Choosing a street tire for time attacks

[ROK EVO]

What a great time to buy high-grip street tires with so many options available!

Pretty much all major manufacturers came out with their new extreme performance street tires.

As I'm sponsored by my own Visa, Yoko AD-08 and B-Stone RE-11 are out.

So, that leaves with following choices;


1) Dunlop Z1 Star Spec 200

2) Hankook RS-3 140

3) Nitto NT-05 200

4) Kumho XS 180


I will be running the usual, 255/40/17 sizes with 17X9 rims on a lightly modified car. The coilovers are 8K(f) and 10K(r) with stock sway bars. The numbers to the right of each tire are UTQC ratings.

Which would be your pick? And why?

[Protostar1]

I just bought NT05s (265/35-18s) and have loved the first 30 miles! I bought them mainly after seeing they were a bit cheaper compared to the Z1s and RE-01Rs and BlackTrack's review of them:

Gates311: Nitto NT05 Review **Street Class Tire **

I will happily give you more reviews after I hit the track this Sunday (hopefully)

[ROK EVO]

z1.jpg

rs3.jpg

xs.jpg

nt05.jpg

[ROK EVO]

Originally Posted by Protostar1

I just bought NT05s (265/35-18s) and have loved the first 30 miles! I bought them mainly after seeing they were a bit cheaper compared to the Z1s and RE-01Rs and BlackTrack's review of them:

Gates311: Nitto NT05 Review **Street Class Tire **

I will happily give you more reviews after I hit the track this Sunday (hopefully)

How is the sidewall stiffness of NT-05s? I've read BlackTrack's review,too. But, isn't he sponsored by Nitto? NT-05's UTQC rating of 200 make me little reluctant.

[Protostar1]

Originally Posted by ROK EVO

How is the sidewall stiffness of NT-05s? I've read BlackTrack's review,too. But, isn't he sponsored by Nitto?

Yes he is haha.

I take everything with a grain of salt on here, but the bottom line is that you can't really go wrong with any of those tires.

I actually think the secondary ride (small, high frequency bumps?) is better with the NT05s over my Dunlop M3 winter tires, which are soft and squishy. Might be due to the width though. I really only do have about 30 miles on them so I can't be sure on too much, but initial impressions are positive.

[ROK EVO]

Originally Posted by Protostar1

Yes he is haha.

I take everything with a grain of salt on here, but the bottom line is that you can't really go wrong with any of those tires.

I actually think the secondary ride (small, high frequency bumps?) is better with the NT05s over my Dunlop M3 winter tires, which are soft and squishy. Might be due to the width though. I really only do have about 30 miles on them so I can't be sure on too much, but initial impressions are positive.

yes, I agree; I think the difference in laptimes between these tires will be marginal. I'm glad that your have positive initial impressions. Please let us know how you feel after your trackday this weekend.

[dcshoeco16]

I just got the NT05's ( same size your getting) but I didn't pay anywhere near 200 a tire if that's the number your listing next to the tires- PM me for where if u wanna know- haven't driven on them yet but all I hear are good things. Also I hear they are really good in the wet too. Hope this helps and good luck

[Neal@tirerack.]

Drove the Dunlop and Kumho on the track/street last week and was very surprised with the Kumhos. Especially for the price.

[andres_d85]

Originally Posted by dcshoeco16

I just got the NT05's ( same size your getting) but I didn't pay anywhere near 200 a tire if that's the number your listing next to the tires- PM me for where if u wanna know- haven't driven on them yet but all I hear are good things. Also I hear they are really good in the wet too. Hope this helps and good luck

I believe 200 is the treadwear isnt it?

[jve153]

picked up a set of z1 star's about 2 weeks ago (2500 miles ago, lol). got em on and immediately drove to tampa from indy to see a buddy of mine. drove amazingly thru the mountains. ran autox this weekend in the ran and they were awesome. definately happy to have purchased these tires.
as far as the others, im sure they will all do you well, but i like my star specs, if i had to do it over, i would buy another set.

