Dunlop Direzza ZII Star Spec Sizes & review

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The Direzza ZII Star Spec is Dunlop’s Extreme Performance Summer tire developed for serious sports car, sports coupe and performance sedan enthusiasts looking for race tire-like traction on the street or for use in autocross, drifting and track events.

As an evolution of the Direzza ZII and continuing to use the same tread design, the Direzza ZII Star Spec’s tread compound helps provide faster lap times from the start by developing more traction in temperate temperatures along with consistent grip on subsequent laps when the tires are fully warmed up. While this means the Direzza ZII Star Spec’s tread compound accommodates a wider operating temperature range, it is not intended to be serviced, stored nor driven in near- and below-freezing temperatures, through snow or on ice.

Dunlop’s warranty states: “Ultra high-performance summer tires are not recommended for winter use, and tread or shoulder cracking on those tires resulting from winter use will not be covered under our warranty.”

Direzza ZII Star Spec tires confirm their “Star Spec” identity in the form of a 5-pointed star symbol branded adjacent to the “Direzza ZII” name on the sidewall. However, this 5-pointed star should not be confused with the same symbol often branded by tire manufacturers on the sidewalls of Original Equipment tires for BMW vehicles.

Direzza ZII Star Spec’s high-grip tread compound is molded into a directional design with a continuous center rib flanked by massive shoulders that form a highly rigid tread that delivers high levels of dry grip and handling while promoting uniform tire temperatures and even wear across the tread. Two wide circumferential center grooves channel water through the center of the tread design while angled independent grooves help direct water to the sides of the footprint to enhance wet traction.

The Direzza ZII Star Spec features Dunlop’s True Circle Profile that distributes tire deflection forces along the sidewall to provide more control by better communicating tire performance limits to the driver. Its internal structure includes JointLess Band (JLB) Technology that spirally winds polyamide cord over the two wide steel belts to promote strength, uniform ride quality and high-speed capability while 2-ply polyester sidewalls help resist lateral deflection to provide responsive handling and cornering stability.

7 COMMENTS

  1. Purchase for 13 WRX hatchback. I knew the tires would not have long life but they seemed to wear sooner than expected. The tires perform excellent in dry handling, and even performed quite well at two autocross events. They are very responsive and have amazing traction. After about 16k miles, the tread pattern started to “cup” and become uneven, creating quite loud road noise. Even though the tires have significant tread life left, they are making more and more noise, especially when driven over 50 mph — making highway driving almost unbearably loud.I would recommend these tires for those looking for aggressive street handling performance as well as beginning level autocross performance; but don’t expect long life nor a quiet ride. They were always a little noisy (even when new), but got much louder with wear.

  2. wouldn’t leave home with out them! these tires make my car better! I DONT care about tread wear! only how good these tires work, and they do work well! I can’t wate till DREZZ-3 come out!

  3. I bought these for my DD EVO X back and forth to NYC everyday. I wanted a tire that has cat like responce when dealing with NYC potholes & NYC cutting you off traffic. I made a great decision!

  4. Make sure you have a stiff rim to match the tire so that it’s not doing all sorts of weird car-magic when you’re turning. Try to keep every component relatively similar and you’ll find that balance in any setup.This tire is worse than RS3’s on my CLA45 AMG but on my S2K, i’m almost certain that these tires are the money. I like stiff sidewalls and the RS3s are just a tad more soft in that department. Enjoy this and it’s definitely enough if you don’t go too heavy on the brakes. Shouldn’t be using them dang things anyways ;). enjoy

  5. I don’t drive the car in the rain, so I’m unable to provide any opinion on wet traction. These tires have great dry grip and progressive break away. I use these tires for daily driving and autocross and they do not disappoint.

  6. Background: I drive a 93 Miata with OEM bilstein suspension and a RB front swaybar, stock rear and I raced in E Street for a full year on them. I bought these because they were the best 200tw tire in the 14 inch performance catagory. I daily drove them and did a full year (10-14) autocross events on them. I liked them quite a bit and they were great for spirited backroads and autocross. I took them down to Deals Gap two years and they did great, not once did they break traction or even close to it. They handle heat very well for what they are and I was only able to get them hot and greasy after I had someone co-drive my car, and even then it was only after run 8. They had good traction in the wet until they started to get worn, then it dropped off and they became scary in the rain. I managed to cord them during my cars last autocross event partially due to a bad alignment, however I was still able to trophy that event, so yea. Would I buy them again? Probably not. The only reason I got these was because my car came with ZI StarSpecs and they were the only good 200tw tire. However, there are faster and better 200tw tires out there. These are probably about 1 second behind the fastest 200tw tires.

  7. These tires are on a modified 84 VW Rabbit, I use the car for SCCA autocross and I love twisty country roads. First hundred miles today, Stunned at the ride quality and how quiet they are. This car has no headliner or A/C so its windows down and quiet tires are good. Thew them at some good corners and they seem to have hi limits I will come back and re rate them as time goes on

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