Tire for some street and some track
08-17-2017, 08:42 AM
#1
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Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Clearwater FL
Posts: 608
Tire for some street and some track
Ok, I know this has been discussed quite a bit, but I'm still debating on what to get. My Mustang is my track/weekend fun car. I tend to drive it to the track (unless its a multi day drive) occasionally on the street when its nice out, and 2-3 HPDE events a year.
I currently have Nitto NT555 tires on there, and they seem to grip well, but I don't have a ton of track time know better. I have a staggered set up, 18x9 up front and 18x10 in the back.
Right now I'm debating between the Nitto NT05, Nitto Invo, and the pilot super sports. I know there are members here who have experience with all of those so I'm open to suggestions.
I don't think my wife will let me get a different set of wheels to do a dedicated track set up (yet), so I need something that will fit my set up, give me some good grip at the track, and not kill me on the street.
Any advice would be great.
I currently have Nitto NT555 tires on there, and they seem to grip well, but I don't have a ton of track time know better. I have a staggered set up, 18x9 up front and 18x10 in the back.
Right now I'm debating between the Nitto NT05, Nitto Invo, and the pilot super sports. I know there are members here who have experience with all of those so I'm open to suggestions.
I don't think my wife will let me get a different set of wheels to do a dedicated track set up (yet), so I need something that will fit my set up, give me some good grip at the track, and not kill me on the street.
Any advice would be great.
08-17-2017, 11:57 AM
#4
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Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Clearwater FL
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I think any "max performance" summer tire will do the trick. Those are the most aggressive street compounds that still have tread cut for water evacuation.
Do you think they out perform the Nittos on the track?
08-18-2017, 07:55 AM
#5
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Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: LA
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I have them on my Shelby GT 350 as standard issue and they are standard issue on Corvettes. The cup tire is on the 350R and ZR1/Z06. That tells you everything you need to know. I've done track events at the Ford Racing School and Ron Fellows Corvette schools and these tires are awesome. I ran Nittos on my 2007 Shelby and they were good tires, really good for the money. They just weren't awesome.
08-18-2017, 10:17 PM
#6
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08-19-2017, 08:33 AM
#7
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In terms of tire development for street/road course use, the NT555 is an ancient tire. Reasonable pricing keeps it popular.
I wasn't even all that impressed with what I saw with the NT05's when they first came out, either. Nitto's own video at the time showed the test car sliding all around on an S-bend like it was really intended for the drift crowd. I suspect that Terry Fair (Vorshlag) agrees with that assessment.
The MPSS is capable of putting up pretty serious cornering g's for a true street tire - in excess of 1.3 in the big square fitment I have for my '08 GT (285/35's on 18x11's all around). The MPSS is perhaps the "go-to" choice if your track day turns rainy (screen shot picked from a ~12 minute session in the rain).
For your forced induction setup, you probably want a small amount of stagger, and ideally I'd steal an idea or two from the 5th gen Camaro ZL1 (285/35's on 10's up front, 305/35's on 11's out back). You might not be hitting 1.3+ because of the extra weight up front, but I would expect 1.2's.
One benefit of having a dedicated track set is that if you manage to cord a track tire at an event, you can throw a pair of your 'street' tires on that axle for a much safer and uneventful drive home.
MPSS is a pretty durable tire provided you put several hundred or more wasy to moderately hard street miles on them first. The tires in this picture had ten track days (intermediate level) and somewhere over 4000 street miles at the time the picture was taken. They've lost a little grip, but they're less than half worn in terms of tread depth.
Norm
I wasn't even all that impressed with what I saw with the NT05's when they first came out, either. Nitto's own video at the time showed the test car sliding all around on an S-bend like it was really intended for the drift crowd. I suspect that Terry Fair (Vorshlag) agrees with that assessment.
The MPSS is capable of putting up pretty serious cornering g's for a true street tire - in excess of 1.3 in the big square fitment I have for my '08 GT (285/35's on 18x11's all around). The MPSS is perhaps the "go-to" choice if your track day turns rainy (screen shot picked from a ~12 minute session in the rain).
For your forced induction setup, you probably want a small amount of stagger, and ideally I'd steal an idea or two from the 5th gen Camaro ZL1 (285/35's on 10's up front, 305/35's on 11's out back). You might not be hitting 1.3+ because of the extra weight up front, but I would expect 1.2's.
One benefit of having a dedicated track set is that if you manage to cord a track tire at an event, you can throw a pair of your 'street' tires on that axle for a much safer and uneventful drive home.
MPSS is a pretty durable tire provided you put several hundred or more wasy to moderately hard street miles on them first. The tires in this picture had ten track days (intermediate level) and somewhere over 4000 street miles at the time the picture was taken. They've lost a little grip, but they're less than half worn in terms of tread depth.
Norm
Last edited by Norm Peterson; 08-19-2017 at 08:41 AM.
08-21-2017, 01:52 AM
#10
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Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Posts: 920
I went with the Mickey Thompson Street Comp Performance tires for cost reasons and they are pretty good for the price. Much better than my old NT555's ever were.
In our local track the best tire so far is the Bridgestone Potenza RE71R. Shaves 3 seconds off a lap time, tried on two different cars. A Nissan 370Z and a Honda S2000, but they wear FAST. We call them cheater tires, because they claim a TW of 200 but they feel just as sticky as the Toyo R888's which have a TW of 80. I know TW is different for each manufacturer, but that Bridgestone is definitely not a daily driver tire. I touched one just as it came off the track and it felt like one of those glue mousetraps., pebbles were actually stuck to them.
The best compromise are definitely the Michelins and finances permitting will be my next tires.
In our local track the best tire so far is the Bridgestone Potenza RE71R. Shaves 3 seconds off a lap time, tried on two different cars. A Nissan 370Z and a Honda S2000, but they wear FAST. We call them cheater tires, because they claim a TW of 200 but they feel just as sticky as the Toyo R888's which have a TW of 80. I know TW is different for each manufacturer, but that Bridgestone is definitely not a daily driver tire. I touched one just as it came off the track and it felt like one of those glue mousetraps., pebbles were actually stuck to them.
The best compromise are definitely the Michelins and finances permitting will be my next tires.
