12 Second Club - Nitto Drag Radials SUCK!

Well as the title says Nitto Drag Radial suck. I mean I knew not to expect great 60ft times from these tires but I would have thought it could have been a little better than street tires. Oh well....guess I'll have to wait for the 12.8 time slip. Anyway here are my time from tonight at the track. Look at the RT on the 3rd pass! OH YEAH! 8)

1st pass
60ft - 2.133
330 - 5.699
1/8 - 8.542
MPH - 87.53
1000 - 10.980
1/4 - 13.05
MPH - 108.90

2nd pass
60ft - 2.120
330 - 5.663
1/8 - 8.485
MPH - 88.08
1000 - 10.908
1/4 - 12.969
MPH - 109.48

3rd pass
RT - 008
60ft - 2.104
330 - 5.650
1/8 - 8.474
MPH - 88.16
1000 - 10.896
1/4 - 12.956
MPH - 109.58

how long did you bun them out for? ive been told to do mine for 10 seconds, but still need to get the nitrous ready for a track day

Yeah M/T DR's are the way to go.

+1 for the M/T's. "Shittos" suck!

how long did you bun them out for? ive been told to do mine for 10 seconds, but still need to get the nitrous ready for a track day


Not sure how long i was in the burnout but i know they had a good amount of smoke coming off them.

There have been a few here who've lifted the fronts on them... I kind of liked mine. Well, until they got a little wear. Then they didn't hook for $hit, but they'd sure kick rocks up all over my quarters. Now I run the M/T DRs. They hook great and don't pick up every little pebble on the road.

How was the track prep? Also, what was your launch technique? I've seen several people cut 1.8-1.9 60's on the Nittos. No offense, I'm just wondering if your launching style could've been adjusted to net you some better short times.

Your trap speed looks pretty good, so IMO the car's definitely got lower ETs in it.

I managed a couple 1.9 60' on a used (bald) set that I bought online for $75 that came with clean set of ws6 wheels. I had to heat them up until the guy running the light says "thats enough" and waves you on. Thats about the only way I could get them to work. I will definately go with E/T streets next time.

For Drag racing I'd agree they aren't ideal. I think they are the ultimate street tire for dry weather driving and "weekend" drag racing. But don't expect a 6k clutch dump.

That said I have cut 1.7's with a 12 second car with 17's, but you have to get them ridiculously hot. If you can see in front of you they aren't hot enough ;)

For Drag racing I'd agree they aren't ideal. I think they are the ultimate street tire for dry weather driving and "weekend" drag racing. But don't expect a 6k clutch dump.

+1

Nitto drag radials are street tires :)

i like my bfg drag radials :)

i gOt a 2.0 on street tires :)

They aren't the best no, but I averaged a low 1.8 on 245/45/17 Nitto DRs and have a best of 1.733 on them with no suspension mods this year. You do need to heat them pretty good. 10 - 15 secs. That said I'm running MTs next spring.

You have to get them really hot before they start sticking.

Ran 1.90 60 ft a couple of times on the Nitto DR's without really heating them up too much with a 1600 rpm launch and no suspension mods. I believe if I get them real sticky and launch at higher RPM's I'll get better times. Funny thing about these tires is that some people swear by them and others just hate them. Little bit harder tire than the MT/ET's so they will usually last longer for street use and some track duty. No doubt that the MT's are superior tires as acknowledged by most for track duty!

They aren't the best no, but I averaged a low 1.8 on 245/45/17 Nitto DRs and have a best of 1.733 on them with no suspension mods this year. You do need to heat them pretty good. 10 - 15 secs. That said I'm running MTs next spring.


Guess my Fuzion ZRi street tire was doing good at the strip. I was cutting 1.86 60's :drive:

Funny thing about these tires is that some people swear by them and others just hate them.

If you look at this thread and see the people that like nittos, they're A4's.
You can't compare a stalled A4 vs. a 4.10+ geared M6, when launching with nitto drag radials, world of difference. Then there's track prep and how bad you want to burn up your clutch by slipping it.

