Replacing OEM NanoEnergy with Dunlop Blu Sport Response

After 14k miles, my factory Toyo NanoEnergy tyres were worn on the front, and one of the back ones got a nail in it, and curious if another brand could be quieter, I decided to replace all four tyres today with Dunlop Blu SportResponse. I've only driven up to 30mph so far, but first impressions are that they are not any quieter, and the ride seems less supple than the Toyos. According to EU tyre label, they have one of the lowest noise ratings at 68db. They were cheap too (50 pounds each or 65 US Dollars) including fitting. The guy in the tyre shop showed me a tyre for a BMW X6 which was 360 pounds (468 US Dollars) - I'm glad I drive a Gen 4 with skinny tyres!

Will monitor to see how MPG changes with these tyres. It rains a lot here in England and apparently these Dunlops are supposed to be superior than other tyres when it comes to reducing stopping distances when braking in wet conditions.

 

Did one of my normal early morning drives into London this morning, and was surprised to barely get 60mpg (UK) according to the dash. I did the exact same drive last week when I had the Toyos on, and got 80mpg. I consistently got 75-85mpg on that drive in the last few months, sometimes getting above 90mpg in the summer.

There are two factors that changed since last week.
1. Replaced my worn OEM Toyos with the Dunlops
2. Temp was 10C (50F) last week, and was 5C (41F) this morning

Now going from 80mpg to 60mpg is a 25% drop.

I appreciate that I need to be comparing tank to tank, which I will do over time, but doing some research on the internet, it seems that others who have put on new tyres have noticed a drop in mpg, with some explaining it as the brand new tyre having a larger diameter because of the 8mm of tread or the tyres need to be broken in for a few thousand miles before you can get up to your normal mpg. Let's wait and see.

I did check the tyre pressures at lunchtime today and they were 1-2 psi down from what I was running with the Toyos which was 36 front/35 rear. So I pumped them up and went on the motorway for drive. The ride seems more Germanic than the Toyos (firmer but less supple) and I noticed the car was a lot more controlled in terms of bounce at high speed (the Toyos provided a Cadillac like ride) It may just be me but the Dunlops feels less 'sticky' when going round bends. They grip well but don't seem to stick like glue to the road like the Toyos did.

 

Heavy rain in London tonight. Driving at 30mph, another driver tried to change lanes into my lane without looking in their mirror. I had to slam on the brakes to avoid hitting him as I was in the inside lane and had no room to swerve.

I genuinely expected my car would slide given how much surface water was on the road and how quickly I needed to stop. The car came to a stop very rapidly without any fuss or drama. I put it down to my new tyres which were rated very highly for performance in the wet.

 

Yes, you are probably right. It happened last autumn too, I've just gotten used to summer driving and high mpgs.

The Dunlops do seem quieter than the Toyos across a variety of road surfaces, so less tyre noise now, which makes the engine seem noisier when accelerating!!