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[dj330xi]

Hello All,

At suggestion of this board, I went with Nitto NT01's two years ago and absolutely loved them. Now deciding between the R888R's (recommended by my tire shop) or going with another set of NT01's.

I do HPDE in a 2009 E90, drive quite aggressively,only 3-6 track days per year, am running a square set-up at 275-35-18. Price for the two tires is the same. For local tracks (< 1-2 hr) I will drive these track tires to the track. For tracks that are farther (> 2-3 hr), I carry the track tires and put them on there.

Thanks in advance for any feedback or suggestions on the choice between these two tires. Hoping to decide by tomorrow.

-DJ330XI

[SYT_Shadow]

I just got a set of R888R in 275/295 which I'll put on my 10.5" square wheels

The NT01 I've run many times. Two weekends ago at Watkins Glen, two brand new NT01s blistered and one started splicing up at 45 degree intervals. These tires were from 2017 and had just been mounted for this event.

Fortunately, I had brought another two wheels and tires with me 'just in case' as I took two M3s to track and that allowed me to finish the weekend, but this is not funny.

I will not be running the NT01 again. Yes, I can get the tires warrantied, but had I not noticed I could have had a serious accident and there is simply no good reason for this kind of thing to happen to new tires the first day of a weekend.

So, I'm back to either RE71 (same speed as the NT01 but with more tread and less horrible road noise) or the R888Rs

From what I'm hearing, the R888R is way better than the R888 which was crap for the E9X.

After that, another option is the new Rival S 1.5 but it isn't available in our sizes just yet.

[dparm]

I would just run something like the AD08R, RE71, or RS4 full-time and call it a day. I can tell you from personal experience that the AD08R will happily run around town (albeit with a slightly firmer ride) and then go to the track all day without complaining, chunking, or heat cycling out.

NT01 and R888R are way too aggressive for street use: noisy, horrible wet traction, and high wear rate.

[macdude357]

Originally Posted by SYT_Shadow

I just got a set of R888R in 275/295 which I'll put on my 10.5" square wheels

I'm interested in hearing how you like the R888R's. I met a guy at Spring Mountain that was running them on his E90 M3 and he loved them (he was coming from RS-3's though).

[pbonsalb]

What about the old Toyo RA1?

[SYT_Shadow]

Originally Posted by macdude357

I'm interested in hearing how you like the R888R's. I met a guy at Spring Mountain that was running them on his E90 M3 and he loved them (he was coming from RS-3's though).

I'll post about them. It seems like I won't run them until July

I don't think I'll run NT01s anymore. Had 3 tires 'break' on me in the first day of a 3 day weekend. Even if they warranty them it doesn't matter, there's too much risk of losing track time or having a spectacular accident because of this.
2017 year production tires should not have these issues, end of story.

[s65m3fan]

I've run with a few different types on my E92 M3. I ran through a couple of sets of NT01s and liked how they wore, but I had the tread splice problem on the rear with each set. To their credit, Nitto stepped up and took care of the issue, but in the end, I couldn't get a set that didn't splice. (Kudos to Nitto btw for helping me out. They treated me well and without any hassle.) Because of the way they treated me, I would have gone with another Nitto, but they don't have another R-comp.

After running a set of R888s prior to the NT01s, I decided to try the R888R before I moved to a BFG R1 or similar. I have a couple of weekends on them so far and am pretty happy with them. Not sure yet if they will wear quite as well as the NT01, but so far they are pretty good and I think better than the R888. I run a square 275/35/18 and rotate front to back each weekend.

[SYT_Shadow]

Originally Posted by s65m3fan

I've run with a few different types on my E92 M3. I ran through a couple of sets of NT01s and liked how they wore, but I had the tread splice problem on the rear with each set. To their credit, Nitto stepped up and took care of the issue, but in the end, I couldn't get a set that didn't splice. (Kudos to Nitto btw for helping me out. They treated me well and without any hassle.) Because of the way they treated me, I would have gone with another Nitto, but they don't have another R-comp.
.

Even if they do, it still means lost track time. That's unacceptable. It's 2017, they've been building that model for many years.

