Impressions of the New Nitto NT05.
 

Just for a little background, I have used the Falken Azenis RT-615 for the past 10 months for roughly 15 AutoCross events and 4 HPDE events. I was on 275/35/18's.

I just put a set of 275/35/18 Nitto NT05's on my Enkei RPF1's 18x9.5 +45 at a total weight of 45.2lbs. This weekend I competed in the North Carolina AutoCross Championships.

I'm currently running -2.4 degrees camber in the front and -2.2 in the rear.

Saturday: I run in STU, and we were unfortunately the first group to go. It was around 69 degrees and drizzling out. These tires LOVE heat, unlike the Azenis, which HATED heat. My first run was a 51.4 and as the course dried up a bit, I finished my 4th and final run with a 49.1. The NT05's gripped much better in the wet and it was very easy to tell when they were going to break away. At the end of Saturday, I was in 4th place in STU.

Sunday: For some odd reason STU was in the first run group again. It was only about 68 degrees out but luckily the course was nice and dry.(The course was much different than Saturday's - See Video). My frist run I got a time of 48.0. Right away I noticed how much more grip the NT05's had around the long sweepers than the Azenis, even though they were still cold. My second run was a 47.2 with a cone, then was able to get a 45.9, followed by a 45.5 which put me into 2nd place in STU for the day. The turn in response was brilliant and I was finally able to put power down out of the corners. With the Azenis, comming out of every corner my car would oversteer and I would lose too much time. Saturday obiviously it was sliding around in the wet, but Sunday I loved the way the car felt, I could throttle steer the car through some of the sweepers, with little imputs of the wheel. The tire would not squeel at all, it just asked for more and more speed. And as you can see, the more heat they built up the faster they got. I'm sure that if we had only waited 5 minutes between runs instead of 20, I would have been in the 44's.

The last Regional event I was about 2 seconds off Bruce Elbertson and Tom Deedy(B Stock RX8 drivers on 275 Hoosiers) This event I was able to beat both of them by about .3 seconds.

Now I know that the NT05 is more of an HPDE tire since it is a harder compound. Which is actually what I will be using it for. I'll be going to STX next year on some 265 Star Specs. But I just wanted to let people know that I was VERY impressed with this tire and will definitally buy again(for HPDE :) ).

Here is a Video of the event. Only got to film 1 run on Saturday.

http://vimeo.com/7017778

I will be down at Roebling Road again in less than a month, and will be posting a follow up review on how they are on a road course.

Thanks for the review man; Im debating over these or the star specs for my next tires. Ive driven on both (not rx-8's) and liked how much better the nt-05 was in wet vs. the star spec which did better in dry. Im thinking ill end up with the 255 star specs though

Sounds like the nt05 are a much better tire compared to the Azenis...I know what I'm getting next :D: lol

No offense to people who are running them, but the rt-615 is the very bottom of the pack for the UTQG pack of ~200. It is also the cheapest, which is about the only positive thing I have to say about them...

^The RT-615 is not the cheapest. You can get the Kumho XS, and the NT05 for around $100 less than the Falkens.

lol show me :)

^ look

The Direzza Star-Specs are the direct comparison to the NT-05s.

Both are the closest thing to an R-compound that you can get in a street tire.

The Star-Specs are a better Auto-X tire because they get hotter more quickly than the Nittos, but they get greasy once they get really hot.

The NT-05s are a better track tire because they are lighter and only get grippier as they get hot. They wear a bit faster than the Start-Specs as well, making them a little less well-suited for the street than the Direzzas.

I run the Nittos for all of my driving events, but I pay the price a bit on the first run of the day in Auto-X.

First run of the day I use to get a feel for the course anyway ;) So I don't see it as a downfall.

Excellent write up Mike.

Well, in competitive Auto-X, you don't get that luxury.
You only get 3 or 4 tries at it and you have to be balls-out on the very first run.
Which is why the Direzzas are better for Auto-X.

Nice video.