The new Dunlop Sportmax Q4 is the next step in track day performance over the Q3+ introduced last year. We tested the Q4s on multiple sportbikes during a full day at Chuckwalla Valley Raceway in California. (Action photography by Brian J. Nelson)
As the only motorcycle tire manufacturer that designs and develops product specifically for the American market (unlike other brands that market tires in the U.S. that were designed with global use in mind), Dunlop has a wealth of knowledge when it comes to making good tires. After debuting the Q3+ sport tire last year, which featured performance and longevity improvements over the previous Q3, the company has upped its game even further with the new Q4. But the latest Dunlop Sportmax tire is not a replacement for the superb Q3+; rather, the Q4 is intended to fill a spot in the Dunlop catalog as a track day/ultra-high-performance street tire. A high-performance sport tire that sits between the Q3+ and the GPA PRO DOT-legal race tire, yet doesn?t require tire warmers or inflation-pressure trickery like many full-on DOT race tires. Intended for track days and high-performance street use, the Dunlop Sportmax Q4 (front tire on left, rear tire on right) has a minimalist tread pattern.
Utilizing the same sophisticated machinery in Dunlop?s Buffalo, New York, manufacturing plant that builds the racing slicks for the MotoAmerica series, the Q4 employs much of the same competition-bred technology. For example, the Q4 features the same Joint...