They are not cheap enough to warrant missing track time

[elim11]

Originally Posted by SYT_Shadow

Even if they do, it still means lost track time. That's unacceptable. It's 2017, they've been building that model for many years.

They are not cheap enough to warrant missing track time

That sucks you had these issues. What tire pressures were you running? Just out of curiosity.

[SYT_Shadow]

Originally Posted by elim11

That sucks you had these issues. What tire pressures were you running? Just out of curiosity.

I've used them before with just the typical little splice that you keep an eye on. This was different. Two of them have 'holes' in the tread all the way down to the nylon bands.

Fortunately I had brought spare wheels and tires with me, but this is not how it's supposed to go

I aim for hot 38 at pits or 36-37 once back in the paddock

[M3 Number 86]

that's pretty high pressures no?

[1MOREMOD]

Hot nt01s like 34-36

[roastbeef]

yea, 38 for nt01's seem too high... i have been happy with 32 hot. no issues with the tires... i've been through about 4-5 sets.

[SYT_Shadow]

I'll try that in two weekends when I'm back at the same track.

Thanks guys

[elim11]

I concur with all the posts above. Aim for 32-33 hot.
The first time I ran them 36-38 hot, I was struggling to find grip. Later in the day after dropping them way down, it started to grip.

Good luck!

[macdude357]

How is everyone's tire wear at those lower levels? I had a set of Maxxis RC1's that I was running around 35hot. Only the shoulders were wearing which is a classic sign of under inflation. I contacted Maxxis and said they recommend 38-40psi hot. I ran that at Bimmerfest but with only one day, it's hard to see if that helped the wear pattern. Grip-wise, they seemed OK (except for the last couple of laps in the morning session where the car wanted to oversteer at corner entry; I checked the pressures after that and they got to 44psi.)

That said, I only beat my PB by about .5 secs and my PB was on the Maxxis VR1. I would have expected that the RC1s would have made more than a .5 sec diff.

[SYT_Shadow]

Macdude, wear is also why I run such high pressure. I consistently cord the insides and the center still has a little tread left

[macdude357]

Originally Posted by SYT_Shadow

Macdude, wear is also why I run such high pressure. I consistently cord the insides and the center still has a little tread left

A little tread is probably OK. Both shoulders were near the cords and the center still had 4/32's left on my tires.

[///Mobbin]

Originally Posted by SYT_Shadow

I just got a set of R888R in 275/295 which I'll put on my 10.5" square wheels

Any concerns with the 295/30/18 being .6" short than the 275/35/18? Not sure the trade-off there but I imagine it's still worth the increased rear grip.

[SYT_Shadow]

Originally Posted by ///Mobbin

Any concerns with the 295/30/18 being .6" short than the 275/35/18? Not sure the trade-off there but I imagine it's still worth the increased rear grip.

The direction I've received from regarding ride height is 'as low as it goes without rubbing the fuel filler neck'

After this past track weekend where I lowered the car more I no longer can fit 3 fingers between the floor and the felt thingy under the bumper

[Special_K]

SYT_Shadow - Just curious if you even ran the R888Rs last year? First track day for me is coming up and debating between another set of NT01s or trying out R888Rs, any advice is greatly appreciated!

[SYT_Shadow]

Originally Posted by Special_K

SYT_Shadow - Just curious if you even ran the R888Rs last year? First track day for me is coming up and debating between another set of NT01s or trying out R888Rs, any advice is greatly appreciated!

I did and actually ran them again at the Glen this year. Still the same set.

If you were nearby I'd give you what remains in my set for free. That is how much I dislike them.

I ran lower pressures as people suggested and the car behaves predictably, but it's still way down on grip. After two days I swapped to RE71s that are almost completely bald, leftovers from last year, and instantly picked up a couple seconds.

I am disappointed to say the least. I don't know if there's room in the market for a tire that is:
-Slow
-Extremely loud at highway speeds. Worse than NT01
-Terrible water evacuation
-Really hard sidewalls

I'm back at the RE71 for driving to-from the track and backup track tires and running BFG R1 as the main track tire now


The NT01 is loud, sucks in water, has really hard sidewalls but at least it's sticky, doesn't overheat easily and is extremely cheap.

I'm never buying a set of R888R again. If anyone wants mine you can have them for free