Dunlop Direzza ZII Star Spec
 

So these are the successor to the ZII, which was one of the better autocross tires that many people used. Not so great for the track persay because they didn't handle heat well, but for autocross they were sharper and worked as well or better than anything else as long you didn't let them overheat. They were also much better in the wet than the original RS3. Keep in mind these technically aren't legal for autocross until after Nationals since they didn't make the April 31st deadline, but I don't think anyone is going to care at a local event.

Tirerack now has them up on their site here:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....+ZII+Star+Spec

Expensive compared to the RS3-V2 and since they just became available no real world info on them.

Here is some Dunlop marketing stuff in Japanese saying they are 1 second faster around the track in an STi. :)

http://image.rakuten.co.jp/grund/cab...mg67717285.jpg

They aren't saying they are 1 second faster, they are saying they are 1% faster than the original ZII. So probably a bit less than 1 second on your typical autocross course, maybe a couple seconds on a road course.

**EDIT** - I think we are both right, they might have been targeting a 100s lap. Hard to say since I don't know Japanese.

Here's a cool video of Dunlop testing the ZII Star Spec in Japan. You might recognize at least one of the drivers from Best Motoring.

[ame]http://youtu.be/BJTiMqNjHEI[/ame]

Anyone run Z1 Star Specs? I'm on the fence right now... either get AD08R, or RS3-V2. What should we expect as far as price goes for the Z2 SS? I've heard RS3s are noisy after some miles, and AD08Rs are pretty expensive.

You should check out the Federal 595 rsr

Their pricing is right inline with the original ZII's, about $25/tire more than RS3's.

I've been plenty happy with my ZII's, they take track use just great.

I had the old star specs around 1999-2002 on my SR S13 iirc. They were nice; but nothing to compare them to since I haven't tried any other extreme tires at the time.

Ive run both Z1 Star Specs and the current outgoing Z2, still my favorite tires with the original Hankook RS-3s coming after that. Might try the Z222 RS-3s next.

Likewise !
ZII's ARE track tires ! :burnrubber:

My original star specs gave me 2 years of DD and track use (the last couple of track sessions they were heat cycled out). My ZII's are currently giving me excellent track performance, and I am looking forward to ZII Star Specs for next season !

http://i628.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps3eb3bee8.gif

CERBERUS

I'm on my second full summer of street/track and occasional autox use with my ZII's, definitely looking forward to the ZII SS.

I drive a lot too, I'm at ~74k km's in just over two years. Translation, I probably have around 30k km's on the ZII's.

I want to like these but I still haven't seen anybody recommend them other than the Subaru crowd/internet forums.

You can't beat the performance for the price of the federals

Don't forget if you're autocrossing TW goes to 200 for 2015 is street classes.

There will be a replacement for the 595 RSR out after the 1st of the year with a TW of 200.

Looks like TireRack finally got around to doing their test of the new Star Specs. They came out to be the overall performance winner over the BFG Rivals, AD08Rs, and Hankook RS-3 V2.

[ame]http://youtu.be/Cnfw7t3Fgzg[/ame]

Full test report: http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/...y.jsp?ttid=172