Dunlop Sportmax Q3+ Sportbike Tire Review

Picture for a second you’re at work. Whatever you do at this job of yours, you do well. Really well. So well in fact that your last projects completely transformed people’s approach to your company’s products. Now imagine that your boss comes up to you and says, “Hey, that last project you worked on was fantastic. Really good. Now what we want you to do is go out make it even better.”

Now picture you’re Dunlop Motorcycle Tire’s development team. And this is reality. Fun.

If you've spent time on Dunlop's Sportmax Q3 or read any one of the glowing reviews on the tire, then you already know that it sits at the pointy end of the sporty street tire category. With good stability, grip, and feedback, it's long been the go-to option for serious street riders who want to do a trackday or two without having to change rubber. The problem? Those riders weren't quite getting the mileage they'd hoped for on the street. Dunlop figured they could solve this, while not sacrificing performance.

Enter the Sportmax Q3+.

As with the Q3, which was introduced in 2013, the Q3+ features multiple technologies and acronyms. This includes Dunlop’s Carbon Fiber Technology (CFT), which uses a carbon fiber reinforcement element in the sidewalls for improved cornering stability; a MT Multi-Tread technology at the rear tire, with a long-wearing compound in the center complemented by traction-focused shoulder compounds; and an Intuitive Response Profile design, which helps with steering quickness while also providing a larger contact patch when cornering.

Differences? The long-wearing center compound on the rear tire now uses a special, silica-infused resin rather than a carbon-black material, which improves wear characteristics on the street. The carbon black-based shoulder compounds are a similar recipe, but the process Dunlop has taken to get there is different and ultimately changes tread tension, for an even greater footprint at lean. Dunlop suggests that 80 percent of the rear tire is new, the company having also made small changes to the carcass, inner liner, bead, and sidewall.

There are tweaks to the front tire compound, but those changes are all very small, Dunlop says, “because performance-wise, [the front tire] was already there.”

Overall performance claims are just as bold, Dunlop going on to say that the Q3+ was a full second faster than the Q3 at Roebling Road Raceway (when mounted on the company's 2013 Suzuki GSX-R1000 test bike), and lasted 30 percent longer than the Q3 on the street (when mounted on a BMW R1200RT test bike). So it’s more performance oriented, and longer lasting, Dunlop says. Versatile.

Dunlop invited us to Austin, Texas, to put each of its claims to the test, taking us first on a street ride in Texas Hill Country, and then letting us loose at the Circuit of The Americas.

I’ve always struggled with tire tests, because the idea of recommending a tire after a 150-ish mile street ride is tough, especially when a major purchasing factor is long-term tread life. No, I cannot prove or disprove Dunlop’s claim of increased tire life, though I can say that handling properties were mostly the same as you’ve come to expect from the Qualifier line, with sufficient bump absorption and an overall good ride quality. Texas isn’t known for its tight, twisting roads, but what we did get ourselves in to, the tires handled with ease. Warm-up times were good as well, with the tire providing a good feel almost from the word go.

To answer any questions regarding on-track performance, Dunlop allowed us to do a back-to-back comparison test with the Q3 and Q3+ at CoTA. In each case, I was on a Honda CBR600RR. Underpowered but willing. Fun.

I was on the Q3 first, and quickly began to worry if I’d be able to tell a difference between the tires. The Q3 was as good as I remembered, with reasonable stability on the brakes and good grip at corner exits. Front-end feel was marginal at corner entry, and the tires started to squirm after about five laps, once they got hot, but “Hey, these are street tires,” I thought. That’s to be expected.

Any drop in performance was on par with what I’ve come to expect from a tire designed for everything from longevity to wet-weather performance to dry grip to stability. For five laps, the Q3 was fine at a reasonable track day pace. There were limitations, yes, but you could ride around them.

Even still, the Q3+ is better. And I’m not just saying that because it’s new and of course new means it’s better; it really and truly is a better, more capable tire on the track, with a more supportive feel at corner exit, and less movement.

Where the Q3 rear would move around as you loaded the tire, the Q3+ remains planted, the larger footprint (Dunlop claims the footprint is anywhere from 3.5 percent to 6.0 percent larger at max lean angles) allowing the bike to plant and drive harder off the corner. There was no squirming under acceleration, contrary to how the Q3 began to move around after a handful of laps. Even if I could get the tire to slide, it was smooth and controlled, with zero pumping. Think go, and it went.

With so many changes to the rear tire, you’d expect to only feel big jumps in performance at corner exit, but there’s a noticeable change in feel at corner entry as well. Biggest thing is that, with the Q3+, turn-in feels more linear. So while there was a bit of a vague feeling as I tipped the Q3-shod CBR6000RR in to the corner and would have to hesitate before going to max lean and cracking the throttle back open, on the Q3 Plus-equipped bike, I could go straight to max lean and lay right in to the throttle. Everything is just more controlled and predictable on the Q3+. Less movement, more confidence.

We were given a full hour to run as many laps as we could (yes, that’s as amazing as it sounds), and once I swapped over to the Q3+ tire, I never came in. That worked out to something like 15-20 laps around CoTA. On a street tire. At a pace that wasn’t exactly boring. Through it all, I remained extremely impressed. Toward the end, I could feel the front tire start to lose a little bit of grip and feel through CoTA’s increasingly fast right-hand corners, but there were never any slides or moments. They simply stuck, for every lap my body was willing to suffer through.

Meanwhile, through each of CoTA's many side-to-side transitions, the Q3+ shod CBR6000RR remained agile and easily flicked from side-to-side.

I would’ve hated to be a Dunlop tire engineer when it came time to build the Q3+. The Q3 was already a fantastic tire, and to add longevity without sacrificing performance, that was a big task. Somehow, through the magic of resin formulas and compound tweaks, they’ve accomplished exactly what was asked of them and more. Now, not only do you have a tire that will likely last longer on the road, but you'll also have one that performs better on the track.

There's a small bump in price (see chart below), but the jump in performance seems totally worth it. For the rider who wants something that will go a reasonable amount of miles on the street, but still perform well in the canyons or at the track, the Q3+ really is a fantastic option.

Have mercy on the poor guy tasked with one-upping this one come next development cycle.