Im and M6 with 4.10 and 400 to the wheels... I had to heat the living crap out of them in order to get them to hook.

Unfortunately the 10 bolt said it had enough on the 6th pass of hot lapping it. MT's for me next year, but you really can beat a set of Nittos for $45 used and use them for a while.

MT ET Street Radials FTW............

i agree they aren't the best for drag racing but theres no reason you can't hook with them and your slightly modified car. Your not pushing enough power to have terrible traction with them....i have had 3 cars modded very similarly to yours and have never had a problem getting traction.

i would avg 1.75-1.85s on nittos
now i avg 1.61-1.68 n mickey t drags (best of 1.56)

no comparison

i would avg 1.75-1.85s on nittos
now i avg 1.61-1.68 n mickey t drags (best of 1.56)

no comparison

what psi are you guy's runnin the nittos on at the track?

I run my ET's @ 14psi

1.76 on the 20" RSA's..1.67 on the 17" Et Streets, they feel like GLUE after the slightest burnout... dump the nittos if you're planning on getting the best possible 60', if you street race alot, keep em' they're more suited for that, the ET's wear fast when driving around on them, I won't even drive to the track on them 45mi away...

I had nittos on my car when i welded my clutch to the flywheel. i run around 16 psi and heat them for around 10 sec. Dont drive through the water box and dont back into the water box. The tread will still hold some water and you will spin. just back up till you get where all the water is in front of the box. Start your burn out there.good luck

thanks for all the comments guys i'll try to see what i can get out of the DRs next time out.

I've cut 1.7x on Nitto DR's. I did a burnout for like 10 seconds and made sure they were extra sticky :)

thanks for all the comments guys i'll try to see what i can get out of the DRs next time out.
I have an A4 car with a very similar setup, and same trap speeds. I have gone a best of 1.78 60' on the little 245/50 16s and never worse than high 2.0s if the track sucks. Sounds like you had a poorly prepped track.

Dam I'm getting 1.94 on street tires, Michillin Pilot Sports and I was thinking of getting some Nitto DR's next to improve on this but his is a DD and I was gonna run the Nittos on the street too!

Nittos DR's are cheaper than these Pilot sports too!

I've cut 1.7's on Nitto 555R's on a Mcah 1 and a C5Z by dropping the psi down to 12 and heating them up really good.

I've always slipped the clutch on them at a fairly high RPM as opposed to dumping out.

Best 60 on Nittos was 1.88. Running Hoosier QTPs with a 60 of 1.68.

Mec

M6+20psi+10 second 2nd gear burnout+4000 launch=1.75 60'. Not gonna break any records but I dont want to launch any higher than 4500-5000 so they work for me.

I got to the low 1.6 range on nittos. With a stock converter, I doubt you could ever do better than 1.9s.

i gOt a 2.0 on street tires :)

I've hit 1.86 on 275/40-17 BFG KDWS (400 Treadware)

I'm leaning towards the MT's

everywhere I look, everyone says they are the best DR out there
I'm just afraid of hurting my rear end :bang:

Dam I'm getting 1.94 on street tires, Michillin Pilot Sports and I was thinking of getting some Nitto DR's next to improve on this but his is a DD and I was gonna run the Nittos on the street too!

Nittos DR's are cheaper than these Pilot sports too!


you will also go thru 6-10 sets in the time it takes you to kill a set of PS2's :eyes:

How many miles do they last? I read on here 10k miles.

I only do 4,000 miles a year and mine is a DD so I herd they were the best for a DD.

I've heard 4-6K miles on the M/T's
and 6-8K on the Nitto's and BFG's

I drive 25K/year, can't afford 3-5 sets of tires a year

I cut 1.7's depending on how the track was prepped on 275 nittos. My best results were around 15lb's.


I had them once and I wont go back.

I drove my nittos from the beginning of summer to just two weeks ago. And I do quite a bit of driving. Probaly average 250 a week.

