Gates311: Nitto NT05 Review **Street Class Tire **
All and all "speculating", I'm sure this will be a great street tire for someone like myself who spends most of the time on the "street". Or even still a good option for those needing a "street tire" for competition street tire classes. As with things that fly in the air that shouldn't, things that do not "look" right, are not always "wrong".
Well after those (admittedly interesting) shenanigans, can anyone explain to me why a 265-285 by 18" NT05 costs almost the same at ~$250? Im typing in a Chicago area code so I am not sure if the prices change a lot for area, but something seems strange about the prices. I thought I had seen the 265 flavor at $219 vs the now $239 price before entering my area code. Anyone know whats up? Maybe its just buy 265 mm and get 20 free 
Last edited by Protostar1; Feb 22, 2009 at 09:08 AM.
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The tires mostly like feel consistent due to the fact that they are keeping a pretty good, even temperature across the contact patch.
Typically the center portion of the tread tends to have a higher operating temperature than out towards the sidewalls. The large groves most likely aid in cooling the center section enough to make the temperature more even across the contact patch, therefore yielding a more stable and predictable tire.
Although I'm probably wrong on that theory...
Typically the center portion of the tread tends to have a higher operating temperature than out towards the sidewalls. The large groves most likely aid in cooling the center section enough to make the temperature more even across the contact patch, therefore yielding a more stable and predictable tire.
Although I'm probably wrong on that theory...
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Thanks Ryan I appreciate the info! I'm really stuck between these and the Dunlop Z1's. I realize a lot of the big guns will be moving to the RE-11 and AD-08 but I'm not willing to spend that much at the moment till a proven winner is crowned.That drops me down to the Z1 and NT-05 and while the Z1 seems to be proven the NT-05 is to new yet to have a lot of feedback.
Very cool pictures. I've heard these tires a bit loud/er on the streets, just due to its thread design, but it looks very good. I hope to see more reviews as more and more people start running them.
-Don
-Don
On Track impressions - After a warm up lap the tires are PERFECT. They start to get up to temp fast, and they seem to plateau (in a good way). After a single lap on Street tires I had always had to do a cool down lap before going again for a hot lap, but with the NT05's I was able to continue going on for a consecutive hot lap, which is awesome for Redline events where you are limited to only 3 hot laps. The turn in on them is good for a street tire, they are plenty responsive....they feel crisp. Mid corner these tires are a DREAM, for real. They have the smoothest break away of any Street tire (R-comps also) I have driven on this year. At Buttonwillow there are some long sweepers and the NT05 shined thru them, they weren't twitchy and even when I was on the edge they stayed nice and crisp while still breaking away nice and evenly. Under braking, they worked well. Lock-up was kept to a relative minimum, even though I was running on race pads. I could get on them very hard and they would take it pretty well. They are also easy to drive a little sideways (thanks to my new rear diff and FP Red hahaha).
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bump, would it be better for 8/9 guys to run 235/40-17 or 255? Most people from the thread seemed to be going with 255, would it bulge too much? Every tire is slightly different in it's actual width it seems
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So has anyone else tried these things besides the OP or are we still just speculating? 
I'm not too optimistic that these would "smoke" the NT01, which is an R compound similar to the Toyo R888, (which is probably the best tire I've used on track so far) but I like what I hear about the consistency of the NT05s and I absolutely LOVE symmetrical tires since you have more options for rotating them side to side and back to front if you should be the type of person who rums crazy camber and whatnot :-D
I'm not too optimistic that these would "smoke" the NT01, which is an R compound similar to the Toyo R888, (which is probably the best tire I've used on track so far) but I like what I hear about the consistency of the NT05s and I absolutely LOVE symmetrical tires since you have more options for rotating them side to side and back to front if you should be the type of person who rums crazy camber and whatnot :-D
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Incidentally, these are listed at $224 per tire on Discount Tire Direct right for 265/35/18s right now which is a *killer* price (compared to even the Star Specs listed on Tirerack right now).
Not bad for nice street/track tires...
http://www.discounttiredirect.com/di...mance&tmn=NT05
Not bad for nice street/track tires...
http://www.discounttiredirect.com/di...mance&tmn=NT05