Quote:
Originally Posted by CSBM5
I posted some pictures of my experience last Fall with new NT-01s in the other thread here. This was my fourth set of NT-01s since 2007, all of them used on my E39 M5 (275/35-18 all around on 9.5" wheels). I ran the other three sets all the way to nothing (cords), and never experienced any tread splice failures or even the slightest sign of an issue.
The NT-01s I bought in early November 2012 *all* started opening up their tread splices. Two of them were clearly worse (large gaps, especially in the large outer tread block) than the others due to rotation direction, but the tires on the other side of the car showed the splice starting to open up also.
This occurred after about 15minutes of all-out high speed autocross use at a CCA event at the BMW PC. Interestingly, I bought this fresh set for that event just like the prior set a few years back. In other words, the life/duty cycle of these tires was essentially the same as the last new set of NT-01s I bought.
Regarding rotation direction and tread splices -- yeah, that's long ago old news, but what's not old news is that this is a new issue with the NT-01. Of course the real issue is that you don't have a rotation direction option with the NT-01 due to the outer tread block design, so simply saying to rotation-bias the installation is useless for this tire.
As an aside, if you want a "street tire" that I think might be faster than the NT-01 but is *definitely* a much better tire to drive behind (seriously, this thing is amazing in its feedback, turn-in and stick), look at the BFG Rival. I just ran my first autox yesterday with the M3 setup for F-stock Tire class, and I am about speechless (been autocrossing for 37 something years, track stuff 30+, so I don't say this lightly). The Rival is going to make some serious waves this year in "street tire" required classes. BFG/Michelin have knocked it out of the park with this tire. I can't wait for the next event as I kept getting more and more out of them yesterday, so I'm anxious to get more seat time with them.
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Agreed about this being a new issue for the NT01s.
I am on my 6th set of NT01s and never encountered any splicing.
Hopefully when it is time to get my next set, Nitto will have resolved this issue.