Street driving and NT01s
 

I have no experience with this tire except what I read here.
Is it a bad idea to use this tire on the street? I don't really drive that far, I drive to school but I bike to work. I'm thinking of getting these for the upcoming autox season and for track days.

Opinions? I heard you just end up heat cycling them to the point of uselessness, but figured I'd ask.

RA1s may be better for what you want. They will heat cycle better and are much bettet in the rain. They are the best "street" tires there are

The owner Brandon Does it in his Acura. Thats front wheel drive and high HP though! LOL

I've had no issues driving on the NT01's, but don't expect more then 5-6k miles out of them.

Rain is a bit spookey, especially with any amount of miles on them.

6k miles, they hum like mud-boggers at anything above 20mph, not advised for standing water (heavy rain), they will heat cycle before they cord on the street. Silly, silly sticky. If you aren't looking for every bit of performance, go for it.

Fuggit, I'm doing it.

This is spot on. The humming is annoying but ohh well. I have about 1000 street miles and and 4 track weekends on a Spec level car. I'm sure mine will make me through the rest of this track season (summer).

I have RE11, I couldn't believe the difference in grip going from my ecsta AST tires. They have one HPDE event on them and tread wear seems to be great. Getting only 6k out of a set of tires on the street is absurd. Plus, how often are you pushing the car on the street to the point where that little bit of grip matters? I'd take a little less grip for higher tire life and better wet performance.

Just as an FYI, the tires lose a bunch of time through heat cycling if you drive them on the road on a regular basis. I used to do it all the time in Rover but I am pretty about keeping them off the road now.

The point is I don't really want a second set of wheels yet for everytime I go autox/track. After I go through a set of NT01s I'll probably pickup some 15x9's.

I'm still a month or 2 away from really needing tires anyway, maybe I'll change my mind.

NT01's are a pretty horrible choice for an Auto-X tire. With the Tread Wear rating of 100 you can't run any of the "street tire" classes, You will never get enough heat in them to be sticky enough to be faster than a set of R1Rs or RS3's, they will heat cycle out before the R1R's or RS3's, they will be about a minute slower than the R1R's in the rain....on a 30 second course. I am assuming you are going to be running 225/45/15's in that size the NT01's are $149, R1R's are $149 and RS3's are $115. If you are wanting a "multi purpose tire" Stick with the R1R's or RS3's.

I forgot about the RS3, but I'd need to buy wheels first unless they make them in 205/50/15. I'm on 15x7's currently.

Time to check out some prices on black 15x9's.

I've autocrossed on NT-01s and they are way faster than RS3s. The first run is a little weak but once you get the first run out of the way they are plenty grippy. Certainly better than an RS3.

^^^I autocrossed on a set of them for a year...and I can tell you they aren't any better than a good street tire for AutoX^^^ On a typical 60-70 second Autocross run and a 2200lb car you just aren't going to get enough heat in them for them to be effective. If you add the fact that they are 100% worthelss in standing water there is NO reason to by a set of NT01's over a street tire for a multi purpose AutoX/street tire. We will just have to agree to disagree on this one....but I can tell you that MaxQ Data tells me you are mistaken.

:drama:

I have the same amount of experience on the tires and the exact opposite impression of them. We'll have to agree to disagree.

RA1's are a significantly better street tire than an NT-01.

In the wet autocrossing a full tread RA-1 will beat pretty much everything but new Hoosier wets or new Kumho W710s.

FWIW a couple years ago at a season opener SCCA autocross with serious national level competators in the region I took overall FTD and second in Pax in full wet conditions running on new NT-01's as my rain tires instead of 275 A6's.

Bob

I used a set of full-tread NT-01s at a wet NASA TT track event last year. 225/45-15 on 15x9 wheels. They worked well enough for me. I kept it on the track when people were sliding all over the place.

I street'd a set of NT-01's once. Its definitely something I'd recomend doing at least once. Grip like you've never experienced. But yeah heat cycles will kill them and holy ---- dont drive them on the street in the rain! Just dont do it! Sound is noticable at first but really never bothered me. And I'm sorry if others disagree, but there is definitely a difference between 01's and rs3's on an autox course even with the 01's being cold.

For what your doing the RA1 or RS3 is the better choice, both are very sticky.