brian89transam

Will tires like Nittos and BFG street legal slicks handle decent on the road? I'm gonna have to buy new rear tires soon and I won't run into any snow until november. Are they a decent ride on the highway? I'm not planning on doing any road racing but the usual daily driving. Some rain, about 3 miles of gravel every day. I don't think I've had any tires on my car that lasted over 10,000 miles so that would be fine. Would these work? Thanks.

AlkyIROC

You're spending a lot of money on tires that are going to wear out in less than 5000 miles if you plan on using them as daily driver tires.

Omega

iTrader: (1)

I would not buy street legal slicks if I were you. Aside from the short life span of them they are lethal in the rain. The slightest bit of moisture and you are going for a ride. Also, I don't think they have a particularly stiff sidewall. They have the potential to be very unstable in turns and such.

brian89transam

Are all actual street tires basically the same for drag racing then, besides size differences?

sIcK pUpPy

Negative. Each tire has diferent wear ratings (hardness of compuond) for their intended use. Depending on what you want to do with the tire, there is a brand out there. Put simply, you cannot have an "all out" performance tire that will also handle in wet weather as well as, say an all season radial. When choosing what tire you are going to run, decide what you want it to do.

there are several excellent tires that will provide outstanding traction, but at a price. On the flip side, all seasons do just that, but don't excell in any particular area. I personally use the Futura Ultra Z's all year around. Not the best tire, but for the money ($110 ea), it's hard to pass up.

P.S. Drag Radials are NOT meant to run on the streets. They are manufactured soley for the purpose of circumventing certain class requirements in racing. The side walls aren't designed to tolerate the stresses of conering.

Lates,
JD

blak92!

I think you mean drag slicks are NOT meant to run on the streets. I put about 12,000 miles on my last set of Nitto DRAG RADIALS. They are excellent in the rain and have a realtively stiff sidewall for decent cornering.

From message board consensus BFG drag radials are not very good in the rain, but have better traction than the Nitto drag radial. The Nitto drag radial compromises some traction for a better "daily driver."

I recently replaced my 245/46 16 Nittos for 275/40 17 mounted on SS wheels. I will be "roasting" them tommorrow at E-Town Raceway park. See ya at the races!

sIcK pUpPy

Actually, that is exactly what I meant. I threw that statement out there because the question was asked. Put simply, as I stated before, they were not intended for normal street use. Brian asked the question about how they handle on the road. Handling on the road also includes driving in the rain. Can you be ABSOLUTY CERTIAN that under hard conering, that the bead won't break?

I know that numerous people run these on the roads, but at safetys sake. I'm not here to play safety ****, as I too live in a glass house and cannot throw stones. I only wanted to educate the novices on hazard portentials of using these tires for everyday street use.

Keep in mind, when you are on the road it's not only your life that you put at risk when you make irrational decisions, but that little boy in the car next to you.

O.K., i'm off my soap box....FLAME ON!

blak92!

Actually, I believe the sidewall is the same as the 555 street tire. THe main difference between the 555 and the 555 R may be the softer tread compound only. :lala: <-- what is this supposed to be.

Anyhow, the sidewalls on the Nitto drag radials are rather stiff, almost as much as the BFG kdws on my Vette and front of the Camaro.

Here is a claim from there site:
"The Nitto NT-555R Extreme Drag Radial Tire is an exciting addition to the specialty performance radial tire segment of the Nitto Tire Product Line. With the NT-555R Nitto engineers succeeded in designing a DOT approved, drag racing radial tire. Nitto Tire demanded a tire that would outperform all drag racing radial tires, provide impressive control and handling, and still deliver up to 15,000 miles of tread life of normal street-driving use. NT-555R's are manufactured with the original tread depth of 6/32nd's of an inch and are constructed with a specially formulated <b>soft racing tread compound</b> to provide maximum traction. However, this <b>soft and flexible tread</b> will wear much quicker than tread compounds formulated for regular passenger cars. The Nitto NT-555R is designed primarily for competition drag racing."

Notice how they only claim "soft tread compound".
THe BFG drag radials have a much softer sidewall, hence their traction advantage.

cort351w

Nitto also recommends the 555R for autoX

Omar

That's actually a different tire, the 555R II.

poncho9789

Before they came out with the 555rII they reccomended the nitto 555r dr for the autox. I have seen many cars drive very good in the rain on the nitto's but not on the bfg because of the large flat non syped section in the middle of the tire. I have also seen guys pull 1.5 60' times on the nitto drag radials (nitto 555r) the nittos are very good for cornering and the only difference between the 555r and the 555rII is the II has an extremely rigid sidewall.