1.5 60's on my nitto 315dr's all day long....17psi

4 to 6k miles for my MPS's would be about all I get, for some reason the rear tires don't last very long!

So If I can get 4- 6k from Nittos that will be a years worth for me!

Best 60ft I could pull was a 2.03 with 315 nittos at 16psi, was smoking them for 10 seconds at least and then the track guy would wave me forward. Track prep was shitty that night also though...I just figure with my mods I'm wasting them and need slicks. :bang:

I used Nitto's for the entire 2004 season and never had a problem with traction. The key is to heat them up quite well because if you don't, they won't stick.

How much are you spinning off the line? I'm surprised that you having that much trouble with an A4. No problems with my M6.

I had a pair of nitto's and I thought they hooked decent untill I got my ET streets, All that I can say is WOW. I would go et streets and never look back. :drive:

i run nittos on my Trans Am and cut a 1.7 60ft all day and pull the front tires up about 2 inches at 28 psi

I would say its all in the suspension but my suspension is just about all stock
with the front sway bar removed

i use 275/50/15 nittos with draglites 15x10 and 15x3.5

I have pulled 1.6s on Nittos with my previous a4 car, and 1.7s with my current m6 car, all stock suspension as well.

Yeah M/T DR's are the way to go.
:nod: :nod: :nod:

nittos are alright thats what i used all last season. im switching to mt this coming season..i had to burn the hell out of the nittos to get them to stick

i gOt a 2.0 on street tires :)
me too! :chug:

I have had really good luck with my 275-40-17 Nitto DRs. Have cut a best of 1.653 60ft and have pulled the left front up about 1 1/2" with just a bolt-on car on stock 120K mile suspension minus the front sway bar.

i was cutting low 1.7's on a 18" nitto dr, just get a real good burnout and get them to a good pressure.

On my 9th set of nitto Dr's, I cut 1.6 60fts all the time. You just need more practice with um. They have to be heated up more than you think. I run the 275/40/17 with 19 PSI, spin em up to 60mph and count to 5 seconds. Stall it up to 1200 rpm and flash the converter off the line.

Tried MT Dr's and I like the nittos better.

DJ

At Norwalk 2 years ago, I was running 1.7 60-ft times and pulled the tires off the ground 4 runs in a roll with clutch dumps ranging from 4,000 - 6,000 rpms and a 10 sec burnout, you really got to get them heated up good, thats what I did!!! I LOVE MY NITTOS!!!!

I used nitto DRs many seasons ago. They have to be hot to stick. I always used the 4 second rule. That is 4 seconds non-stop with line locks then go to the starting line. The down side to the nitto tire is at night when the track started to cool down I would loose traction. The up side is they last two seasons instead of one. Also they are a little better in the rain.

I now use ET Street Radials on the street and ET Street regulars at the track. I run 1.7 second 60 foot times all night long. If I remember correctly I was at around 1.9 sec 60 ft with the Nitto DRs.

Switch to ET Streets, they make a differance.

Best of luck,

Al

If you look at this thread and see the people that like nittos, they're A4's.
You can't compare a stalled A4 vs. a 4.10+ geared M6, when launching with nitto drag radials, world of difference.


I couldn't have said that any better myself. Now ,I would buy another set of Nittos in a heartbeat and cut 1.6's all day. I would normally run about 19-20lbs in them , lauching around 1500-1700 rpms and cut-nutz at the track all day . :judge: :)

yeah m/t is the way to go

Well I finally got a better ET with the Nitto's (see thread http://www.ls1tech.com/forums/showthread.php?t=657435) with a 2.00 60ft I ran a 12.80@109.48mph still not the 60ft I was looking for but its getting better.

Do you m6 guys like the tires to spin about one revolution on launch or do you expect instant hard bogging hookup? My car would bog hard on the ET streets without some serious gears. If I got the ETstreets hot, it would take a 14.9 to 1 starting ratio to roll out nice at 4500rpm. With a 2.64 low trans, that would require 5.64 gears to leave nice. Now i just play with the tire pressure and only clean the tires and leave allright with a 2.52 low mincie and 4.11 gears. The tires have to slip a little at launch so I dont bog the car. I refuse to slip the clutch any more than the amount I planned into the clutch assembly with the sintered iron disk and CF diafram cover. Just curious what you guys were doing.

