Slick: pirelli vs dunlop

zedexman said:

Which one is the best for the 959 on track ?

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Is the new Suzuki better than the Ducati

I run Dunlop slicks on my 675R and Pirelli on the 1299. They are very different tires. Really depends on your riding style and what you're looking to get out of the tire.

zedexman said:

Wrong post lol

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I was trying to infer it was preference. You gotta try them out and make your own decision. They wouldn't be for sale if they weren't competitors.

Unless you are 3 or 4 seconds off the lap record, it won't make any difference.

I've run both at COTA, my lap times, A group, are the same on both.

Both brands stick like glue for us mere mortals.

I was gonna say, if you can tell the difference between the two you should be racing professionally. Hell I've been mid A group on TOURING tires. First Pirelli Angels, then I "stepped up" to Rosso 2's for over a year lol... Then I lowsided at over 100 mph, but they had a lot of heat cycles on them. But the point is you can go fast on any tire.

I don't race professionally but I can certainly tell the difference between the two. The carcass of the Dunlops is MUCH stiffer than the Pirellis. The profiles are quite different as well. They definitely have a different feel. The other huge difference is how each tire warms up. The Dunlops have to be completely heat soaked to include the sidewalls. They're also more temperamental to air pressure levels. The Pirelli's are a bit more forgiving and can be brought up to heat fairly quickly on the track. I'd say warmers are nice to have with the Pirellis but an absolute must on the Dunlops.

Rogue said:

I don't race professionally but I can certainly tell the difference between the two. The carcass of the Dunlops is MUCH stiffer than the Pirellis. The profiles are quite different as well. They definitely have a different feel. The other huge difference is how each tire warms up. The Dunlops have to be completely heat soaked to include the sidewalls. They're also more temperamental to air pressure levels. The Pirelli's are a bit more forgiving and can be brought up to heat fairly quickly on the track. I'd say warmers are nice to have with the Pirellis but an absolute must on the Dunlops.

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Agreed. The carcass is much stiffer on the Dunlop and it's a 200/55 vs the Pirelli 200/60. I want to switch over a try the Pirelli Superbike slick but damn it's a pretty big price difference and the Dunlops hold up well as far as wear. I've only used the Pirelli Superbike pro slick and it wasn't bad but my local track torched the right side as it's right turn heavy.

Rogue said:

I don't race professionally but I can certainly tell the difference between the two. The carcass of the Dunlops is MUCH stiffer than the Pirellis. The profiles are quite different as well. They definitely have a different feel. The other huge difference is how each tire warms up. The Dunlops have to be completely heat soaked to include the sidewalls. They're also more temperamental to air pressure levels. The Pirelli's are a bit more forgiving and can be brought up to heat fairly quickly on the track. I'd say warmers are nice to have with the Pirellis but an absolute must on the Dunlops.

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Agreed. The feeling is different: The Pirelli's carcasse is softer and they move around much more than the Dunlop's, which are more precise (especially the front).

Dunlop's are more consistent with lap times than the Pirell's too in my experience. Pirelli's are super grippy at the beginning. But my lap times drop around 1 second on the Pirell's after about 8-10 laps. The Dunlop's are more consistent through the cicle and I can still do pretty much the same fast laps after 15 laps like on the beginning. But the fastest lap times are nearly identical on both tires.

Plus, at least with my riding stile, the Dunlop's last a lot longer than the Pirelli's. Depending on the track, I normally use 1 Dunlop rear slick per day, while I need two Pirelli's at the same time. Especially on tracks with high abrasion like Barcelona.

P.S. You're a brave (or maybe insane) man if you go on track with cold slicks! First corner -> high sider or front wheel low sider. I wouldn't spend waisting 2-3 laps just o heat up the tires each turn.

Phil1199 said:

P.S. You're a brave (or maybe insane) man if you go on track with cold slicks! First corner -> high sider or front wheel low sider. I wouldn't spend waisting 2-3 laps just o heat up the tires each turn.

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I don't go on the track with OEM SC's without warmers. I was just stating that the importance of using them with the Dunlops is much more than the Pirellis.

Due to a tire warmer failure and some crazy weather changes. I actually had to go out on cold Dunlop slicks once for a race. On the way into the hot pit I was lightly dragging the front brake to get some heat into the tire and it would simply lock up immediately and slide right across the pavement. I kept locking it up the whole way around the the track and dragging it, desperate to get some heat into it. Did a burnout on the back stretch to heat up the rear and finally felt the bike actually stop without dragging the front as I hit my grid spot. Then stayed way outside into turn 1 in the event I lost it so I wouldn't take anyone else out.

