Tracking Base Wheels... Tire Choices
 

Okay i "think" i have decided on a Road race tire for my track (base) wheels.

Nitto NT555
- 245/45/18
- 275/40/18

Does anyone have experience with these tires?
- Good for 1/4 mile?
- Good for Road Course?

Thanks all,
:tiphat:

p.s. they're $630 shipped for 4!!

of all tires, why nitto? :icon08:

I remember car magazines back in the day used to promote the hell out of Nitto tires.

Hell, they even had a game if I recall correctly.

no experience, but you get what you pay for. this also includes tires as well.

ive actually tried NT555's in the canyons on my other car a while back. almost crashed cause it would not give progressive feedback.

grip grip grip LOOSE! :eekdance:

Innnnnteresting... See this was the shinola i was looking for.

Okay... so if the 555's blow, what's a cheap tire to track on 18's ?

i suppose if you want to drift with them they could work. :icon17:

Was thinking more of staying withing the limits of adhesion. Faster and cheaper on tires. But would be hella fun :rofl2:

I've been using BFG G-Force comp 2s on the stock 18s and I've been very happy with them so far. I only have one weekend at Sebring on them but they felt great and seemed to hold up well. I think they were in the $600-700 range.

I had 245/45/17 NT555's on my Mustang back in the day. IMO for a cheap tire they're pretty grippy but I was running them on the street (i.e. NOT pushing the limits of their traction). They wore out pretty quick but I guess that's normal for a soft tire.

I don't track the Z so I don't buy a grippy tire. Instead, I look for a tire that will give high mileage. I don't see the percentage in buying cheap tires when you have to replace them twice as often or more. But that's me. I'll stick with my Michelin Pilot Sport A/S Plus.

Can the base 18" wheels fit 245/275? I'd be afraid that it'd sort of 'mushroom' out, y'know?

But if the option is viable, I'd rock some Hankook V12s on them. Despite the soft side-walls.

Anyone try Yokohama S-Drives?

That's the max. Just over 20%, should be fine.

If you go that wide your going to need atleast a 10mm spacer in front to not rub the inside of the tire on the upper control arm.

Well i'm running 245/45/18 snow tires currently. No rubbing to be had @ OEM height??

Yeah I'd think you'd be ok. The sport wheels are 17mm further in than the base wheels with 245/40's and obviously no rubbing stock.

Inexpensive Summer tires in my desired size:
- Sumitomo HTR Z III = $600
- BFGoodrich g-Force Sport COMP-2 = $660
- Dunlop Direzza DZ102 = $750
- Hankook Ventus V12 = $800

Any thoughts on the above?

What about whatever they're calling the new Star Specs or a set of Azenis?

They cost $750... added to list.

HTR over v12 any day. Cheaper and better performer. Not sure about the other 2. The HTR is a good summer but that's it. Its not a track, autox or drag tire so the other 2 might be better.

The V12 doesn't really do anything well. It's a "good enough" tire.

Ahhhhh... this is the feedback i'm looking for. Good to know the cheapest in my size are pretty decent. :tup:

dude save your money, you will chunk those tires if you drive it in any reasonable pace

No issues here, but I have 255/285 so more contact patch.

Contact patch is a function of the car's weight at each corner, not the tire size. When you change the dimensions of the tire, it changes the *shape* of the contact patch, but the magnitude of the contact patch (square inches of area) remains the same. A wider tire has a wider contact patch, but also a shorter one.

So a 155 tire and a 320 tire both 26" in diameter have the same contact patch in square inches? I don't think so.

Think so. the 320 will just have a really wide skinny contact patch and the 155 will have a long narrow contact patch. Now if you go down in PSI with the same weight you can increase the total size of the patch.

ok

I drive the car to the limit of adhesion for HPDE. And you say the HTR tires will chunk up huh?

What will NOT "chunk" or be destroyed TOO easiliy?

:tiphat:

IF you are only looking for street tires, these will be fine. But I agree with Chuck, these are not appropriate for anything more than say maybe your first couple of track days. You will ruin them quickly. Even a Bridgestone re760 would be better than these. I run them for street and have been out on track with them once. They are surprisingly good on the track. But I would not want to keep pushing them.

And the other thought is- maybe you do want street tires over r-comps. I'm going to be running very sticky street tires over r-comps just because my skill level would be better served by something that lets go progressively vs a r-comp sticking right up to the limit and then throwing me off the track backwards.

Actually i have decided NOT to use R-comp tires. They wore our the wheel bearings on my last car WAY too often.

I want a summer tire that will not be a piece of crap for HPDE.

You fit those on base 18"s? I just got 245/275 because I thought that was the MAX for daily driving.



Have you looked at the FALKEN 452 or 453 series? They have a couple others that are very reasonably priced. I tracked them, ran them hard, and they lasted 30k thru 117 AZ heat driving 90% HWY. Gripped much more then the new Conti's I just bought. Might be a decent option for you. I dont know much about tires, but I think the rear 275's I got were only $156 or $176 at discount tire so you cant beat that.:tup:

I had a set of 452s on another car. Never tracked with them, but they gripped great. Again, the Star Specs were always the go-to for the track and AutoX guys I knew. Those or Falken Azenis.

They don't make Azeni's in the correct sidewall height for our cars. So no luck there.

So of the four listed above, we're really thinking Dunlop's ehh?

Didn't know that. I do know they run wide, but I don't know if the sidewall measurement is off too. I haven't heard much bad about the Dunlops.

BFG Rivals

Hankook RS-3

They handle heat well, and are a great street tire

I've only autocrossed them on my Z, but they've never chunked.

I've done many many track days in a stock RX-8 on them and never had any issues.


BFG Rivals would probably also work well.

The RS3 is an awesome "street" tire (really, it should honestly be classed with R-comps in terms of performance) - feels amazing, grips well. However, it's a little more pricey than the initial option list posted. Tire rack in his sizes puts them at about $1K for all 4, before tax/shipping.