Well I just took off my set of Dunlops so I'll go ahead and review them and hopefully save any of you guys the hassle...
#1) What tire are you offering for review (size, model, type (summer, A/s, winter, race, etc), price paid, miles driven on tires, etc):
205/50/17 Dunlop Sport Signatures, All Seasons, approx $500 installed back in July of 2008 (purchased from Tire Rack and installed at one of their Installers), 35k miles and they are toast.
#2) What is your geographic location:
Sierra Nevada (Reno!)
#3) What types of driving events if any (Track, AutoX, Commute , etc):
My legacy is just a 2.5i so there isn't any racing going on. Primarily commuting but I've done a couple of very spirited runs on some desolate back roads.
#4) Percent of highway vs. city driving:
Probably 60/40
#5) Tires used previously:
Stock Yokohama Advan A82a
#6) Your review and personal comments (Dry, wet, and snow, if applicable. Also, please compare to other tires used):
Well I bought these tires because I've had the old versions (D60, D60 A2, Sport A2's) on many of my previous cars and family's cars and I was always thrilled with them. Thats when I lived in texas. I bought the Subaru after about a year of living in real winter land here, and the factory Yokohamas were just junk. they were bald (evenly so) at 27,000 miles so I did a little research (not enough) and just went with the Dunlops because they seemed to offer a lot of bang for the buck and had 60,000 mile warranty.
They were awesome when I bought them. First winter went pretty good and in the dry and wet they were phenominal! Quieter than the Yoko's but I did notice a drop in highway MPG after buying them. With the Yoko's I'd get 31 on a trip easy and after I struggled to maintain 29. After the first winter (10k miles or so) they started getting harder, noisier and the next winter the traction wasn't as good in the snow. Last winter they absolutely sucked. We spun out going 40 on the interstate through a turn and I hit someones pile of tire chains in the snow and they gave right up and we slid head first into a snow bank. We actually got some good down pours this summer and their wet traction was way worse as they wore. In the past few weeks they were all over the place in the wet and they are still above the tread bars too. So after this past weekend of almost crashing in a freak snow while heading over the summit they are gone. We just swapped them for the Conti DWS's today actually. Hoping for much better winter traction!
In short... if you live in the south with no snow... great tire. Just don't expecit to last the full 60,000 miles with any kind of driveability left. They get hard stiff, and lose their grip in anything but dry really fast. If you live somewhere that gets considerable rain or snow... stay away unless you can buy new ones every 10k miles.
