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Last updated 8/26/2024 - Originally published 8/26/2024
Written by SimpleTire
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Tire Buying Guides
Dunlop was founded in Scotland way back in 1888 by John Boyd Dunlop, a Scottish veterinary surgeon and inventor who’s now recognized as the father of the pneumatic tire. For over a century, Dunlop Tires has set a standard for quality and performance in the tire world, and the Dunlop WinterMaxx tire family is no exception.
Driving in harsh winter conditions presents a unique set of challenges for any tire, and today’s winter tires are a pretty far cry from the noisy, heavy, cumbersome “snow tires” or “mud grips” of a generation ago. The best winter tires today are designed specifically to handle deep snow and slush with confident traction and control but also to offer the kind of handling, cornering ability, low noise, ride quality, braking performance, and road manners you’d expect with a premium all-season or Grand Touring tire. The Dunlop WinterMaxx tire family is designed with those performance targets in mind – they’re tires that can check all those boxes while still ensuring the kind of traction, braking and overall driving dynamics that you need to safely get from point A to point B and back again in harsh winter weather. Let’s go in and take a look at what the Dunlop WinterMaxx tire family is all about:
The WinterMaxx 2 is a winter tire designed for sedans, coupes, minivans, and CUVs; it starts off with a silica-enriched tread formulation with high-tech functionalized polymers, one that’s designed to stay flexible to deliver traction at subfreezing temperatures (when many all-season tires would stiffen up and lose grip). The contact patch of the WinterMaxx 2 has been redesigned and optimized to put more rubber in on the road for glue-like grip as well as improved handling and braking performance, whether the roads are wet, dry, or snow-packed. Its asymmetric winter tread features lateral notches and wide longitudinal grooves, helping to resist hydroplaning by routing water and slush away from the tire’s footprint on wet roads. The non-studded tread also features interlocking 3D sipes, hair-thin slits that multiply the tread’s surface area and traction with their hundreds of biting edges that slice through snow and slush. Unsurprisingly, the Dunlop WinterMaxx 2 has the 3 Peak Mountain Snowflake certification for severe winter service.
When it comes to winter conditions with heavy snow, slush, and ice, they’re no match for the WinterMaxx SJ8 from Dunlop. The WinterMaxx SJ8 is designed for trucks and SUVs, with beefed-up internal construction to easily handle the extra weight of these vehicles. The WinterMaxx SJ8 features Dunlop’s Nano-Fit rubber compound, designed to conform to the road and stay flexible in subfreezing weather. Its directional winter tread is loaded up with Dunlop’s innovative Miura-Ori sipes, preventing tread block distortion and ensuring there are always sharp edges to deliver optimal performance and grip (even on icy roads). The WinterMaxx SJ8’s tread grooves are optimized for great drainage of snow and slush, and it’s available in a wide range of sizes for rims 16” to 22”, making it a versatile fit for full-size trucks like the Ford F150 or compact crossover SUVs like the Honda CR-V.
In addition to the WinterMaxx 2 and WinterMaxx SJ8, Dunlop’s WinterMaxx tire family also includes:
Dunlop WinterMaxx: Features specialized tread compound with open shoulder design, aggressive winter tread with deep 11/32” grooves, specialized tread compound, and 3 Peak Mountain Snowflake certification
Dunlop WinterMaxx ROF: Combines the great winter features of other WinterMaxx tires with run-on-flat technology, enabling a driver to go up to another 50 miles at up to 50 mph even in the event of complete loss of air pressure
NOTE: While Dunlop WinterMaxx tires use a tread compound that stays flexible in very cold weather for dependable traction, that tread formulation is also softer and will wear abnormally on warmer days. Dunlop advises against using these tires if daily temperatures are above 40-45 degrees Fahrenheit, to ward off the chance of premature wear.
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