A lot of times these "tire shootouts" are on a car that doesn't meet the X's, ahem, proportions. GRM's always is done with Andy Hollis' 89 Civic. Well honestly a tire with a soft sidewall (Toyo, Kumho XS, Hankook Evo, etc.) will work reasonably well with a 2000# (or less!) car with really good balance and 110hp to the front wheel (not wheels).

Now you put them on a 3500-3900# Evo with AWD and a 60/40 f/r weight bias in a low profile size... and they feel like crap. It's simple physics, but rarely does anyone think about this when they say "Well so and so says that XXX is the best in their test so IT MUST BE LALALALALALALALALALALALALALA" (?).

 

Well, for this particular 1-2 punch, I saw a 4 or 5 tire shootout, two day test, conducted by SCCA's magazine, same outcome but I'd bet it was a different car. The Z1's are just kicking butt and taking names. When I bought mine in 2008, tirerack's editors were giving it a tentative "New shining star" for extreme performance summer tires. The tentative part can be strike, they are awesome. But price variability on these kinda stink, wish the 'Rack prices and market prices were more stable.

 

If your looking for performance/cost the NT05 is a clear winner. For grip the Z1 are a little better than the NT05 but seem to get hot and greasy fast with heavy cars. The NT05 can take alot more abuse before leaving you out to try. I have no testing with 615's but hear similar stories with them as the Z1.

I went throught my NT05 in about 8k miles with DD, AutoX (1), track days (2), and spirited canyon runs (10ish). I changed to the Evo K110 for more milage out of the tires and noticed that grip did reduce but wasnt as drastic I thought it would be.

 

NT05 crazy jump today in the poll, LOL.

I think the Star Specs would dominate in any poll where there was not an Evo superstar campaigning them.

Price could sway me from Star Specs to NT05, just depends what the difference is.

 

Well I don't know if I have seen anyone saying that, but maybe I'm not hanging out with the right "tire crowd" in my free time, haha.

They are a nice budget tire. I just got mine yesterday and the sidewall is definitely not stiff enough. I need to check the pressure though, and that will probably help a good bit.

One thing to note is that on Tirerack the three reviews they have on them came from cars now cars not far off from the Evo X's weight. But these are definitely no Star Specs or NT-05s. They seem fine for daily driving though. If you are tracking I imagine you are not spending a lot of time worrying about how much money you had to throw down on a set of tires.

 

Well, I haven't had the NT05's so I can't vote, but I never felt like my Z1's ever got greasy after a few laps. Maybe its just me and the noticeable improvement I felt after switching out of my A/S's last spring.

I have seen the OEM stock size (X's run 245-40x18) Dunlop Z1's for as low as $172 (fall of 08 and fall of 09) but generally are around $190 at the 'Rack. I'm seeing very comparable prices for the NT05's at all the usual suspects (except for one etailer that had four in stock yesterday and I wasn't quite ready to pull the trigger -- trying to find new rims if I can before I grab another set for summer)

 

Before you added to the poll I voted for the Z1's, but given the revised list I'd go with the AD08s hands down.

 

Dunlop is having a $50 rebate on their performance tires right now. Good deal if anyone is looking to buy Z1 Star Specs right now!

http://www.tirerack.com/specialoffer...p?promoID=D015

 

I just checked as I forgot, but it looks like they used a 328i coupe. Here is the link if anyone is interested in the read.

 

I wish we had Z1 or NT05 streetlegal in europe

Reading topics about tires just break my heart... Best I can get is Potenza RE050A if I want a street tire, or I can get Toyo R888 (which are E1 - legal in eu) but they wouldn't last a month daily driving them...

I CURSE YOU ALL!!! :'(

Ontopic: I voted for Z1 star specs as I've driven them on an Auto-X and they're damn gripish!

 

Well so then regarding weight - I assume they used the 2010 328i? That said the curb weight of the 328i is 3362 (MT) - 3428 (AT). The GSR is 3344 (mfr. claimed), but I believe InsideLine weighed it in at 3545. So it seems they didn't go use a car that was that different when it comes to weight. I won't comment on the weight distribution as I don't know.

That said, the Hankook itself feels sloppy on my initial impressions, but I am almost positive Discount Tire put less than 32lbs in it, so that could explain some of this (paired with the generally soft sidewall).

 

So for those who've tried both the NT05 and Z1's, what would you guys say to do? I found a source (limited qty) for NT05's that shipped, would cost $660 shipped; Z1's from the rack, with the rebate, shipped, $750.

Thoughts???

 

I voted for the Star Specs. I switched to those after my stockers were done, they were wider, hooked better, and lasted longer than the stockers. Not to mention the fact that they were considerably cheaper. I ran them year round and my only real complaint is obvious since they are summer tires...they don't grip for crap when it starts getting around 40 degrees outside or colder.

 

Has anyone tried the toyo proxes R1R?
I would like to know if these hang with the Star Specs and NT05s.

 

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned anything about these tires? These tires are silent and stick like glue, cheap too...