Matt Romanowski

Just curious - how did people come to the conclusion that the NT01 are the same rubber compound as the RA1? Are Nitto and Toyo linked?

Erik911RS

Matt-
Sorry, if I got off your original topic, was just confirming the RA1 changes pre and post tsunami. I can't get the Nitto in my sizes. I know Brian who posted above and several others here racing Porsches and BMWs in AZ run the Nitto and really like them. Seem to be a very durable tire and good grip levels comparabe to the RA1. If I could get them I would probably run them myself.

utkinpol

Nitto is a wholly owned subsidiary of Toyo.
I spoke to some other people who know Japanese suppliers, as I was told again compound is same but difference I experience is due to simple fact that my RA1 were made in 2007 and NT01 are 2011. So compound simply aged out.
New RA1 are R888 in fact and also made from dual layers apparently same way as R888 are made, just in the different tread pattern to look like old RA1s, well, go figure why they decided to do this but apparently that is what was done.
But no one has any concrete evidence from what i understood.

Matt Romanowski

Don't worry about it. This has been a great thread!

Gotcha. I didn't know that Toyo owned Nitto.

Anyone know about Maxxis who has been advertising a track tire to be released soon?

jcs_911

Is there a best place(s) for buying Nittos?

JackOlsen

I've usually gotten mine through Discount Tire Direct.

Matt Romanowski

Got mine from Discount Tire. Seemed to be the best price after checking a couple of places.

J richard

Bit of an update, I ran a range of my used tires this weekend. It was a night event so id give up a second to the visibility issues, I started on a old set of Hoosiers with about 20 HC, they were horrible, 3 seconds off my previous daylight time. Due to short times between sessions I had to run them several times, they just got worse. Old Hoosiers don't work even though I was tempted with good tread...

Swapped to a set of 18HC post hurricane shaved RA1 picked up 2 seconds initially but they faded after the first session and the times crept back up to about half a second under the Hoosiers. This was about the point where the grooves were just still there, about the time when the previous RA1 was in its prime, they were done. I guess the reports on the new compound is correct, disappointing as they were very fast and consistent up to this weekend.

Lastly I put on an old set of NT01s three year old tires with at least 14HC (they came with the car so I don't know the actual total but they were well scrubbed) I picked up 1-2 seconds, the car was much more drivable than either of the other tires and they stayed consistent to the end of the race.

So in summary, timed out Hoosiers really are junk, the new RA1 is as good as the old one out of the box but really don't have the old lifespan, the NT01 is still a great reliable tire.

Think I'm going to try the R1...

TomGT3

Matt, if you haven't ordered you might want to try Tirebuyer.com
I have used them and they are much cheaper in my sizes than the other sites.

Matt Romanowski

They are already mounted, but luckily Discount Tire was a whole $7 cheaper! I'll have to keep tirebuyer in mind for the next set though.

mooty

LMAO u just found out?

also, nitto needs to be shaved. when new, it's not very good.