I feel the same way about Nitto DR's - they were just barely better than street tires. My best 60' with street tires was a low 2.0's and with Nittos the low 1.9's. I run 18psi and I think I get them hot enough but I have to spend the first second of the run rolling into the throttle or the car goes nowhere.

:) Steve

I feel the same way about Nitto DR's - they were just barely better than street tires. My best 60' with street tires was a low 2.0's and with Nittos the low 1.9's. I run 18psi and I think I get them hot enough but I have to spend the first second of the run rolling into the throttle or the car goes nowhere.

:) Steve
yeah nittos suck for sure compaired to the other dr's.. mt's FTW!!!!

Learn to launch on the drag radials. Its a little trickier to get it right.

1.78's on nittos here

Nittos blow. Get MT et street radials. Got 10k miles and 25 passes outta mine before I sold them with plenty of tread left. 1.70 60' with really no talent involved in getting them too hook. Super bad ass on the street too. Put your money up with confidence when racing them on the street because they are gonna hook for sure.

My Nitto's work great. It takes more than tires to get a car to hook.

No doubt some sticky M/T's will work better but I drive mine around rain or shine, to and from the track. Once I get some QA1's up front I'll show you guys some 1.5's on Nitto's.

I dont' think anybody in this thread had a tougher task launching than me when I was on nittos...... 17" tire, 4.56 gear, 3.37 1st gear tranny ratio, full weight, and a motor that makes no low end power. :jest: With all that said all I did was unbolt the front sway bar lower the psi to 14 cold/16 hot and cut low 1.8's all day. You have to pre-load the clutch and slip it quickly. Is it a great tire for drag racing? No, but probably the best for everyday driving and decent traction at the strip.

This was a 1.74 60ft launching at about 5500 or so rpms. Managed to wrinkle it. LOL.
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w120/Bitemark46/Nittolaunch.jpg

I ran that gearing with my tremec 5 speed in my 350 powered 55 Chevy and used to dump the clutch at 4500 and the car would launch clean and smooth. It ran 1.80 to 1.78 60' and 12.82 in the quarter. This was on E.T. Streets. What is the reason you would pre load and slip the clutch? Were you bogging with the Nitos just dumping? Just asking because I also have 10.0:1 compression 283 Chevy motor I was trying out that probably has similar characteristics as your 5.0? It was pretty tough to launch well with the Muncie and 4.56s.

I have nothing but good things to say about nittos,I think it more about track prep than anything.

I hooked up really nice in my buddys head n cam car, with a BABY cam....


315 nitto, with 32 psi and no burnout....Hooked up well with a 4700 launch on the street...Meh it was decent, im sure with less psi it would hook better

245/50/16 Bald Nittos....LCAs..Subframes 1.6Xs 3.73 and 4000 stall.....

i have nitto 315-35-17 drag radials and they hook just fine for me i really like them ive had no problems so far but i have not been to the track yet.

Did 1.6 on 275 bald Nittos, track prep, sussp mods and driver are important too. The tire is only part of the setup. Vid is in sig and so is time slip. Check it on... :)

Oh, on the street with the motor I dead hook on most surfaces.. :devil: Makes for a fast street car when I pull someone out of the hole and hit the nitrous..... :drive:

There's nothing wrong with Nittos. They are a great daily driver tire
and they perform well for a 17" radial tire at the track. I've gone 11.20's @ 128mph
on them. It's either driver error, a suspension setup that's not dialed in, or a
combination of the two.

i cut 1.7's slip clutch at 4k rpm...i hit that today
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c94/hoezee/timeslip.jpg

