Founded: 1891
Founder: J. Dunlop
Headquarters: Akron, Ohio, USA
Parent: Goodyear
Website: https://www.dunloptires.com/
Dunlop is an old Irish brand, now working under Goodyear. This marriage did Dunlop a lot of good – now they can ship their tires anywhere in the world and sell them at a low price. Considering that these tires are usually alright or good in quality, their high availability is a good thing.
Who owns Dunlop tires? Goodyear is a massive American tire supplier that has a lot of other brands under their wing. Their role in this arrangement is limited to providing resources and manufacturing sites to Dunlop.
There are many sorts of Dunlop tires, including a lot of high performance variants and many options for various weather conditions. You can find one for yourself, whatever your goals or circumstances may be.
Who makes Dunlop tires? In terms of development and ideas, Dunlop is the one making these tires. But when it comes to actual creation, Goodyear is responsible for most of the manufacturing.
They vary in price, and generally the costlier tire gets, the better it is (like in most brands). The difference can be very tangible – the cheapest variants go as low as $40 or $30, but it’s not really advised to buy these, the problems common in all Dunlops are reflected on these the most.
Where are Dunlop tires made? There are many Goodyear manufacturing sites tasked with producing Dunlop rubbers. There are facilities in the US (Texas, Kansas, East Coast), Europe (Germany, France), Asia (Indonesia, Malaysia, China) and more.
The usual problem is a control loss in challenging scenarios, noise and, in some cases, fragility. The control problem isn’t that dramatic, actually – the traction is good in most cases, although it’s noticeable when these tires stumble in less-than-ideal environments.
Chances are, the normally priced tires will behave well even in cross-country, although you should spare them if you can, given their record. On many of these Dunlop placed warranty of 60k minimum mileage. They do reach this number and go well beyond, but only if you treat them well.
Average Dunlop tires are pretty sturdy and don’t get damaged easily, but this quality of their decreases with the price, so it’s better to overpay just a bit with Dunlops.
But the noise is truly less than ideal on most of these rubbers. As with other characteristics, the sound pollution isn’t as bad on the costlier rubbers.
But even if you buy the cheap options, they aren’t bad – especially in the cost/effectiveness ratio. It’s that they have noticeable problems when they are cheap, and you what you look for is comfort and obedience, than you’re better off with Grandtrek AT22 than SP Touring T1 (for example).
Dunlop Motorcycle Tires
Dunlop Motorcycle Tires enterprise is entirely separate from Dunlop proper. The former is owned by Sumitomo, and not Goodyear. It doesn’t change much in the development department – these tries provide a lot of control and traction, maybe even better than their car-oriented namesake.
Like Dunlop proper, they aren’t too expensive and come in several varying collections. By far the largest focus is on performance and longevity, as the majority of their featured tire collections provide one, another or both in large quantities.
The largest difference is that these tires aren’t as available or easy to find. You can still find and purchase them if you want, but the resources of this brand are scarcer and the demand isn’t as high, too.