What's the difference between the two listings Tire Rack has for the Dunlop SP20FE tires, besides the price difference? One is $60 and the other is $38.

Tire Rack Listings

I got these tires OEM on my 04HCH and they've been great, despite the dismal reviews at tire rack. 55k miles, great MPG, no complaints. Now I need to replace them and have some confusion about why people hated them so much and why there are two different versions at dramatically different prices.

 

If you like them, why not buy them again if they work for you and your driving habits? I have no idea why the price difference except I suspect that either one of the two has a different construction or speed rating, or there has been a redesign and they are closing the older model out. Call Tire Rack and ask. Now as far as the tires go:

You can tell from the tread design that they are probably not very good in heavy rain. I say this because they have a low void area (the open area between tread blocks) and do not have very many channels to direct water away like more expensive tires. This same design puts more rubber on the road however and hence your long tire life.

From the comments it appears they also have soft sidewalls - common with inexpensive tires - which means they will not provide responsive handling, but if you haven't noticed that it must not be something you worry about. They also probably use a simple rubber compound which would also not confer benefits in terms of handling, cold weather performance, etc, but again, if you haven't noticed this as an issue, don't worry about it.

 

Well I haven't noticed these things, but on this car I have nothing to compare it to, so it could easily be that they seem good when another tire might be worlds better.

 

I found the tires to be absolutely the worst tire I've ever driven with. Hence my switch. I found the OEM Dunlop to be terrible in the rain and snow. As for FE in the dry, nothing there either.


As for why there are 2 listings. 1 has a max psi of 51 and the other 44. The OEM tires for my HCH were the 51 psi one.

 

I inspected the listings carefully and could not determine a single difference between the two. Where are you finding the PSI rating and which tire is it with the higher pressure, the more expensive one I assume?

As for the dunlops in general, I've had no problems. Having lived in Minnesota most of my life I can appreciate the subtle differences in snow performance, but in new mexico we get so little of it that I might not notice anyway. Again, I think it might just be that I've had no other tires on this car so perhaps I just haven't seen how good it could be.

I just want something that gets as good MPG as my OEM Dunlops that I don't have to special order from Mars. I am pretty much ready to go down to discount tire and see what they have available, read the reviews of those and pick one from their list. That keeps it simple and if it's a stock tire then they'll have an easier time servicing the road hazard and such. There's just too many dang tires out there and not a very good way to compare them with no LRR rating to go by and the green seal list being so outdated.

 

Yes. the more expensive one is 51 max psi. Just do a compare against both set and you will see the differences.

If you don't get snow you should do what I did. Go the Sumitomo route. These tires totally made a difference in handling and they do extremely well in the rain. They are a little noiser than stock OEM, but not by much.

 

I second that. Since the topic came up, which LRR tire on the market today is best in rain/snow? Opinions?

 

I use blizzacks for the snow and they get the same mpg that i can achieve with my LRR tires.

 

We do get snow, we're at 6000 feet after all, probably a dozen days a year I have snowy driving. I don't know if that's worth considering or not. I can always take the Xterra on those days I guess. I just don't want to get something that's totally dangerous in the snow because I won't always be able to choose the car I'm in.

 

Ok... don't get the sumitomo then. i have driven with them in the snow but i wouldn't recommend them for snow use. i normally don't drive them in the snow (i have dedicated winter set of wheels) but i wanted to see how they would fair. They behaved worse then OEM, not that OEM in snow was anything to shout about.... but in all other conditions, dry, wet, mix, etc they blew away OEM.