Dunlop DZ03G Tyres
Discussion
Wh00sher said:
I think they are a better tyre. Stiffer sidewalls and more communicative when driving with similar life and in my experience better grip.
They have stopped making the DZ03 now though so if you want some I would get them sooner rather than later if it is an unusual size.
Didn't know that, do you know what the replacement is?They have stopped making the DZ03 now though so if you want some I would get them sooner rather than later if it is an unusual size.
DZ03G is a proper race tyre rather than a road tyre with a soft race-type tread, such as R888/R , AD08R, etc.
I ran them 245/40/18 on my Scirocco and nothing has even gotten close.
On track the car gripped better with stock dampers, H&R springs and stock roll bars on DZ03G than it does on AD08R with Bilstein PSS10 , 28/24mm front and rear rollbars and fully polybushed. Same track (Donnington Park) and same conditions (25 odd degrees, sunny, dry)
That being said I am now running nearly 100bhp extra so not exactly a direct comparison.
I suspect if I got the opportunity to try the DZ03G again then they would be even more impressive now than they were before. But in my size they are £1000 new. I got a used set luckily.
I ran them 245/40/18 on my Scirocco and nothing has even gotten close.
Review I made elsewhere said:
I fitted them for a couple of trackdays and some varied road driving, mostly in summer of 2016 where it's been pretty good weather, only a few downpours to contend with.
Immediately after my Michelin PS4s (which are also very good!) were removed and these fitted I noticed a huge improvement in feedback coming back through the wheel, for example going over small stones in the industrial estate! Initially it's a very weird feeling but you soon appreciate it. The immediate steering feedback is amazing, the off-center vaugeness that has plauged my car and even with very specific alignment was not resolved, is completely gone. Driving with these tyres is simply a joy.
The grip is absolutely mental in the dry - no other word for it. In another level compared to Yokohama AD08R or similar. At a hot Donnington park the car was able to brake very late and still manage to hit Apexs which was very impressive, cars following were trying to follow my line and running wide! If you do push them a bit too hard the breakaway is very progressive for a tyre of this type. Coping with a 250bhp nose heavy diesel hatchback they manage very well.
They do need to warm up however, so on the road give it 10 or so miles otherwise they do let go with little warning (however you have to be pushing quite hard to find this limit and you would still be usually warming up the engine before then.
I found track pressures cold of 28psi front 30psi back worked great on my car. On the road I run 34psi all round and this seems to be good.
In the wet they are actually not too bad. I would say that in my limited experience of budget tyres, once warm, they will outperform your typical Nankang NS2 or similar road based budget to mid range tyre.
Heavy standing water should be avoided, and some finesse is required but in the wet on the roads we should not be pushing that hard anyway :-)
I think as a tyre to run April-October they would be more than usable on a daily basis for enthusiast drivers. I would absolutely not recommend using these tyres over winter in the UK, I also believe Dunlop say the tyres should not be subjected to cold temperatures as this can damage the compound (or some other nonsense).
With regards to wear I have put approximiately 1200 miles on these tyres and the tread has gone down from 3.6mm when fitted to 3mm at the fronts and 3.2mm on the rear.
The only real bugbear I have of these tyres is the noise - yes I expect track tyres to be loud on the road but these really can be horrific and certain speeds have very loud resonations - namely around 40 and 85mph which can be annoying some of the time. Sounds like all 4 wheel bearings are about to fall out. But this is the price we pay for enjoyment through the driving experience and grip.
For track use they are brilliant. I noticed no real improvement over my Michelin PS4 or Vredestein Ultrac Vortis in grip during a standing start (drag racing) - I suspect you need to thoroughly warm the tyres up with burnouts or similar for them to be more effective.
I would estimate with my driving I would get about 8-10k from a set of fronts with purely road and 15-16k on the rear.
Given the cost of these tyres in my size (around £300 each) I would recommend fitting for spare wheels or on a car used only occasionally.
I would like to try Pirelli Trofeo R next so that may be my next purchase and I will move to Yoko AD08R for daily use.
I will add I now have 4x 245/40/18 AD08R and they are not in the same league as the DZ03G but they are markedly better in the wet, but then again the DZ03G weren't awful anyway.Immediately after my Michelin PS4s (which are also very good!) were removed and these fitted I noticed a huge improvement in feedback coming back through the wheel, for example going over small stones in the industrial estate! Initially it's a very weird feeling but you soon appreciate it. The immediate steering feedback is amazing, the off-center vaugeness that has plauged my car and even with very specific alignment was not resolved, is completely gone. Driving with these tyres is simply a joy.
