Friendly chase with Viper at Buttonwillow 13CW

[dogbone]

When I was at the track with minicorsa a few weeks ago, he was on his first day with NT01's. This was happening to his rear NT01 tire.

I dunno, I think Nitto has a QC issue on their hands at the moment with NT01----in the last two months, there's been many people having the same problem with those tires. I never heard of this issue until a couple months ago......I wonder if something changed.

[CSBM5]

From tire engineers I've shown my pics to (work for other company), they think it's probably a manufacturing and/or compounding issue. It will take some process work on Nitto's part to get to the bottom of the problem imo. In the meantime, simply stay away from the product is the most effective strategy.

[david @ eas]

Impressive driving! I need to get back out to BW.

[1MOREMOD]

Originally Posted by dogbone

When I was at the track with minicorsa a few weeks ago, he was on his first day with NT01's. This was happening to his rear NT01 tire.

I dunno, I think Nitto has a QC issue on their hands at the moment with NT01----in the last two months, there's been many people having the same problem with those tires. I never heard of this issue until a couple months ago......I wonder if something changed.

that appears worse than mine with less tire wear. wtf. this is pissing me off. i was psyched to be on nt01s and now they fall apart. so whats the verdict here?

[CSBM5]

Originally Posted by 1MOREMOD

that appears worse than mine with less tire wear. wtf. this is pissing me off. i was psyched to be on nt01s and now they fall apart. so whats the verdict here?

Here's a couple of mine...about 15 minutes of use:

[1MOREMOD]

i have one of my 4 that looks like yours approx. cbsm5. so are people still running them after this happens. cut doesnt extend past the top tread block so as long as it doesnt worsen should wear to slick as normal?

[CSBM5]

Originally Posted by 1MOREMOD

i have one of my 4 that looks like yours approx. cbsm5. so are people still running them after this happens. cut doesnt extend past the top tread block so as long as it doesnt worsen should wear to slick as normal?

It's a toss-up. You never know. Once a tread splice starts opening up like that, odds of a failure at high speed are too great for me to own the tires. I demanded Nitto take these things back and refund me (after talking with tire engineers from another company about these types of failures).

They have a process problem that cropped up recently -- clearly. Whether it's a manufacturing contamination issue or a compounding issue, or whatever, it's something that started in tires produced in the later half of 2012 it seems. I've used NT-01s for 6 years, and this is the first set to start coming apart.

[1MOREMOD]

Originally Posted by CSBM5

It's a toss-up. You never know. Once a tread splice starts opening up like that, odds of a failure at high speed are too great for me to own the tires. I demanded Nitto take these things back and refund me (after talking with tire engineers from another company about these types of failures).

They have a process problem that cropped up recently -- clearly. Whether it's a manufacturing contamination issue or a compounding issue, or whatever, it's something that started in tires produced in the later half of 2012 it seems. I've used NT-01s for 6 years, and this is the first set to start coming apart.

damn it thats what im afraid of and the timing is screwed. im already set to go to the track again saturday.

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by 1MOREMOD

that appears worse than mine with less tire wear. wtf. this is pissing me off. i was psyched to be on nt01s and now they fall apart. so whats the verdict here?

hehe the verdict for me was to try Hankook TD. They wear out fast too, but I am loving being on these tires.

[1MOREMOD]

got confirmation this morning from jim at performance tread that he got nitto to replace the tire. shipping so i can have for weekend event. shot out to performance tread for good cumstomer service and pricing.

[Ti-Jean]

Looking at the pictures posted of the Nitto failure, it seems as if it is to happen it will happen in the early life of the tire (before they become slicks). Do you guys agree with my conclusion?

I'm kind of getting freaked out by this issue. My set of NT 01 are wearing just fine but wondering if I should order another set or switch to something different. Any recommendation? Hankood TD doesn't come in 275/35/18 that I need so that's out.

[1MOREMOD]

Originally Posted by Ti-Jean

Looking at the pictures posted of the Nitto failure, it seems as if it is to happen it will happen in the early life of the tire (before they become slicks). Do you guys agree with my conclusion?

I'm kind of getting freaked out by this issue. My set of NT 01 are wearing just fine but wondering if I should order another set or switch to something different. Any recommendation? Hankood TD doesn't come in 275/35/18 that I need so that's out.

will keep posted. have 1 new nt01 in route and will be using all 4 saturday.