[boomn29]

Originally Posted by ROK EVO

What a great time to buy high-grip street tires with so many options available!

Pretty much all major manufacturers came out with their new extreme performance street tires.

As I'm sponsored by my own Visa, Yoko AD-08 and B-Stone RE-11 are out.

So, that leaves with following choices;


1) Dunlop Z1 Star Spec 200

2) Hankook RS-3 140

3) Nitto NT-05 200

4) Kumho XS 180


I will be running the usual, 255/40/17 sizes with 17X9 rims on a lightly modified car. The coilovers are 8K(f) and 10K(r) with stock sway bars. The numbers to the right of each tire are UTQC ratings.

Which would be your pick? And why?

I had the same dilemma on street track tires. I considered many of the same, the NT05, AD08, RE-11, RE-01, and Z1.

The AD08 was not available from what I could find. The RE-01 was actually pretty expensive for being the older model or hard to find, and the RE-11 was very expensive.
This left the NT05 and Z1 StarSpec's. Being this would be my tire for street track events, it would also need to run in the rain/wet conditions - so per the last review from TireRack I happily went with the Z1's. Depending what size you want, the NT05 and Z1 shift prices, so be sure to price both. I think they're both good tires personally. I couldn't wait for a direct comparo...

I've only got about 1/2 mile on Z1 StarSpec's thus far - down the street and back. But will use them on-track in late June and plan to post up a review.

[ROK EVO]

Originally Posted by Neal@tirerack.

Drove the Dunlop and Kumho on the track/street last week and was very surprised with the Kumhos. Especially for the price.

That's what I keep hearing from auto-x guys. Some of them are saying that new kumho xs are pretty much street r-comp tires. Also, these kumhos came out of top in the test that was recently done by GRM.

Have you had a chance to drive new hankook RS-3s? I heard that Hankook claims that new tires have 30% more dry grip from their predecessors R-S2s, which were already decent tires. Does tirerack have these tires in stock now?

[ROK EVO]

Originally Posted by boomn29

I had the same dilemma on street track tires. I considered many of the same, the NT05, AD08, RE-11, RE-01, and Z1.

The AD08 was not available from what I could find. The RE-01 was actually pretty expensive for being the older model or hard to find, and the RE-11 was very expensive.
This left the NT05 and Z1 StarSpec's. Being this would be my tire for street track events, it would also need to run in the rain/wet conditions - so per the last review from TireRack I happily went with the Z1's. Depending what size you want, the NT05 and Z1 shift prices, so be sure to price both. I think they're both good tires personally. I couldn't wait for a direct comparo...

I've only got about 1/2 mile on Z1 StarSpec's thus far - down the street and back. But will use them on-track in late June and plan to post up a review.

Hey Boomn29,

I also heard good things about Z1 StarSpec's. In japan, most evo guys in street class have been using these tires.

Right now, I am narrowing down to either new kumhos or kooks. There are simply not enough info about these tires right now as they were just released in the market. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

I've been running only R-comp tires for a while on tracks, so I'm kinda looking forward to running street tires again. I wonder how the transition will be...

Thanks for your inputs on this.

[flyingscot]

im prepping my car for ta too but the last thing you want to do is go cheap on the tire,pardon me for stating the obvious but its the only contact you have with the track,you probably thought long and hard on your suspension,brakes,safety,engine performance and cooling so why make the most important part of the equation your weakest,btw im not giving you **** just my 2 cents,you already know the two best tires for street class so go with the best if you have any desire to win because your competitors already have,good luck,its too late to be thinking about money now

[juice_evo_VII]

So far I found the NT05s to be 20$ cheaper then the Z1's each. I have drove on the Z1s and they are very great in the corners and provide excellent feedback to the driver. But based on the NT05 reviews I'd go with the NT05s over the Z1s given the $80 savings.