I cut 1.64 60fts all day on them so,they can't suck that bad. 25-28 psi 5-7 second burn out.Oh not in the GTO but in old 99 H/C SS,would run 11's all day. :drive:

I must have just had good luck with mine, i cut 1.9's time and time again with a bone stock M6 SS and only burnin em for about 3-5 seconds

1.5 60's on nittos i just switched to the bfg g-force t/a drag radial. see what that can do.

i liked my Nittos when i had them and i cut 1.6x 60's, i do like the micky's a little better now then the nittos

1.75 275/40/17

I raced a ls1 camaro ss last night and it had Nitto drag radials, and I did 12.893@107.10 with a 1.933 60ft time

wow, if i did 2.1's on nittos i'd be extremely pissed...i did consistant 2.1's on my shitty no name street tires

My 12.27 vid in the sig was with nittos, good to show you how much of a burnout that you need. 1.705 was my best with them with no suspension mods.

I bought them in july-august of 2005 and still have them on now. Think I'm up to 18K miles with them now with 15K of those miles 4 trips to NY-FL/FL-NY :eek2: They still have thread on them on the outer edges, inner part ummm not so much. I'll take a pic of them today and post them up.

Picture time!!

Here they are when they were new

http://images1.snapfish.com/349653962%7Ffp47%3Dot%3E2345%3D3%3B7%3D%3C%3A8%3DX ROQDF%3E2323%3A82373%3B87ot1lsi

http://images1.snapfish.com/349654452%7Ffp64%3Dot%3E2345%3D3%3B7%3D%3C%3A8%3DX ROQDF%3E2323%3A82373358ot1lsi
New

Last year when I realized that I had too much psi in the driver's side tire.

http://images1.snapfish.com/349654532%7Ffp33%3B%3Enu%3D3254%3E2%3C6%3E%3B%3B7% 3EWSNRCG%3D32336942%3B9727nu0mrj

http://images1.snapfish.com/349654532%7Ffp339%3Enu%3D3254%3E2%3C6%3E%3B%3B7%3E WSNRCG%3D32336942%3B6689nu0mrj

And now

http://liveu-83.vo.llnwd.net/vidilife/image/2005/11/22/85233/1164983L.jpg

http://liveu-87.vo.llnwd.net/vidilife/image/2005/11/22/85233/1164987L.jpg

Driver's side

Passenger's side

http://liveu-84.vo.llnwd.net/vidilife/image/2005/11/22/85233/1164984L.jpg

http://liveu-85.vo.llnwd.net/vidilife/image/2005/11/22/85233/1164985L.jpg

I'm gonna see if they hold up till the new water version nitto drs come out near the end of the year.

Mickeys FTW!!!

Been worried about the Nitto's as I couldn't hook good on Saturady with them. I think it was acombo of cold track temps and poor prep.

My typical 60' is in the 1.9 range. Car with me in it weighs 3790lbs.

I'v got a SS3600 that I will install over the weekend to hopefully drop those 60's.

After reading this tread I have more confidence in the Nitto's.

Nittos arent the best tire, but if you drive your car alot and like to race they are good.

When I had a stock motor my 60 was a 1.7 12.50's all night on nittos.

I got a 1.862 out of them. That was in 30 degree weather.

1.5 60's all day on nittos.

1.5 60's all day on nittos.
Damn! The best I could cut last week was a 2.00 at 15psi with a pretty good burnout. About 40 degree weather.

Wow this is an old thread brought back to life :jest:

My best results on 245 Nittos are low 1.7's and dead hooking. This is with 19-21 PSI, 7 second burnout (seven mississippi's after I started seeing smoke) and a quick stage so the tires didn't cool down.

No feathering or finesse required. I would literally mash the gas off idle and dead hook. But in cold weather and or when they started wearing out in the center it was a different story.