The grip is absolutely mental in the dry - no other word for it. In another level compared to Yokohama AD08R or similar. At a hot Donnington park the car was able to brake very late and still manage to hit Apexs which was very impressive, cars following were trying to follow my line and running wide! If you do push them a bit too hard the breakaway is very progressive for a tyre of this type. Coping with a 250bhp nose heavy diesel hatchback they manage very well.
They do need to warm up however, so on the road give it 10 or so miles otherwise they do let go with little warning (however you have to be pushing quite hard to find this limit and you would still be usually warming up the engine before then.
I found track pressures cold of 28psi front 30psi back worked great on my car. On the road I run 34psi all round and this seems to be good.
In the wet they are actually not too bad. I would say that in my limited experience of budget tyres, once warm, they will outperform your typical Nankang NS2 or similar road based budget to mid range tyre.
Heavy standing water should be avoided, and some finesse is required but in the wet on the roads we should not be pushing that hard anyway :-)
I think as a tyre to run April-October they would be more than usable on a daily basis for enthusiast drivers. I would absolutely not recommend using these tyres over winter in the UK, I also believe Dunlop say the tyres should not be subjected to cold temperatures as this can damage the compound (or some other nonsense).
With regards to wear I have put approximiately 1200 miles on these tyres and the tread has gone down from 3.6mm when fitted to 3mm at the fronts and 3.2mm on the rear.
The only real bugbear I have of these tyres is the noise - yes I expect track tyres to be loud on the road but these really can be horrific and certain speeds have very loud resonations - namely around 40 and 85mph which can be annoying some of the time. Sounds like all 4 wheel bearings are about to fall out. But this is the price we pay for enjoyment through the driving experience and grip.
For track use they are brilliant. I noticed no real improvement over my Michelin PS4 or Vredestein Ultrac Vortis in grip during a standing start (drag racing) - I suspect you need to thoroughly warm the tyres up with burnouts or similar for them to be more effective.
I would estimate with my driving I would get about 8-10k from a set of fronts with purely road and 15-16k on the rear.
Given the cost of these tyres in my size (around £300 each) I would recommend fitting for spare wheels or on a car used only occasionally.
I would like to try Pirelli Trofeo R next so that may be my next purchase and I will move to Yoko AD08R for daily use.
On track the car gripped better with stock dampers, H&R springs and stock roll bars on DZ03G than it does on AD08R with Bilstein PSS10 , 28/24mm front and rear rollbars and fully polybushed. Same track (Donnington Park) and same conditions (25 odd degrees, sunny, dry)
That being said I am now running nearly 100bhp extra so not exactly a direct comparison.
I suspect if I got the opportunity to try the DZ03G again then they would be even more impressive now than they were before. But in my size they are £1000 new. I got a used set luckily.
Edited by xjay1337 on Wednesday 26th July 13:08
Thanks for the info; they sound like a good replacement for the Yoko A048.
Their only downside seems to be the fact they don't like cold track temperatures,
but as I no longer do winter track days (early Oct. at Donington is my last one this season)
that shouldn't be a problem.
I've made enquiries and they are still being produced
.
Their only downside seems to be the fact they don't like cold track temperatures,
but as I no longer do winter track days (early Oct. at Donington is my last one this season)
that shouldn't be a problem.
I've made enquiries and they are still being produced
.Be aware that they are produced in two compounds, which one you get seems to be largely dependent on the tyre size.
I run the softer compound and was concerned about wear rate but they have done three (long, 45 minute +) races and a bit of testing with a bit to spare and don't appear to be as sensitive to wet or cold as their reputation suggests.
I run the softer compound and was concerned about wear rate but they have done three (long, 45 minute +) races and a bit of testing with a bit to spare and don't appear to be as sensitive to wet or cold as their reputation suggests.
That's about one track day 
I run these on my track car (Clio Cup) and they are brilliant. I find they take a lap or two to properly warm up but once up to temperature they are great. I read somewhere you should warm them up and cool down properly to prolong their life. I have had the same set this summer (on the fronts) and done full days at Cadwell ,Snet 300 and 2 x Bedford and their nearly one their way out. Could prob get one more dry day out of them at a push.
Always get mine from Mr Tyre in Birmingham
Always get mine from Mr Tyre in Birmingham
Oh Behave said:
I run these on my track car (Clio Cup) and they are brilliant. I find they take a lap or two to properly warm up but once up to temperature they are great. I read somewhere you should warm them up and cool down properly to prolong their life. I have had the same set this summer (on the fronts) and done full days at Cadwell ,Snet 300 and 2 x Bedford and their nearly one their way out. Could prob get one more dry day out of them at a push.