Thank god this was when I was a novice, by about the 3rd lap I had enough heat where the front didn't skitter away in every corner. The rear actually came up to temp pretty fast though.

Pick up a Dunlop slick and a Pirelli slick and you will see why the Dunlops need to be heat soaked more, they weigh quite a bit more than the Pirelli tires. Just lots more rubber in their construction. A tech article I read about Pirelli's construction in RRW mentioned that Pirelli had found that if they kept them thinner, they actually shed heat faster and thus would last about the same amount of distance. From what I have seen, Dunlops last longer for mortals, but the guys at the pointy end of the grid get about the same amount of time out of either. When AMA and WSBk were running at Laguna the same weekend a couple years ago, the Pirellis fell off more as a percentage against the fastest times turned by them, but were still faster than the Dunlops at the end of the race. Which didn't have as much of a disparity between the fastest and slowest laps set by them. As you get faster, you also really need to play with the springs to optimize either. Bolting them on with the same settings doesn't work as well above about a trackday pace.

flobrandx said:

Agreed. The carcass is much stiffer on the Dunlop and it's a 200/55 vs the Pirelli 200/60. I want to switch over a try the Pirelli Superbike slick but damn it's a pretty big price difference and the Dunlops hold up well as far as wear. I've only used the Pirelli Superbike pro slick and it wasn't bad but my local track torched the right side as it's right turn heavy.

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do the superbike pro still exist? i think they do AND there is another superbike compound sc3 but not sure designed for longevity with slighly less grip aka just like the superbike pro. ive heard multiple stories that the sc3 is the superbike pro replacement and that the superbike pro still exists. who knows

did you like the superbike Pro i have a set just not on the bike yet.

mark419ny said:

do the superbike pro still exist? i think they do AND there is another superbike compound sc3 but not sure designed for longevity with slighly less grip aka just like the superbike pro. ive heard multiple stories that the sc3 is the superbike pro replacement and that the superbike pro still exists. who knows

did you like the superbike Pro i have a set just not on the bike yet.

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The Pro is still available on their website but I heard rumor of the SC3 replacing it as well.

I did like the Pro as they heated up quick and longevity was pretty good but my home track punished the right side making a flat spot. The Dunlop full race slicks are about the same price but wear better but require more heat. I only ran one set of Pros and not sure how I'd feel with them now after running Dunlops for the past 2 seasons and my pace has improved.

Awesome thanks


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I have a set of the Pros with 8 laps on them. Can bring to COTA if anyone is interested.

Rogue said:

I have a set of the Pros with 8 laps on them. Can bring to COTA if anyone is interested.

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Don't like em? What brand/compound do you prefer to run?

flobrandx said:

Don't like em? What brand/compound do you prefer to run?

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They're fine. To be honest, I just don't track my Panigale that much anymore. My 675R is a dedicated race bike and more fun on the track. I have over $40k invested in my 1299S and that's always in the back of my head when riding it on the track. I have quite a bit in the 675R too, but it was built to be thrown down the track, I won't cry when it happens. The Trumpet seems to really like the Dunlops.

At a typical track day, I'll bring both bikes. The Panigale usually gets ridden on the last session of the day when it's warm and most of the idiots have crashed out. I just run the OEM SC's now.

Rogue said:

They're fine. To be honest, I just don't track my Panigale that much anymore. My 675R is a dedicated race bike and more fun on the track. I have over $40k invested in my 1299S and that's always in the back of my head when riding it on the track. I have quite a bit in the 675R too, but it was built to be thrown down the track, I won't cry when it happens. The Trumpet seems to really like the Dunlops.

At a typical track day, I'll bring both bikes. The Panigale usually gets ridden on the last session of the day when it's warm and most of the idiots have crashed out. I just run the OEM SC's now.

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Yea, I know what you mean regarding tracking the Panigale. That's why I bought my RSV4 for sole track duty. Now that I spend 95% of my time on the track I sold the Panigale.

flobrandx said:

Yea, I know what you mean regarding tracking the Panigale. That's why I bought my RSV4 for sole track duty. Now that I spend 95% of my time on the track I sold the Panigale.

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question. whats the difference between RSV4 and Panigale? aren't they are almost the same as $ goes and the repair cost.