we have an event tomorrow and the weather doesnt look too good

ive got nitto NT01s worn down to just the two grooves
ive tried them in the rain once...and the tires spun on every little stream of flowing water on the ground (our playground is on a slight slope)

would the nittos be faster than a street tire?

right now i put the nittos on the rear only...and my fronts have 17s on them...
the 17s are my everyday street tire
its got some crappy pirelli p7000 tires that have deep treads

what would it be like with street tires on the fronts and r comps on the rears in the rain?

ill be bringing the other nittos with me in case i feel the need to go full r comps for tomorrow

its on a 95 prelude btw

 

You already know that the street tires will grip better than the worn R comps in the rain. So with R comps in the back, the car will oversteer, and with R comps in the front, it will understeer. Big time.

Why don't you just go, and swap your tires around during the event, and see for yourself how it handles both ways?

 

I don't know anything about Nittos, in fact, I never even knew they made R's.
Must be a Guam thing.

In anycase, when there is standing water, you gotta run something with alot of channeling, or else, you are just water skiing. Front and rear.

If there is any place on the course where all four tires will be on a dry spot, or drying spot, for a period of time you can prolly get away with the R comps.

With the Kumho V710's, they are pretty good in changing conditions (rain starts or drying) but once the ground is saturated, and there is a film of water, I gotta go to something with actual tread

 

Personally, I would run r compounds. This is assuming I would not have to change tires in the pouring rain because usually that's the main reason why I would run street tires otherwise. The only exceptions would be if a) I had dedicated rain r compounds and it was a national level event, b) it is not warm outside c) the course is flooded. I believe and I'm not the only one in this, that if you can get at least some heat in r compounds, they will still be faster overall than most street tires in the rain. What you loose momentarily when going through puddles the tires should be able to make it up everywhere else. Obviously it's trickier to have to deal with momentary aquaplaning (which should not happen with street tires) that you'll experience throughout a run and you usually have to adjust your driving around those areas. If the course is just wet with no puddles, I'd definitely choose r compounds. Then again everyone's results may vary. However I would not mix street tires and r compounds in the rain. The breakaway characteristics are much too different, especially when only 2 of your tires will want to aquaplane. I mean it ought to be fun, but the corner workers will probably hate you.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mtbprelude &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I don't know anything about Nittos, in fact, I never even knew they made R's.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I've seen the Nitto NT01 R compound tire mentioned in a few magazine articles. I don't think it gets a lot of publicity (perhaps because the Tire Rack doesn't carry Nitto Tires, I don't know). I've never seen anyone using Nitto R comps at the track.

Nitto NT01:


Nitto also recently introduced the NT555RII which is another R compound track tire (not to be confused with their NT555R drag radial or NT555 street tire, although their tread patterns are similar).

Nitto NT555RII:

 

The Nitto NT-555R II works fine in the wet with shallow patches of standing water and is a great R-compound tire to start off with. The NT-01 is the same compound as the NT-555RII, but has slightly better dry grip because of the tread pattern. The NT-01's are not as good in the wet as the NT-555RII since they have a more integrated tread block design across the entire tire width. And now that your tires are basically worn down to slicks it might not grip that well at all with standing water anywhere.

Not the same, but my camaro handles like crap in the dry with street tires front (Yokohama ES-100's) and the NT-555RII's rear... understeer city. Can't imagine how bad it would be in the wet. It's way better running either ES-100's or NT-555RII's all the way around instead of mixing.

Nitto R Comps are popular with the Mustang, Camaro, and some Subaru WRX/Mitsubishi Lancer guys... basically anyone who runs 9" or wider wheels. But now with the NT-01's you can get them in needed Honda/Acura sizes. I wouldn't mind running them at all on the economy beater car to replace my Camaro, whatever it may be (looking to be a Toyota Tercel at this point).

 

the NT01s aresnt so bad
seems like grip is a little less than the ecsta v700 ... or im just pushing it harder to hear the tires slightly squeal
i never really heard the v700s squeal

but heres how our track looks like when the rain comes

it slops down on the right side of our playground so the water just streams that way

also...i got lucky on sunday...it didnt rain at all during the event. lucky thing i brought the other two nittos in the trunk and just swapped out the front street tires at the track

i drove home with the nittos and it was the worst rain ever...very scary on those tires...i didnt drive any faster than like 30mph
going uphill at anything over 2500rpm will spin the tires too easily

the nittos that day were 5 seconds faster than the fastest guy on street tires

 

Hmmm...car looks familiar, but it isn't yours......is it...hehe...

 

ahaaaa!
whats up man...
nah thats JPs car
our playground is nasty when it rains huh?

 

looks nasty, never really was there when it came down that hard.......