I've done my research, but some last minute questions for you guys. My basic situation is I am moving to Chicago, and figured I would go with a set of summer and winter tires, so I bought a second set of stock rims. I won't be driving a lot since I am telecommuting to work, so I can easily avoid bad weather if I have to. My questions before I buy the NT-05's (for my summer tires) are:

1.) Do I go with the stock size of 245/40R18? Seems if I want to retain the handling and performance characteristics, this is the size to go with, but I thought I would ask since this is my first set of tires on this car.

2.) Any reason I should consider the Star Specs over the NT-05's? People seem to recommend the Star Specs for their grip in the rain, but I see no complaints about the NT-05's in the rain, so it seems ot come down to who has better grip - NT-05's here?

Thanks in advance for your input!

For stock rims, I'd stick w/ the stock size.
The only real advantage I can see w/ SS over NT05 (for you) is that you'll probably get more mileage out of them, but they're typically a bit more expensive too.

NT-05 are not that good in rain under 40%...that is all. The sidewall is pretty stiff! Good tires :]

For what it's worth, the Nt05's made a huge difference on my C6Z06 Vette. BUT, Vette's come with the worst Runflat tires ever made. The difference was HUGE for me. I am very happy with them. I have NeoGens on my Evo and they are definitely more of an "all purpose" tire and sacrifice grip and precision for longevity and rain performance.

I got NT-05, stock size and I love them. Will say I don't like them in the rain too much

I agree that once you start to wear down the NT-05s they aren't great in the rain. I've never used the Star Specs though, so I can't compare the two.

just wondering since I know you said you have done your research... have you considered other tires and narrowed it down or just picked these 2 because they are talked about a lot on here? Just saying there has to be more good summer tires out there instead of just 2 brands?

Well yes, seeing them talked about a lot to me meant they are somewhat popular. I also read a lot of good reviews on the NT-05's and people seemed to like them both for track and street use, and their performance in the rain was reasonable it seems. https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/mo...lass-tire.html

So based on all of them they seemed okay, but the Star Specs seemed to have the edge in wet conditions according to the most opinions. Granted, the Kumho Ecsta XS's seem great as well, so I could see considering those maybe.

You say there has to be better performing summer tires out there than the NT-05's - can you throw me a couple names? I will be happy to go research them more and update this thread with what I find just for others benefit.

Well I didn't say better... I just said their had to be more out there than just 2 tires to pick from i've heard good things about the Nitto's as well as the stars, I don't personally see how you would get much more grip than the stock tires, but I myself think it's stupid to pay 300+ per tire unless you track your car... I know I won't be buying the advans again... to many rock chips.

I looked in to things some more, and now I am planning on doing the Hankook V12s or Star Specs for the summer. Depends on how "rich" I am feeling. Leaning toward the V12's just because I would rather try the cheaper tire first. Then I figure I will pick up some Continental DWS's for the winter months.

I read your first post, but I don't recall if you said that you were ever going to track your car, but I may buy the DWS for all season tires. Their dry grip rating of course isn't going to be what a summer tire is, BUT if you are talking about buying a cheap tire the DWS' are 135.00 a piece on the tire rack and maybe a little cheaper other places, they are good for like 40-50k miles and you can use them in snow, rain, dry, all conditions. Right now I have about 20 or more inches of snow on the ground and wishing I had the money right now to buy a set of the contis... but I will have to sell my advans first which are about as close to new as you can get seeing as I drive on them so gently. If you live in an area where you don't get snow the Stars are rated very highly by those on here and on the tire rack's site.. so if it were me i'd look at them first... they aren't really expensive either from what I remember seeing price wise. I would buy those Pilot A/S sports but that drop in mileage several people have complained about makes me shy away from them a lot... as well as they are about 100.00 more a piece than the DWS. I don't think unless you are tracking your car you will notice a big difference during daily and occasionally spirited driving than you would from summer tires... but i'm sure other's out there will disagree.

By the way Golden has the DWS on his car and he told me with normal daily driving and such you notice no difference, they are responsive and have very good grip.

Good input. You've got me thinking here...

I already have a second set of stock rims on the way I got for a good price ($550 shipped), so maintaining a set of summer and winter tires would be no big deal. That said, I have no idea if I will track the car. Money is tight, so it's hard for me to say if I will or not.

I guess I could pick up the Conti DWS's first as a daily driver, and if I decide to track the car go pick up some Star Specs later.

That being said, it wouldn't really cost me more money long term to buy the Hankook's for summer tires, and the Conti DWS's for winter tires - I'd be using each a lot less. And I could potentially track with the Hankook's; yeah, they aren't grip machines, but good enough for someone who hasn't been to the track for 6+ years.

Side note: I should probably change the title here, the topic has clearly diverged from NT-05s.