Given
84%
while driving a
Opel Astra G
(185/65 R15 T) on
mostly town
for 2,000
average miles
I wanted a winter tyre with good snow properties and low rolling resistance. It's hard to find something which matches your expectations, but fortunately that's what I got.
I bought them because I wanted Dunlop tyres for the car's OEM Dunlop steel rims, and the tread design looked strange for me, so I wanted to give them a shot despite the controversial test results (good in 185/60, bad in 195/65, so buying 185/65 was nothing but a gamble).
The test results said that wet grip is where you might be let down, but I think my set is good enough in rainy conditions. Dry grip is good as well, but I believe these properties could have been a bit better. That said, the dry and wet grip levels are still much higher than what I would call unsafe.
However when it comes to snow and ice, the Winter Response 2 starts to shine like a diamond. When the white stuff came, I had to act like a yobbo to get them misbehave.
The rolling resistance seems to be worse than the 195/60 Goodyear EfficientGrip Performance (my summer set, read my review of them), but only a tiny bit. But at least I got more road feedback, which is good when the conditions are tricky. Yes, the ride is a bit harsher as well, but it's a price I can live with.
One other thing: these tyres are very sensitive to tyre pressure. According to my experience in this size 5°C change in ambient tmeperature means 0.1 bar change in tyre pressure, so if you set your tyres to 2.5 bars in 0°C to get the best out of them in snow, it becomes 2.7 bars in 10°C. Combine the pressure increase with the out-of-comfort-zone temps, and you will get a car with much less traction. This might happen with other winter tyres as well, so I don't really blame my Dunlops, but more experiments are needed to be more accurate on this.
Overall, I have to say these are not the best all-rounder winter tyres out there, but if you want excellent snow and ice performance, it's a very good choice. For continental Europe I believe the Goodyear UltraGrip 9 or the Nokian WR D4 should be better because of their better all-round performance, but if you can get the Winter Response 2 for a good price, you shouldn't be disappointed.