nt555r vs 555r II vs nt05
03-13-2012, 09:00 AM
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nt555r vs 555r II vs nt05 285/40/18 size. The car sits in my garage mostly but I do drive it once every week or 2. Which of these tires is the best? I do like to play around every now and then when I am, driving it. Performance is important, since the prices are all very close. I doubt these will see the track since I have tires for that, but I want to be able to keep those Cobra owners at bay during a cruise, haha 
08-03-2012, 12:52 PM
#6
Bringing this thread back to add some useful info... FWIW, I've had my car since 85k miles, and it just hit 189,500 miles this week. That's a lot of tires, with the way I drive.
Good choice for your application. I have run all three of the ones mentioned in the first post, and I have made the following observations, provided that the R compound tires have some sort of minor heat cycling done to them before abusing them. Please note that the Treadwear section is written for rear tire usage only (unless otherwise noted):
555R-
Pros: "Good" when hot, in a straight line due to the soft sidewall (vs. the regular NT555). Overall an OK tire when heated up.
Cons: Bad traction in cooler temps and cornering (vs. the 555RII). Requires a very decent burnout to get the tires warmed up to hook from a dig.
Treadwear: 10k-15k miles depending on how you drive and how far you drive it once it hits the wear bars. I drove mine about 13k before it hit the wear bar in the very center. I gave them to a friend at 16k miles. He then put another 10k miles or so on them and then gave what was left of them to his friend, who supposedly put another 2k-3k miles on them. Wish I could have seen them when finally trashed.
Rain: Works acceptably in rain, just don't be stupid or expect them to have wet traction when they are at/past the wear bars.
Comments: Loved them for straight line & street. Would buy again for a high-treadwear R compound street-use tire. Minimal squealing. Tires seem very controllable in a dry slide, but a bit on the soft side which means they break loose in corners earlier than the other two options. The center tread area tends to wear out first on my car and my friends cars unless you run them at around 20 PSI cold (24 PSI hot) or less. I drove about 6k miles on these at 16 (and then near the end, 14) PSI without too much issue other than a bouncier ride.
555RII-
Pros: "Good" when hot, in corners due to the stiffer sidewall (vs. the 555R). Once heated up, sticks very well in cornering.
Cons: Bad traction in cooler temps and straight line (especially from a dig on an unprepped surface). Requires a very decent burnout to get the tires warmed up to hook from a dig (slightly longer than the 555R, IMO). Can break them loose from a roll slightly more than the 555R's.
Treadwear: unconfirmed as I am still on my first set (rears have more miles than the fronts), from the rears on my car I am guessing anywhere from 10k to 15k depending on how they are driven and how long you drive it once it hits the wear bars.
Rain: Works acceptably in rain, just don't be stupid or expect them to have wet traction when they are at/past the wear bars (about the same as the 555R).
Comments: Two of my friends have them on the front of their Camaros but they both have alignment issues. The general consensus is that they are AMAZING for the fronts, for the price, because they last longer than R888's and NT01's. My thought is that they are the 555R compound with the internal reinforcements of the regular street 555. I can't confirm this, but from the "softer" feel in hard cornering (vs. the NT05's or NT01 or Toyo R888), this is my guess. I have not been able to get a set to feel "greasy" on the street, including canyon runs. Minimal squealing, which I feel may make it more difficult to gauge traction level based on tire sound, without seat-time. Tires seem very controllable in a dry slide.
NT05-
Pros: Works great in cooler temps vs. the 555R/RII. Sidewall seems stiffer than 555RII. Hooks decently from a dig in cooler (sub-68*F) temps vs. both R compound 555 tires. Works GREAT as a street tire if you only push them once every few minutes, as these are a street compound and not an R compound.
Cons: Less overall traction than 555R or 555RII. Tires can't be heated up to gain more traction. Tires break loose from a roll, especially on concrete (was able to spin them @ 45MPH through a stock LS1/4L60E+3.42 10 bolt). Tires get very greasy when hot (a couple laps on a track). Traction level goes down significantly as tread amount goes down. When tires are at wear bar, traction is significantly less than when brand new (both 555R's traction seem to be affected less by tread depth than the NT05; I'm guessing this is due to the 555R/RII compound).
Treadwear: 15k-25k miles is about right depending on how you drive. When I had the NT05's I was constantly going on canyon runs and beating the crap out of them and got at least 10k out of a pair.
Rain: Works acceptably in rain, just don't be stupid or expect them to have wet traction when they are at/past the wear bars.
Comments:
Tire squeal is very linear and relative to traction levels. It's very predictable and a nice tire in those regards as it is easy to gauge almost exactly how much traction you have based on tire sound feedback. There is a video posted somewhere of my car taking a 180* sweeper in the canyons with all four tires squealing and putting out little wisps of smoke, yet holding the line perfectly. The sidewall feels fairly stiff and it is somewhat noisy compared to the 555 series. I always got comments along the lines of "you need new tires!" or "your tires are bald!!" even when they had over 4/32nds left due to the large tread contact area in the center.
NT05R- Haven't used these. The impression that I get is that they are similar to a Mickey Thompson ET Street Radial. Not sure on exact comparison points, I guess that's for another thread.
Good choice for your application. I have run all three of the ones mentioned in the first post, and I have made the following observations, provided that the R compound tires have some sort of minor heat cycling done to them before abusing them. Please note that the Treadwear section is written for rear tire usage only (unless otherwise noted):
555R-
Pros: "Good" when hot, in a straight line due to the soft sidewall (vs. the regular NT555). Overall an OK tire when heated up.
Cons: Bad traction in cooler temps and cornering (vs. the 555RII). Requires a very decent burnout to get the tires warmed up to hook from a dig.