I'm trying M/T Street radials this year. I know they won't last as long but I'm hoping to dead hook on colder days and improve my best ET one more time before the 416 goes in :)

Damn! The best I could cut last week was a 2.00 at 15psi with a pretty good burnout. About 40 degree weather.

try 19-20lbs and do a 10count for your burnout...

try 19-20lbs and do a 10count for your burnout...
I tryed 20 the first run, cut a 2.1. I'm goin back tomorrow, so I'll try a few different things and post up. Could it be because I'm down past the wear bars?

Well ended up not goin. So no results, until next time!

http://i.pbase.com/g6/96/751696/2/77121121.72odozZB.jpg

Hoosier Drag radials worked for me :D

Best results I ever got was a 1.7.......

I dropped them to 8lbs heated them up and rolled all the way past the staging lines back up and romped from there.

Oh btw I started cutting 1.50;s on mickeys!

Wow.....hate to dig up an old post but couldn't resist.I ran 1.49 60 foots with Nittos at the track so to say they suck?You be the judge!?Traver

Yea I cut 1.73 60' on my Nitto dragradials. Remember though if your bolt on suspention isnt dialed in (or if you dont have any) then that could be the problem not the tires. I have full bolt on suspention and after my sphon adj. touqe arm it changed my launch quite a bit. Changing that pinion angle is key to a good launch :nod:

Well as the title says Nitto Drag Radial suck. I mean I knew not to expect great 60ft times from these tires but I would have thought it could have been a little better than street tires. Oh well....guess I'll have to wait for the 12.8 time slip. Anyway here are my time from tonight at the track. Look at the RT on the 3rd pass! OH YEAH! 8)

1st pass
60ft - 2.133
330 - 5.699
1/8 - 8.542
MPH - 87.53
1000 - 10.980
1/4 - 13.05
MPH - 108.90

2nd pass
60ft - 2.120
330 - 5.663
1/8 - 8.485
MPH - 88.08
1000 - 10.908
1/4 - 12.969
MPH - 109.48

3rd pass
RT - 008
60ft - 2.104
330 - 5.650
1/8 - 8.474
MPH - 88.16
1000 - 10.896
1/4 - 12.956
MPH - 109.58

before i flame you on your driving, is this an A4 or M6? i didnt take the time to read thru 7-8 pages here, so im just going to say, if you are an M6 guy, you need to learn how to launch her a lil better! alot of people just rev it up and dump the clutch thinking theyll take off. only thing they will do is spin or bog. i got my 98 t/a into the 12s with a lid, catback and free mods. i ran a 12.97 @ 110mph then in the spring i had longtubes and an ory, and was running 12.70s @ 111mph with 1.88-1.90 60's on street tires again, then It killed the 10bolt.

My nittos kicked ass on the street for what they were, i could launch it at 3200-3500rpm on the street and hook

try 19-20lbs and do a 10count for your burnout...


if he's not hooking at 15 psi would adding air help him?

i've only had two runs on the nittos and the stall and my best was a 1.8 with 13 psi and probably a 5 count burnout, and i spun pretty good.

Yea I cut 1.73 60' on my Nitto dragradials. Remember though if your bolt on suspention isnt dialed in (or if you dont have any) then that could be the problem not the tires. I have full bolt on suspention and after my sphon adj. touqe arm it changed my launch quite a bit. Changing that pinion angle is key to a good launch :nod:

My N/A A4 car has bone stock 112,000 mile suspension and with 275/40/17 Nittos has cut 1.76-1.77 60 foots almost every time so far. Whether they are aired up to 30psi, or let down to 21psi, it makes no difference. :D

http://home.comcast.net/~rel3rd/wsb/media/373752/graphic_org_pub.jpg

if he's not hooking at 15 psi would adding air help him?

i've only had two runs on the nittos and the stall and my best was a 1.8 with 13 psi and probably a 5 count burnout, and i spun pretty good.

This time was along time ago... I ran that combo for ever 31517 nittos. On the 10bolt with a 3500stall i was hooking a 1.5 with a lil spin on motor it would do a high 1.5 slightly stalled and for somer reason nittos like to be around 19-20lbs for the track and daily use imo thats where i keep my new 315/17 mickey thompson et street radials.