Nitto NT01's

ElrodKTPQ_89 · Dec 15, 2015

Long story short, my rear tires are shot and I'm in the market for something new. How many of you run them or know someone that does and have some input on them? I'd love to hear what you think about them! My car will be mostly steet driven but will hopefully see some track time (AutoX) a few times next year, so I'd like something that will be kinda best of both worlds. If the Nittos aren't the right choice for this application then what would you recommend?
Tony I noticed you recently picked up a set. I know you haven't been able to drive the car yet but any pre-determined preferences that made you go with them?

wmfateam · Dec 16, 2015

I would not suggest them as a daily personally. I had a ball driving for a week while my daily was down, but you only get so many miles or of them. You have to take in to consideration heat cycles and lack of traction if you see any water or if they get cold. But if you have the money to burn. I would suggest more of a 200 tread wear tire if having a second set of rims/tires is out of the question.

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1998cobrasvt · Dec 16, 2015

i currently have Nitto NT555. They hook EXTREMELY well with my current setup. Only complaint is they can be a little sensitive in the rain from a performance stand point, they are best in dry conditions. I would not recommend driving aggressive in the rain with Nt555's but other then that they are a great tire!

Tony · Dec 16, 2015

yea i wouldn't run these tires on a daily driver. i read up on them before i bought them and from what people say...they suck in the rain, no traction.

i will say they look sick as hell though lol. do great in dry weather according to reviews.

ElrodKTPQ_89 · Dec 16, 2015

wmfateam said:
I would suggest more of a 200 tread wear tire if having a second set of rims/tires is out of the question.

Do you have a certain tire you could recommend?

1998cobrasvt said:
i currently have Nitto NT555. They hook EXTREMELY well with my current setup. Only complaint is they can be a little sensitive in the rain from a performance stand point, they are best in dry conditions. I would not recommend driving aggressive in the rain with Nt555's but other then that they are a great tire!

That's what I have on the front right now. I really like them as well and wouldn't mind a set on the rear by the biggest 18" tire I've seen is a 295/35/18 which is my current tire size...I would like atleast a 305 this time around.

Tony said:
yea i wouldn't run these tires on a daily driver. i read up on them before i bought them and from what people say...they suck in the rain, no traction.

i will say they look sick as hell though lol. do great in dry weather according to reviews.

Thats also what I had gathered out of the reviews is that they suck in wet conditions. And yes they do look awesome lol.

Honestly now the only time my car sees the rain is when I get caught in it if I'm already out when it was clear. So wet traction isn't really a huge deciding factor in my choice but it does help.

wmfateam · Dec 16, 2015

I run the the Bridgstone RE760. I had the NT555 and thought those were terrible compared to the 760. And my 760's were used when u bought them. But the new 555 G2 does look promising.

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Sinned83 · Dec 17, 2015

I'd go with the invo series by nitto it's Seems to be between the 555's and the NT01's. FWIW I loved the nitto 555's on my car til I got 18's with a different set up

white95 · Dec 17, 2015

Michelin Pilot Super Sport or gfto IMO

ReplicaR · Dec 17, 2015

I've had pretty thorough experience with NT01s, since this I'm on my 3rd set at this point. Couple of things worth mentioning:

1. NT01s are an R compound tire, designed for competition use. This means that they have a certain purposed in life, and that’s not street driving or street performance. NT01s are highly sensitive to temperatures, which means that if you are outside of the working temp range (around 200 degrees or so), they will not provide optimum grip. What that means to an average user is that they will not yield any more grip than a really good high performance street tire, if they are cold.

2. The tread design is basically made for two conditions: Racing in wet, and racing in dry. In off the shelf form, the tire has 6/32[SUP]nd[/SUP] tread depth, which is actually really good for rain events, if you can keep the temps in the tires. When shaved down to 3/32, the tire becomes a fully slick surface, except two grooves in the middle of the tire. This is for optimal dry weather utilization.

3. R compound tires have a limited quantity of heat cycles before the tire does not work as well as it used to. Street tires are less sensitive to something like this, so it takes a while for them to stop working as well as they used to. Usually you will be down to wear bars at that point. NT01s will get there a lot faster. I use mine only at the track, and driving to and from the event. When not in use, the car is stored in dark garage under the cover. Simple cruising around for no purpose is out of the question.

Personal notes: If you are looking for street tire with capability of autoX, NT01 is not for you most likely. There are tons of street tires which will grip just as good as NT01, and will last longer, as well as get up to temperature faster. Check out NT05 from the same company, they are very popular with auto enthusiasts. The main difference between NT05 and NT01 is how durable it is at the limit over an extended period of time. NT05 and NT01 will probably post same lap times on the same car for the first few laps, after which NT05 will start falling off, while NT01 will remain consistent. I can do a full 30 minute session on NT01s, and the street tires will usually give up after about 10 minutes.