Hello,

                                     I bought my 17 plate SEL  110 estate at the beginning of last month and it came with Dunlop Sport Maxx tyres, 215/45/16H. It had done 18100 miles. Given that mileage I expected  to have to buy new tyres   at least for the front within a few months or within a few thousand miles. That was not the case, it came with fairly new Dunlop Sport Maxx tyres on 16 inch rims with between 6 and 7mm of tread all round. Given that most tyres start their life (except Michelin)  with 8mm that was good news. However I was surprised to see nearly new tyres when I expected them to be well over half worn.

 

                                   I refreshed my memory of how to read the tyre codes after checking with the Skoda dealership that sold me the car who were very helpful.  Two of the 4 tyre codes  say they were first manufactured  the second week of 2018. The other two do not say this, they both have Jan2  followed by R. The Jan 2 may be another way of saying they were first made in the second week of January but I have no idea what the R could mean. I clearly have no idea how long they sat around before being shipped to a tyre dealer and how long again before they got fitted to my car.

 

                                  I find it hard to believe that there could be a third tyre change involved. One unrepairable puncture maybe but stretching belief to have two?  I am working  at the moment on the premise that the 4 tyres were all fitted together at the same time. The 7mm tyres were on the back when I got the car which suggests no rotation had taken place on  them but I had them rotated  back to front so the marginally best tyres are now on the front. I have looked at the maths and the permutations given the state of wear  at the beginning of January 2020.  Assuming I am right, that these are the first new tyres since the car was built,  I am coming up with a figure of 15000  maybe 16000  miles when they were all changed.  No other figure works unless two were fitted later than the other two. If my calculations are correct 15000/16000 miles  seems low for a set of premium tyres but that might be the "norm" for them.

 

                  Of course I do not have perfect information. I do not know at what mileage the tyres were changed. I havent got the name of the first owner , that was blanked out on the duplicate service history for data protection and I dont think I have a good enough reason to ask the DVLA who the previous owner was. Again, the supplying dealership does  know  the name but they cannot ask that person questions about a car they no longer own again under data protection. I have no idea if the previous owner regularly rotated the wheels. I know the Skoda dealership didnt do them because its not on their system and it would be if they had rotated them. They might or might not have been rotated at a tyre  dealers or another garage and I have no means of knowing that. I also do not know what pressure the previous owner ran them at or even  how often they checked the pressures.  If they ran them constantly at the "eco" figure to get optimum fuel mileage that would have had an adverse effect on the life of the tyres, they would have worn out prematurely in the centre, But I know none of these things.

 

                          Some tyre review sites have commented adversely on the tyre life of Sport Maxxs. I have even seen figures of under ten thousand miles which did seem poor to me. I am running them at 32psi all round. If I did have a full load of passengers and luggage I would always  adjust the pressures to those recommended on the filler plate but that is going to be extremely rare. For the vast majority of the time it is myself and my wife in the car with just a toolbag and tyre pump and spare wheel in the boot.

 

                 I would really welcome any thoughts on this. Does 15000/16000 miles sound about right for a set 16 inch Sport Maxxs? I know low profile tyres like these do not last as long as other tyres but it does seem low to me notwithstanding.  

Dunlop Sport Maxx tyres can be/are directional tyres. 

The DOT code for dating tyres is only on one side of the tyre. Marked in green below.

Do you have two tyre on one side of the car where you can read the whole DOT code including the date.

But on the other side you can only see the DOT code for the size and factory ( marked in red below ) where they were made.

 

 

Note there are 3 blocks of 4 number/letter code.

This is with the last block of 4 being the date code.

If you can only see 2 blocks look on the inside/other side of the tyre.

 

Thanks AG Falco

People can do anything before handing back cars.

Change wheels and tyres from one car to another, put back on wheels tyres that were stored while they had on winters, etc etc etc.

 

 

215/45 R 16  is not really 'Low Profile'. 

 The Sport Maxx on a Mk2 Fabia Monte Carlo or vRS were 205/ 40 R 17 ZR and were 'low profile. 

They could wear quickly and are rather different.   Also mis-shape easily, get sidewall damage as well.

 

When reading reviews you need to be looking at the same and not just similar.

 

 

on the car here are Dunlop Sport Maxx in 205/40 R 17 which on the front could wear quite quick but had good grip in the summer and so so in the wet, cold.

next to are the Pirelli Zero Nero in the same size that Skoda used to fit when owners had Pulling to the left and the Dealership could not fix.

They had stronger sidewalls but also a different compound and lasted longer but were and are crap and have the TC light flash more often in damp / wet roads.

 

Bottom pics. 205/40 R 17 Dunlop Sport Maxx as was Standard fit on the Mk2's with 17" wheels.

 

Edited 16 February, 20206 yr by Roottootemblowinootsoot

The 215/45/r16 sport maxx on the rear of mine became mishapen with stepped wear, made a terrible noise from the rear of the car most noticeable on smooth surfaces about 30mph. Certainly won't fit them again.

 

No idea on age of the rears, cars done 32k and they had about 5mm left. Rears obviously wear slower, so who knows. Car is so much quieter now I'm shot of them.

Dunlop sport maxx are the worst tyre I've experienced albeit on a VRS MK2, 8mm to 4mm in 6 months, tyres always cold but wear out after less than 6000 miles, Uniroyals, Goodyear efficient grip, (these are Audi rated)  have lasted 2 years, same short distance to work

Edited 16 February, 20206 yr by Kobayashi