Dunlop Star Spec
 

star specs are one of the hot tires right now. Several of the AWD guys love them for autox and they are priced great. I need tires for my new toy (the M Coupe) unfortunately they do not make these in a 285 :(

Got a set of 17s earlier this year for my DE wheels. I was happy with their performance in the cold, heat, and rain -- throw in a locust plague and we would have seen it all. The tires are holding up well and seem a good value for the price.

I was going to get the Star Specs but since then I changed my mind and am going with the 3rd place Kuhmo XS tires. Like C&D said, they are about as good as it gets for track/autocross use for a street tire. In dry conditions they're faster than all the others in the comparo. They would've won this test if they weren't so crappy in the wet, but that is probably why they are so good in the dry. It's all a compromise like most things. Plus the Kuhmos ring in at $100 less than the Star Specs at the "Rack."

The Dunlops are nice. One of my friends has been running them on a 911sc for 6 months and says they hold up pretty well in continuous lapping at the track also, unlike his old Azenis which got hot and greasy by lap 3. I was surprised by how well the Kumhos and Hankooks did. I had a set of Kook K104s on the car when I bought it and they were...like... rolling steer manure compared to PS2s.

I suspect the only performance difference between the Dunlops and Kumhos is tread depth. If you shaved the Dunlops to 7/32 they would probably be dead even wet or dry.

Picked up some Star Specs for my Mazda 3 and looking forward to trying them. I'm going to order some wheels later this week and get them mounted up. They'll be my autocross wheels/tires for the Mazda. With the $50 mail in rebate I'm about ready to send these only set me back about $370. Wish tires were this cheap for the P-car.

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...y/PA160004.jpg

hmm can't find these on tirerack for the box 17" OEM wheel

255/40/17

EDIT: are these the same ones? http://www.discounttire.com/dtcs/findTireDetail.do?ra=findTireDetail.do&rcz=78266&y r=2000&pc=28425&ar=40&rd=17&vid=011386&rc=TXSINT&f sv=false&cs=255

tread looks a bit different than your's Adam

That is a different tire at Discount Tire.

Here you go
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Dunlop&tireModel=Direzza+Sport+ Z1+Star+Spec&partnum=54WR7Z1SS

Yeah they aren't the same, the DZ101's where the old performance tire from Dunlop and were essentially replaced by the Star Specs. They don't have as much grip and have a harder compound vs the Star Specs which are softer and grippier.

dang, they're like $25 more at Discount. I've never bought tires online, but imagine it would be cumbersome getting them installed and mounted.

Not really it pretty easy. Just have Tire Rack ship them directly to your tire installer of choice then make an appt, drive over there and have them mounted. I'd go with Tire Rack for whatever tire you choose to go with. They are fast, competitvely priced, and they actually know about the products they sell. Tomorrow I'm buying these wheels from them for the Mazda and I'm just going to ship them straight to the installer. I should've had Tire Rack just mount them up on the tires for me, but when I bought the tires I was sitting on the fence about wheels.

didn't even know that was an option! might be easier to just have them price match TireRack :)

gonna call em up tomorrow and see if they will