Treadwear: 10k-15k miles depending on how you drive and how far you drive it once it hits the wear bars. I drove mine about 13k before it hit the wear bar in the very center. I gave them to a friend at 16k miles. He then put another 10k miles or so on them and then gave what was left of them to his friend, who supposedly put another 2k-3k miles on them. Wish I could have seen them when finally trashed.
Rain: Works acceptably in rain, just don't be stupid or expect them to have wet traction when they are at/past the wear bars.
Comments: Loved them for straight line & street. Would buy again for a high-treadwear R compound street-use tire. Minimal squealing. Tires seem very controllable in a dry slide, but a bit on the soft side which means they break loose in corners earlier than the other two options. The center tread area tends to wear out first on my car and my friends cars unless you run them at around 20 PSI cold (24 PSI hot) or less. I drove about 6k miles on these at 16 (and then near the end, 14) PSI without too much issue other than a bouncier ride.
555RII-
Pros: "Good" when hot, in corners due to the stiffer sidewall (vs. the 555R). Once heated up, sticks very well in cornering.
Cons: Bad traction in cooler temps and straight line (especially from a dig on an unprepped surface). Requires a very decent burnout to get the tires warmed up to hook from a dig (slightly longer than the 555R, IMO). Can break them loose from a roll slightly more than the 555R's.
Treadwear: unconfirmed as I am still on my first set (rears have more miles than the fronts), from the rears on my car I am guessing anywhere from 10k to 15k depending on how they are driven and how long you drive it once it hits the wear bars.
Rain: Works acceptably in rain, just don't be stupid or expect them to have wet traction when they are at/past the wear bars (about the same as the 555R).
Comments: Two of my friends have them on the front of their Camaros but they both have alignment issues. The general consensus is that they are AMAZING for the fronts, for the price, because they last longer than R888's and NT01's. My thought is that they are the 555R compound with the internal reinforcements of the regular street 555. I can't confirm this, but from the "softer" feel in hard cornering (vs. the NT05's or NT01 or Toyo R888), this is my guess. I have not been able to get a set to feel "greasy" on the street, including canyon runs. Minimal squealing, which I feel may make it more difficult to gauge traction level based on tire sound, without seat-time. Tires seem very controllable in a dry slide.
NT05-
Pros: Works great in cooler temps vs. the 555R/RII. Sidewall seems stiffer than 555RII. Hooks decently from a dig in cooler (sub-68*F) temps vs. both R compound 555 tires. Works GREAT as a street tire if you only push them once every few minutes, as these are a street compound and not an R compound.
Cons: Less overall traction than 555R or 555RII. Tires can't be heated up to gain more traction. Tires break loose from a roll, especially on concrete (was able to spin them @ 45MPH through a stock LS1/4L60E+3.42 10 bolt). Tires get very greasy when hot (a couple laps on a track). Traction level goes down significantly as tread amount goes down. When tires are at wear bar, traction is significantly less than when brand new (both 555R's traction seem to be affected less by tread depth than the NT05; I'm guessing this is due to the 555R/RII compound).
Treadwear: 15k-25k miles is about right depending on how you drive. When I had the NT05's I was constantly going on canyon runs and beating the crap out of them and got at least 10k out of a pair.
Rain: Works acceptably in rain, just don't be stupid or expect them to have wet traction when they are at/past the wear bars.
Comments:
Tire squeal is very linear and relative to traction levels. It's very predictable and a nice tire in those regards as it is easy to gauge almost exactly how much traction you have based on tire sound feedback. There is a video posted somewhere of my car taking a 180* sweeper in the canyons with all four tires squealing and putting out little wisps of smoke, yet holding the line perfectly. The sidewall feels fairly stiff and it is somewhat noisy compared to the 555 series. I always got comments along the lines of "you need new tires!" or "your tires are bald!!" even when they had over 4/32nds left due to the large tread contact area in the center.
NT05R- Haven't used these. The impression that I get is that they are similar to a Mickey Thompson ET Street Radial. Not sure on exact comparison points, I guess that's for another thread.
Last edited by ZexGX; 08-03-2012 at 01:02 PM.
08-03-2012, 02:21 PM
#7
I have had the NT-555R in the rear, now have NT-05's all around. THe 555R's were good for traction, but I tired of them when I would push the car in corners. Have only had the 05's on for a few weeks, but really like them for a street driven car that I like to push in the corners.
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08-03-2012, 06:04 PM
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As long as the temp is above 60*, I've had no issues with them. Below that can be a bit 'ice skate-ish' early in the drive until the tires really warm up. I have about 2k miles on them and other then the blue/yellow lines on them when they were brand new, they look the same as the day I bought them.
They handle freaking awesome, just make sure your tire pressure is around 28F/25R and adjust to your liking. Unlike most tires, they like lower pressures.
08-14-2012, 12:15 PM
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@zexgx: so would the nt05's be good for a car that is driven 80-200 miles a week? With the mods in my sig?
@darkblueta: what kind of straight line traction are you getting? And im guessing the nt05's are on your Camaro? Or the T/A?
@darkblueta: what kind of straight line traction are you getting? And im guessing the nt05's are on your Camaro? Or the T/A?
08-14-2012, 01:59 PM
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I'm getting my 315/35/17 NT05Rs put on today. Hoping they are much stickier than the 555Rs. I've used BFG and Hoosier DRs and wanted to get the Mickeys but got the NT05Rs for so much cheaper than Mickeys so I figured I'd give them a shot. Let us know how you like them.
08-14-2012, 02:10 PM
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Well im just going with the nt05's no "R". That way it will hopefully help with traction but keep tread. But if they end up not lasting im just gunna get the "R's" next
