Dunlop SP Sport Maxx 050 vs Pirelli P Zero - Which Is #1?

Fuel Efficiency

The US Department of Energy estimates that around 25% of the fuel consumption of a vehicle is attributable to the tyres. That's a lot, and it means that choosing fuel efficient tyres can save you quite a bit of money.

The SP Sport Maxx 050 tyres rank a D on a scale of A to E in the official fuel efficiency tests carried out by the EU (they call these rolling resistance tests).

The P Zero tyres get a grade of C.

Expect the lower grade tyre to consume an extra 0.0L/100km. This works out to $7 extra spent on petrol per year, based on a typical 12,000 km driven per year.

Here's a graph comparing the SP Sport Maxx 050 and P Zero tyres for fuel efficiency (1 = Grade E, 5 = Grade A).

Grip & Handling

We'll now take a look at how these tyres compare in terms of grip and handling.

A good measure of this is 'wet grip', which is an indication of how well the tyres will allow the vehicle to come to a stop in wet conditions.

The SP Sport Maxx 050 tyres rank a B on a scale of A to E in the official fuel tests carried out by the EU.

The P Zero tyres, on the other hand, get a grade of B.

As their wet grip grade is the same, expect negligible differences in terms of braking distance.

Here's a graph comparing the SP Sport Maxx 050 and P Zero tyres for wet grip (1 = Grade E, 5 = Grade A).

Noise

Another key factor to consider when choosing a tyre is road noise. Once you're over about 40 km/h, the dominant source of noise you hear is from the contact of your tyres on the road.

There is a surprisingly wide variation in the amount of noise each tyre makes.

The SP Sport Maxx 050 tyres produce 68.6 dB of road noise, which corresponds to a rank of A on a scale of A to C in the standardised testing done by the EU.

On the other hand, the P Zero tyres produce 72.0 dB of road noise, which means a grade of B.

Expect the lower graded tyre to produce about 1.3 times as much noise as the higher grade tyre (the decibel scale is logarithmic).

Here's a visual representation of how the SP Sport Maxx 050 and P Zero tyres stack up for noise (1 = Grade C, 3 = Grade A).

Based on the results of a number of tyre benchmarks, the P Zero scores 4 out of 5 for comfort. We don't have any comfort data for the SP Sport Maxx 050 tyres.

As per the UTQG guidelines, the SP Sport Maxx 050 tyres have a treadwear rating of 280, whereas the P Zero tyres have a rating of 300. This means that the SP Sport Maxx 050 tyres will theoretically last only 93% as long as the P Zero tyres.

As per the UTQG system, the SP Sport Maxx 050 tyres have a traction resistance grading of A, whereas the P Zero tyres have a grading of AA.

As per the UTQG system of tyre grading, the SP Sport Maxx 050 and P Zero tyres both have a temperature resistance grading of A.

For fuel efficiency, SP Sport Maxx 050 score a grade of D, which is below average. P Zero end up with a grade of C, which is more or less average.

More important is the wet grip, which gives you an indication of their traction and handling. In this regard, both the SP Sport Maxx 050 and the P Zero get a score of B, which is above average.

More important is the wet grip, which gives you an indication of their traction and handling. In this regard, SP Sport Maxx 050 get a score of A, which is excellent. P Zero end up with a grade of B, which is about typical.