[OC3]

I checked my set again yesterday and a 3rd tire developed a cut (most likely after last track day - 02/03 at Big Willow). With one tire at a dealer for warranty process, 2 out of 4 in my possesion has the cuts. The first one happened on the first day (discovered mid-morning), the second one happened on track day 2, and this 3rd one is the new one I bought in place of the 1st tire that's in warranty process. So, so far, they happened on 1st day as well as 2nd day.

I've tracked them on 2 track days after the cuts developed. Lucky nothing's blown up. But, thought of a blown tire as I'm going thru turn 8 (fast big arc) at Big Willow at 125 mph...

[1MOREMOD]

Originally Posted by OC3

I checked my set again yesterday and a 3rd tire developed a cut (most likely after last track day - 02/03 at Big Willow). With one tire at a dealer for warranty process, 2 out of 4 in my possesion has the cuts. The first one happened on the first day (discovered mid-morning), the second one happened on track day 2, and this 3rd one is the new one I bought in place of the 1st tire that's in warranty process. So, so far, they happened on 1st day as well as 2nd day.

I've tracked them on 2 track days after the cuts developed. Lucky nothing's blown up. But, thought of a blown tire as I'm going thru turn 8 (fast big arc) at Big Willow at 125 mph...

hope im lucky and dont develop more this time out. i have 2 days on them one was semi wet to start.

[paradocs98]

Originally Posted by 1MOREMOD

had one of my nt01s delaminate across almost the entire width of the tread today. not good. glad i didnt have a gt3 moment like at daytona.

Originally Posted by OC3

That happened on 2 on my set of NT01's. And, on one of my track buddy's NT01 set too.

I ran 2 more track days on the set, and so far *knock on wood*, no issues that I could tell.

Originally Posted by CSBM5

I bought my fourth set of NT-01s last Fall, and the prior three sets going back to 2007 I never had any issues with; however, all four of the latest NT-01s had tread splice failure after about 12 runs at a CCA autox on the Performance Center track (perhaps a total of 15 minutes of use). They were properly heat cycled and driven prior to the track use.

You DO NOT want to drive tires with tread splices opening up like these have at high speeds especially. Contact Nitto and demand service. When I sent pictures of what happened to these tires (and after so little use), they offered to refund me and have Discount Tire send them back for analysis. I bought them in November, and I think the build week was 32.

Originally Posted by dogbone

When I was at the track with minicorsa a few weeks ago, he was on his first day with NT01's. This was happening to his rear NT01 tire.

I dunno, I think Nitto has a QC issue on their hands at the moment with NT01----in the last two months, there's been many people having the same problem with those tires. I never heard of this issue until a couple months ago......I wonder if something changed.

Originally Posted by CSBM5

From tire engineers I've shown my pics to (work for other company), they think it's probably a manufacturing and/or compounding issue. It will take some process work on Nitto's part to get to the bottom of the problem imo. In the meantime, simply stay away from the product is the most effective strategy.

You guys should probably make a separate thread out of this. This kind of info is more important than 95% of the stuff on here, and it shouldn't be buried in the middle of a thread about another subject. I just happened to stumble across this buried in another thread on here. I was a couple of weeks away from buying my third set of NT01s, but now I'm looking for something else based on this info.

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by paradocs98

You guys should probably make a separate thread out of this. This kind of info is more important than 95% of the stuff on here, and it shouldn't be buried in the middle of a thread about another subject. I just happened to stumble across this buried in another thread on here. I was a couple of weeks away from buying my third set of NT01s, but now I'm looking for something else based on this info.

Try Hankook TD. Look what OC3 did on his first hot laps with TD compared to NT01. He dropped 5+ seconds at Buttonwillow 13CW over his best NT01 time and went down to 1:58. I'm not saying that's a typical result, but the TD's grip very very well. I've run TD's at Buttonwillow and had no problem dropping below 2 minutes as well with them. Minicorsa ran 1:31 at Big Willow on them. That is an amazing time. And he has an almost stock M3.

Also, people say that R-comps are silent until their adhesion limit, and then it's a sudden loss of grip. I don't find that to be the case with the TD's. I pushed them past their limits, and found it to be a controlled loss that I could hear coming and then a quick regain of traction. Nothing surprising.

TD's are awesome. Do yourself a favor and try them. Your lap time will love you.