Got the new Nitto NT05s on the car...

[BuickGN]

I'll write a preliminary review in a few. Here's some pictures. They look more aggressive in real life. I even had a guy ask me if they were "racing" tires on the way home.








The camber really shows on the rear tires. I'm running the factory "sport" springs, nothing aftermarket height wise in the rear and there's only 1.2 degrees of negative camber but it sure looks like more.

 

[pzev]

They look good! Now go take some cornors and report back!

Whats the tread depth on these tires...well, if you can call that tread lol.
Did you get them from the rack? Too bad these don't come in my tire size.

 

[IndyIan]

This guy sure loves them! Read his review here.
http://www.timeattackforums.com/forums/wheels-tires/1230-review-nitto-nt05-street-class-tire.html
Sounds like you picked a winner for the track.

 

[BuickGN]

So far these things are amazing but I want to wait until I have a few heat cycles in them to really push them. I've taken it past the point where the car would slide with the old tires and it handles it easily. Not sure how much more these have in them but it feels like I wasn't close to the limit of traction.

One thing for sure, they stink worse than any tire I've owned. I like the smell of new tires but I can smell them 10' away from the car and the gf called this morning to say her car that was parked next to mine stunk of my tires. I can only imagine what they would smell like in a burnout. Luckily for me I don't have to worry about that will all 198whp and 183lbs of torque at the wheels.

 

[BuickGN]

Originally Posted By: IndyIan

This guy sure loves them! Read his review here.
http://www.timeattackforums.com/forums/wheels-tires/1230-review-nitto-nt05-street-class-tire.html
Sounds like you picked a winner for the track.

Thanks. That was one of the main articles pushing me to get these tires. Like I said above, I don't want to get into the performance review before I have a chance to thoroughly test them but they are soooo much quieter than the BFGs that were on there before. They're not exactly quiet for a new tire but all of a sudden I can hear things like passengers, wind noise, transmission whine, ac compressor clicking on and off. The BFGs were terrible in the road noise dept.

Another thing I like is they transfer less of the sharp impacts into the car yet the steering is more responsive and sharp.

I did one full abs stop and the only word I can think of is brutal. My friend started laughing saying he didn't know a car could stop that fast. I wish my Wilwoods would get here. The stock brakes already leave a lot to be desired once you do more than one or two hard stops. With the newfound traction I thing the stockers are going to be overwhelmed. Power is there, abs is easy to invoke but that's only for the first two or three stops.

I went out and measured stopping distances and time around a "course" with the old tires and the tires before that. While it's not the most scientific test, especially the braking test which relies on many variables, namely the driver's reaction times, I got a 12 stop average on the old tires so it should mean something.

 

[AdRock]

Cool, definitely post back up when you really give them a run for their money.

 

[IndyIan]

When is your track day with the guys at work? Sounds like you've got all the bases covered when you get your brakes.

 

[pzev]

What pads are you running? I set of dedicated track pads and rotors will do wonders for your car at Willow. Also make sure to flush that brake fluid!

 

[BuickGN]

Originally Posted By: pzev
What pads are you running? I set of dedicated track pads and rotors will do wonders for your car at Willow. Also make sure to flush that brake fluid!


I'm honestly not sure what the Wilwoods come with. I would assume they're a fairly aggressive pad though. I hope they work well out of the box because I'm not going to have a chance to order new ones.

The guilt is starting to set in for spending this money on things I don't really need, especially in today's economy. I'm going to kick myself if I get laid off tomorrow and gave away a car payment in brakes and another one in tires.

I forgot to mention, I'm going to go back to the 5.1 fluid. It seems to allow the abs to work much more aggressively. I noticed this when I switched over and then I wrecked the car and they filled it with DOT 3. On the thicker stuff, it seems way too conservative. With the 5.1 it would get much closer to the edge of traction. I'll probably run with the abs fuse pulled anyway, it's just too conservative.

 

[pzev]

When I was at bondurant, the ABS in the vettes was a tad annoying. Fortunately, my own car is ABS free...

That isn't to say ABS doesn't have a place, but sometimes factory programming can suck the fun out of things. Don't even get me started on the vettes traction and stability control!


For fluid, people love ATE Super Blue and Type 200 (gold). Because, when tracking, fresh fluid is really important...more so than fluid specs. Weekend warriors love the ATE fluids because when they flush one with the other, it makes it really simple to see when the new fluid is cycled through (one is blue, and one is gold!). If you plan on more than one track day, it might be to your benefit to flush the fluid in between days.

http://store.motiveproducts.com/shared/S...ount2=142005562

Those things are fantastic for quick brake flushes! I made a home-made version, and love it!. Really makes things simple.

 

[Riptide]

Buick have you done any drag racing with these tires? If so what pressure did you use? Did you have to heat them up?