Has anyone seen this before with their Nitto's?

Brand new Friday. Air temps never above about 45 degrees the whole weekend. 36-37psi hot. They basically grained every single session, looked like this the whole weekend. Massive loss of rear grip as a result. I was nearly 2 seconds off of my pace from last october because I had no confidence in the rear and couldn't get back to the gast at all without it jumping sideways on me.



Here's a good example of how slick they were. This clip is me chasing my buddy. I back off on the front straight to cool down and when I turn into T1 at a reduced pace the car has a big wiggle I wasn't expecting.


I had an issue with one of my fronts last year but it wasn't this bad, and I thought it was pressure related. These were 36-37 hot at the end of every session. The fronts look brand new, almost unused as a matter of fact.

 

Odd. Hasn't happened to me. I am on my fourth set of nt01's. haven't heard of any friends having that issue either.

 

Aren't nittos greasy when new? Mike

 

i have run about 6-7 sets of nittos and have never seen that pattern. Is it possible they never came up to temp before you started pushing them? I run my tires much lower pressures than most, liking 30 hot front, 31 hot rear. If you find the cause, please let us know.

Darrick

 

Hmmm, when I raced motorcycles a long time ago, I used to see this alot when we were racing in colder temperatures where the track temp. would never come above 55deg. F.

The tire rep. Used to call it "cold tearing" . I guess in the car world it is called "graining". He explained that even though the tire was coming up to temp. Because the tire was trying to adhere to the Tarmac that was a much cooler surface, the chemicals in the tire would not react as they were designed and tear, making those wave like ridges. Which as you experienced decreases grip by 20 to 30%.

Of course, suspension, power, etc. etc. all play there part in it as well.

Not sure if this is what you experienced but this is my account of my only experience in seeing that, albeit on motorcycle tires.

 

Ask Damon at tire rack. I've never seen that before

 

I have chunking when tire is not up to temp but not like that graining on your pic. We're u racing with the f1 guys last weekend? Carbon bits can tear it like that : ). Mike

 

My last set was slippery when it was new so I was expecting that. When the rear was MORE than just a little slick I found this which never got any better.

I may contact Nitto to see what they say.

 

Thanks. Let us know. It seems odd.

 

My guess is that the cold surface temps are to blame here. What is the date of manufacture on these tires? I just went through a set of 315/30/18 rears and only got 15 20min sessions out of them before cording when I normally get about 25. DOM was 41/12. Wear pattern was normal...

 

Litle more video just for kicks. First session Sunday chasing my buddy Pervez (Mvez). 36 degree air temp here, track was cold we weren't exactly setting the world on fire but it sure was fun anyhow.

 

I have run many many sets and never had that, however as an early poster said this might be the cold track. I would t all to Tire Rack and please let us know what you find.

Might just be another reason to live In TEXAS

 

Some interesting info regarding "graining"-

http://insideracingtechnology.com/tirebkexerpt3.htm

 

Nitto is owned by Toyo and in the past, they have changed their rubber compounds in their RA1, R888 and now RR. I've always found the Nittos NT01 to be very good in various conditions on a GT3. I haven't run the GT3 on track in years so I'm wondering if this is what has happened with the NTO1s now, or perhaps just a bad set.

 

Timely thread here, as a friend of mine just bought a set of NT01's for his e30 M3 and experienced serious graining on his first run. He only got about 18 track sessions (~20-25 min sessions) out of them before they corded. In his case, the cording happened on the front left tire on a clockwise track. I'd like to step up to R comps for my next set of tires and was all set to try NT01's, but it seems the feedback on NT01's is not as positive as on past threads.