Always get mine from Mr Tyre in Birmingham
Which compound are you running? H1 or R1?Always get mine from Mr Tyre in Birmingham
If the R1 heat up quickly then they may well be a good sprint tyre. Interested to hear opinions on the first lap performance
MagicalTrevor said:
Which compound are you running? H1 or R1?
If the R1 heat up quickly then they may well be a good sprint tyre. Interested to hear opinions on the first lap performance
I'm not aware of them being any problem on first lap (following green flag lap) although that may be me being OK on cooler tyres or the car being very forgiving If the R1 heat up quickly then they may well be a good sprint tyre. Interested to hear opinions on the first lap performance
.On a recent quali session I did an out-lap followed by three which were within a couple 10ths of each other so for sure they are working well pretty quickly.
Hard to judge for sprinting as they would be almost totally cold but I don't think they would be any worse than any of the obvious competitors.
I have done many races on both tyres and here is what I found:
Dizzies are quicker (1-2s a lap) when brand new but their performance falls away steeper.
The yokies are not as quick when new but are more consistant throughout their life.
Both need warming up. They both need scrubbing and a heat cycle before you can use them properly.
The yokies are more progressive when at high slip angles and give grip away at a shallower curve than the dizzies.
Both should be around 31-32psi when hot. 35 is cooking them and you will slide all over the place.
They both work well in the wet but I only raced on scrubbed sets, never new and never old. Heat is the key in the wet and you will need to work them to retain the heat and grip.
I have a new car now and use Nankang AR-1 for dry and NS2-R for wet now. It is early days but am so far impressed.
The AR1 is a lot like yokies and copes with being worked hard without overheating better.
I forgot to say, the reason for the lack of ce marking is noise. There is a new tyre out now with a different compound and a different model number but with the same tred pattern. I haven't tried them yet.
Dizzies are quicker (1-2s a lap) when brand new but their performance falls away steeper.
The yokies are not as quick when new but are more consistant throughout their life.
Both need warming up. They both need scrubbing and a heat cycle before you can use them properly.
The yokies are more progressive when at high slip angles and give grip away at a shallower curve than the dizzies.
Both should be around 31-32psi when hot. 35 is cooking them and you will slide all over the place.
They both work well in the wet but I only raced on scrubbed sets, never new and never old. Heat is the key in the wet and you will need to work them to retain the heat and grip.
I have a new car now and use Nankang AR-1 for dry and NS2-R for wet now. It is early days but am so far impressed.
The AR1 is a lot like yokies and copes with being worked hard without overheating better.
I forgot to say, the reason for the lack of ce marking is noise. There is a new tyre out now with a different compound and a different model number but with the same tred pattern. I haven't tried them yet.
Edited by Thurbs on Saturday 29th July 00:31
MagicalTrevor said:
Which compound are you running? H1 or R1?
If the R1 heat up quickly then they may well be a good sprint tyre. Interested to hear opinions on the first lap performance
Sounds an odd comment, but if you are running in sprints, i.e. on cold tyres, if you get a chance try some Uniroyal Rainsport 3s.If the R1 heat up quickly then they may well be a good sprint tyre. Interested to hear opinions on the first lap performance
They are superb tyres in the wet, i.e. A rated, and give excellent grip stone cold.
On the drag strip a friend on mine in a TVR got off the line markedly quicker on them than others on r888s. On a recent track day I was unable to catch a lower powered car, otherwise identical to mine. I was on A048s, he was on a Rainsport 3s. And on checking his tyres after 15 laps of Blyton flat out, they weren't marked by the high speed cornering.
I do realise they might simply not be on the permitted list.
QBee said:
Sounds an odd comment, but if you are running in sprints, i.e. on cold tyres, if you get a chance try some Uniroyal Rainsport 3s.
I do realise they might simply not be on the permitted list.
1A list. I do realise they might simply not be on the permitted list.
https://www.msauk.org/assets/196-208commonregulati...
Another vote for Rainsports, I've been impressed with them for ages, loads of racers use them as wet tyres. Inexpensive too.
I use them as all season (but particularly wet/cold weather) tyres.
I've raced on DZ03g, need a bit of heat in them, run at 25psi cold which goes up to 30 ish wet hot. Grip like snot!
I use them as all season (but particularly wet/cold weather) tyres.
I've raced on DZ03g, need a bit of heat in them, run at 25psi cold which goes up to 30 ish wet hot. Grip like snot!
Gassing Station | Track Days | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff