Has anyone tried DIREZZA ZII STAR SPEC tires?

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SciroccoTDI

Active member
Joined
Nov 21, 2016
Messages
31
2014 owner here, I needs more grip, the tire spin nanny is driving me nuts (and yes, I have a short commute and a very heavy right foot).

Has anyone fitted a set of Dunlop DIREZZA ZII STAR SPEC 195/55/R15s to the front? If so, would love to hear your impressions.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Dunlop&tireModel=Direzza+ZII+Star+Spec&partnum=955VR5Z2SS&vehicleSearch=false&fromCompare1=yes

Thanks!

-E
 
hi Scirocco. I don't have specific info on the Direzza ZII Star Spec on our Spark EVs, but I do have lots of experience with that exact tire on a fleet of E30 BMW 325s that we race in the AER road race series here on the East Coast. the Star Specs have great dry grip (not quite as good as the Rival S or the RE71R) and very good longevity (we can get 18-20 race hours on a set before they are down to cords). wet grip is very good too. we've tried a bunch of tires in the last two years, and have settled on the Star Specs (btw we use 205-50-15 size and our cars weight about 2750 lbs).

I'd guarantee that the performance of the Star Specs will be LEAPS and bounds above the stock Spark EV tires; even though these tires are rated 200 tread wear and are a legit 'street tire' they punch way above their weight class in dry and wet performance and aren't too far off an R compound dedicated track tire (typically on a 1:30 laptime track, the Star Specs are about 2-3 sec slower than a Toyo RR on the same car).

I'd guess that you could get 12-15k miles out of a front pair on a Spark EV when driving on the street. I wouldn't be surprised if the range was decreased 10-15% also. but you'd have FUN carving the corners! :)
 
I think you could put ANY non-stock tires on the Spark and get much improved performance. My stock tires were gone the day after I bought the car. I would guess almost any tire will outperform the suspension.
 
d15b7 said:
hi Scirocco. I don't have specific info on the Direzza ZII Star Spec on our Spark EVs, but I do have lots of experience with that exact tire on a fleet of E30 BMW 325s that we race in the AER road race series here on the East Coast. the Star Specs have great dry grip (not quite as good as the Rival S or the RE71R) and very good longevity (we can get 18-20 race hours on a set before they are down to cords). wet grip is very good too. we've tried a bunch of tires in the last two years, and have settled on the Star Specs (btw we use 205-50-15 size and our cars weight about 2750 lbs).

I'd guarantee that the performance of the Star Specs will be LEAPS and bounds above the stock Spark EV tires; even though these tires are rated 200 tread wear and are a legit 'street tire' they punch way above their weight class in dry and wet performance and aren't too far off an R compound dedicated track tire (typically on a 1:30 laptime track, the Star Specs are about 2-3 sec slower than a Toyo RR on the same car).

I'd guess that you could get 12-15k miles out of a front pair on a Spark EV when driving on the street. I wouldn't be surprised if the range was decreased 10-15% also. but you'd have FUN carving the corners! :)

Excellent feedback! Thank you sir!
 
We also use the 205-50-15 Star Spec tires on our ChumpCar Neon. Although we don't get the hours out of a set that d15b7 gets, that is probably because we drive it hard enough to win a few races. By way of example, we went through two complete sets to win a 24 hour race at Buttonwillow Raceway... so that's just about 12 hours per set. Lets just say they work very well.

Don't know if you plan on changing the wheels, but if so, you may want to look at the following info.
http://www.mychevysparkev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=4630&start=10

You probably noticed that I did not use Star Specs on my Spark. For this application, I was looking for decent performance and longevity.
 
I wouldn't suggest these tires on the Spark. I use them on my other car and took a 15% hit to mileage plus they are quite loud. On such a quiet car that would be really annoying. I've come to the realization that there is no winning move when it comes to tires on this car.
 
The Dunlop Direzza DZ102 also fits our car, is quieter and rides better than the Star Spec (according to TR tests), with a more-than-double wear rating of 460AA.

Oh yeah, and roughly half the price. $64 at TireRack at the moment.
 
EldRitch said:
The Dunlop Direzza DZ102 also fits our car, is quieter and rides better than the Star Spec (according to TR tests), with a more-than-double wear rating of 460AA.

Oh yeah, and roughly half the price. $64 at TireRack at the moment.

Might as well just leave the free Kumho 4x IIs I got from CarMax on the front - nope, I want cold tire grip.
 
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