.