Dunlop Direzza DZ101 Review

A quick review of my old tires before I replace them later today....

I ordered these in the 205/50/15 size for my MINI. At the time I was faced with either keeping my very heavy stock 17" rims or switching to lightweight 15" rims. Based on the suggestion of several members of the MINI club and my experience with driving around on my 15" autocross rims I decided to make the switch to aftermarket wheels. One of the biggest advantages of this is I was able to buy wheels and tires for about the same price of putting decent 17" tires back on the stock rims. I got an incredible price on these Dunlops tires, at $47.00 per tire it was too good a deal not to try out.

I have been pleased with the tires. I got about 20,000 miles out of them which I think is pretty good for a 300 treadwear and my "spirited" driving style. They do have some sidewall flex (what 50 series tire doesn't) and that took some getting used to but after a few mountain runs I knew exactly how they where going to act. Very sticky in the corners and give you good feel and warning of when they are going to break loose. They have also been a very good on the noise side, they are not very loud even now that they are almost slicks. Wet performance is so-so, they like to plane so you have to be careful when it is really wet. Also, they don't have the best start grip when it is wet out, could be very tricky when pulling away from a stop sign in the rain.

One of the best features (IMO) is the rim protector. The tire has a very pronounced lip around the tire, the tire sits out past the wheel by about 1/4" giving excellent road rash protection and adding a pretty cool look.

Overall I would buy these tires again at the price I paid for them. I'll give them around a 7.5 out of 10? I am going to a different tire this time because I can't get the Dunlops as cheap anymore and because I just want to try something else. Who knows, maybe after this next set I will be back to the Direzzas.

New Tires on the Way

Ordering new tires for the MINI today. They will be General Exclaim UHPs from Tire Rack. Looking forward to getting them mounted and balanced so that I can finally have the car aligned and have all the camber setup for autocrossing.

I'm really digging the new springs. They have made the most difference to the handling of the car since I put the rear say bar on. Feel really nice on the road but flatten the car out when you push the car into a corner. If you are looking to put springs on your MINI I would go for the M7s.

In Triumph news, going to try to squeze the radiator flush in this weekend. Been doing some more research on the Fuel Injection system. I think it will be a go sometime in the next year. Trying to figure out the Megasquirt will be the toughest part. I'll buy a preassembled one and buy the relay board as well just to make sure everything is nice and tidy with the wiring. Tuning the system will be the hardest part and I know I will be having a few other wrench heads help me out with it. I am going to try and pick up a spare intake manifold that I found on craiglist next week, just to have an extra to mount the fuel intake to and so if I have to drill any holes for sensors in it then I have my original just in case I ever return the car to carbs.

That's it for today. I'll be watching a lot of basketball today, tomorrow and the rest of the weekend. First F1 race is saturday as well, looking forward to getting excited about that series for the first few races again and then realizing (again) that no one can pass and 90% of the time the winner is decided in qualifying. Hopefully I'll post some pic of the work on the TR next week.

Possible supplier for my fuel injection project

Received an e-mail back from Mark at Affordable Fuel Injection stating that they can do full kits for a car with twin SU carbs! Very sweet, now all I have to do is scare up the money to do it.

So I have two routes to go, I can either have someone do the whole kit or come up with the bits and pieces my self. Mark also included a link to a company that makes SU throttle bodies that come with the injectors fuel rail, fuel pump and pressure regulator. All I would have to supply would be the fuel return line (which I would have to replace the stock feed line anyway, so not a big deal) and the ECU (hello Megasquirt!). So the project actually seems a bit easier than I first thought. It also may not be as rare as I thought, I found a few guys in the UK that have Fuel injected their TR4s using Meagsquirt and some sort of custom throttle body. This is just a long term plan thing. I would need to clean up the engine a bit, replace the oil pan seal, switch to an alternator (cheaper project than I first thought, maybe $100?) and then add the high torque starter. My initial thought would be I would like to get all this done in the next year. But of course this all falls back on if nothing else with the car goes bad and if I can dig up the money to do it. Even if it is a year off, it has been some neat reading over the last few days.