Tire: Direzza ZII
Category: Extreme Performance Summer
UTQG (treadwear): 200 A A
If you're shopping for a tire that will give you race type performance that you can also use on the street, then the Dunlop Direzza ZII might be worth a look. It's been developed for use as a race tire for autocross and will give you some great grip as long as the weather stays warm and dry. Dunlop utilized a directional design on this tire and in doing so has developed a tire that should wear uniformly during use...very important for traction purposes when racing. They also used some deep tread grooves to help usher away water for enhanced wet traction. It has some very advanced engineering qualities, especially in relation to how the internal structure has been built. Being a summer tire, it is not intended to be driven through snow/ice, or at near-freezing temperatures.
Overall, this tire gets very high marks from drivers who have used it, and especially in dry weather. Not that you can't use it when rain is coming down, just know that this tire is more set up for optimal dry traction. Being an aggressive tread and compound, don't expect to put a lot of miles on a set. Expect to see about 25,000 miles if used on the street. Less of course if you bring them to the track often. Most drivers say that you'll be able to take corners at twice (or more) the posted speed limit without breaking them loose. The one downside here is that most drivers complain about the increased road noise when using these tires. I guess there's no free lunch after all!
