Dunlop’s Flagship Tyre – The SP Sport Maxx TT

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Introducing the Dunlop SP Sport Maxx TT, Dunlop’s Flagship Premium tyre for the Singapore market.

The SP Sport Maxx TT features an asymmetrical modern tread design, coupled with innovations such as:

  • Sidewalls reinforced by DuPont’s Kevlar polymer
  • Jointless Band Technology to maintain structural integrity at high speeeds
  • MFS (Max Flange Shield) to protect rims
  • Rubber compound adapted from motorsports research
  • Multi-Radius-Tread (MRT) technology to distribute contact patch pressure smoothly during cornering

With the SP Sport Maxx TT, Dunlop has created a very competitive entrant in the Summer Ultra High Performance tyres market, going head-to-head with familiar tyres in Singapore such as the Bridgestone RE050A, Michelin PS3, Continental CSC3 and Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric. Such tyres usually perform well on normal street driving, with the capability for the occasional hard driving. They are otherwise known in the market as all-rounders.

In fact, we have already done a review which pits the Dunlop SP Sport Maxx TT with the Continental CSC3 and Michelin PS3.

Let’s take a look at some of the innovative features in detail to understand why the SP Sport Maxx TT tyre performs very well in many international tyre reviews.

DuPont™ Kevlar® Engineered Elastomer (EE)

Without boring you on the material properties of the Kevlar material, let’s just say that the Kevlar short fibers are highly resistant to thermal decomposition, while providing high strength and modulus. The incorporation of Kevlar into the tyre compound is considered to be a breakthrough in tyre technology.

By using Kevlar material in the entire apex compound of the sidewall, it creates a rigid structure resistant to torsion and compression, which in turn translates to improved dynamic behaviour especially at high speeds and high temperatures. They also result in enhanced stability during cornering and improved road feedback.

By the way, adaptations of Kevlar are used in bulletproof vests all around the world to save lives, thus wouldn’t it be of some comfort to know that it can potentially save lives when cornering at speeds bordering on insanity?

Multi Radius Tread Technology (MRT)


MRT ensures a homogeneous pressure distribution in the contact patch, whilst simultaneously delivering a larger tyre foot print – delivering superior dry handling, without compromise in the wet. This simply means good contact of the tyre and road regardless of changing road conditions.

Max Flange Shield (MFS)

MFS protects our precious and beautiful rims by simply having rubber that extends outwards so that the rims will never be flush with the tyre, thus preventing the rims from being scratched in the unfortunate event we scrape the irritating curbs.

Road Tests

In independent road tests, the SP Sport Maxx TT exhibited excellent road holding abilities during hard cornering thanks to the stiff sidewall, while providing a firm ride at speeds above 100 km/h, i.e. the vehicle will not “hunt” for the direction line even after a hard correction between lanes. In addition, vibrations were absent from the steering wheel even at aggressive cornering, meaning the MRT technology is working at keeping a homogenous contact patch.

Granted, there was a little low level growl that is felt, not heard, at low rolling speeds but it was eliminated at cruising speeds and the tyre betrayed very little road noise. This may be due to the tyres being freshly installed and run.

But don’t take our word only, here is the objective tyre review from TireRack.com, pitting the Dunlop against the CSC3, Pirelli PZero Rosso and Yokohama ADVAN Sport in a series of dry and wet conditions.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4gycRGkMBk&w=560&h=349]

If you are ready to look into an alternative performance tyre instead of the usual suspects, the Dunlop SP Sport Maxx TT will serve you very well, and maybe even exceeding your expectations, thanks to its excellent build quality and innovations built in.

The Dunlop SP Sport Maxx TT are already widely available on the market by the time you read this, and here at AutoKinetics, we have a variety of sizes to fulfill your needs. Do check out our promotions, and do not hesitate to give us a call for enquiries!

By the way, our readers have frequently confused the SP Sport Maxx TT with the SP Sport Maxx. Please take note that these are different tyres, Sport Maxx being a rotational tread while the Sport Maxx TT being a new asymmetrical tread. The person who thought of the naming for these series of tyres should be shot…

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AutoKinetics – The Way it Should Be

Parking Coupon vs Automated Gantry

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Disclaimer: Image taken from myitchyfingers wordpress blog cos it is too cute!

Here’s the scenario: You enter a HDB multi-storey carpark to a nearby place with great food. You place a $1.00 coupon, thinking that 1 hour is sufficient for a good dinner. Halfway through dinner, you meet an old friend, and you engage in a conversation that was long overdue. You are so engrossed that you’d clean forgotten that your parking has expired, only to find the dreaded white slip at the windscreen… Damn.

I’m sure most, if not all of you, have met with this scenario once in a while, where your parking has expired but you may be too lazy to walk all the way back to your car to extend the session. The electronic gantry system is thus, a godsend; the system automatically deducts based on the time we enter and exit. This greatly reduces the hassle of parking, and we never have to worry about the ubiquitous Officers in white.

However, is this automated system really that good? Usually we would find that the rates for such automated parking higher than that of coupon parking; a price to pay for “automation”? I would think that for a peace of mind, I’d don’t mind paying a bit more.

Regarding the ever-present problem of not able/too lazy to walk back to the car to put 1 more coupon, I would suggest that URA or LTA adopt an SMS-style “time-extension” service for existing non-automated parking estates.

E.g. we send an SMS to a Central system that controls parking with the following text: “EXTEND SJL1234K 1430 to 1500 NRIC”, so that my car SJL1234K is extended 30 minutes, and the 50cents is charged to my telco’s monthly bill. Then, URA will receive the 50cents from my telco and thus erase any SJL1234K summon between 1430 to 1500 hours if booked by the Officers.

This system is similar to the electronic payment system for the current OPCs (Off-peak cars), where drivers are given a chance to decide whether to pay the peak hour fees if they want to use their cars then. OPC owners can choose not to pay, banking on their luck if their IU number is not registered in ANY location during their “secret” drive. Usually, OPC drivers will simply pay and not live with the nagging fear of fines.

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AutoKinetics – The Way it Should Be

2012 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 takes on the Ring!

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Cut to the chase, here is the video of the 2012 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 at the Nurburgring, Germany.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yKb6iSWc0k&w=560&h=349]

The Corvette ZR1 blazed the 20.8 km Nordschleife circuit and recorded a lap time of 7 minutes 19.63 seconds, entering the books for the sixth fastest for production vehicles. For comparison, the 2012 Nissan GTR makes the run in 7 minutes 26.7 seconds, not bad for a 500 hp twin-turbo 3.8L V6 godzilla 🙂

The 2012 car is a full production model with no performance modifications and the 1,512 kg car continues on with the LS9 supercharged 6.2 litre V8 rated at 638 hp and 819 Nm, mated to a six-speed, close-ratio manual transmission.

The Corvette wears the Michelin Pilot Sport Cup Zero Pressure tires – the competition-oriented tires are optimised for warm, dry conditions to increase cornering and handling capability – as well as a Performance Traction Management (PTM) system, which manages torque delivery for maximum performance. Engineers estimate an 8% gain in maximum lateral acceleration to more than 1.1g, as well as improved braking distance with these in place.

For people who comment that Michelin can’t make proper track tyres for nuts, I urge them to relook at the Pilot Sport Cup tyres. We are hoping to offer them in the near future if we can secure these. I believe it will give the Toyo R888 Proxes and Bridgestone RE-11S a good run for its money!

AutoKinetics – The Way it Should Be