Nittos, G2+RII, or G2 all around?

[Robmnrd]

Hey guys, gonna be replacing all 4 corners here in the next month or so. For the years I've owned the car I've had 555s on the front and 555R on the back - my results (with my driving style) tend to be the rears losing effective grip long before I've actually depleted the tread (I get about 10-12k tread miles out of 555Rs). I believe this is because I *almost* daily drive the car, thus the tires go through maaaaany heat cycles (of which only a relatively small number include aggressive driving that would quickly deplete tread depth) relatively quickly and at a proportionally higher rate than most who use 555Rs for the street car.

I'm wondering if (because I put so many heat cycles into them) I would be better off putting G2s on all four corners. I know I will lose forward grip compared to R2s (comparing new to new) but comparing 10k miles worth of heat cycles to 10k miles worth of heat cycles the G2s will likely be far and away better, with about about another 10k miles of tread life (and more cycles) to go. Thus a better overall average performance for the life of the tire.

Wet weather performance does not matter to me - I have a beater for precipitation and very cold days), I just want to have solid grip that doesn't fade away with half the tread depth still on the tire (I hate not having grip but I also hate the idea of buying new R2s every 5-6k miles when the tread still has so much life left...I understand the heat cycling kills the compound so they've reached the end of their performance life, but since I don't purely drive aggressively/weekend warrior with it, I can't just toss good tread away...)

What are your thoughts? Keep doing what I'm doing with G2s front and RIIs rear? (putting up with crappy performance for about 5k miles each time) or go G2s on all four (worse initial grip, but better later in the tire's life)?

[12oclockshadow]

Not sure I fully understand what your intentions are. But are you asking will R2s be better for your purposes versus the g2? That would be going backwards for performance. If you just want straight most mileage on tires for dd purposes then yes get g2s on all 4 corners. Also the r2 is an updated version of the 555r correct.

[Robmnrd]

Originally Posted by 12oclockshadow

Not sure I fully understand what your intentions are. But are you asking will R2s be better for your purposes versus the g2? That would be going backwards for performance. If you just want straight most mileage on tires for dd purposes then yes get g2s on all 4 corners. Also the r2 is an updated version of the 555r correct.

Hey man thanks for the reply.

I guess what I'm really asking (my OP wasn't very concise), is will a G2 on the rear outperform an RII that has been through too many heat cycles and no longer performs like it does when newer, at comparable miles/tread life.

The problem I've run into with my last two sets of 555Rs is that at about 5-6k miles the compound seems to have lost all of it's performance value (my guess is because I DD it and thus they go through tons of heat cycles) but the tire still has 5-6k miles worth of tread life left.

So my conundrum is do I buy the new RII and expect to get ~5k good performance miles followed by ~5k crappy performance miles, or do I get G2s for the rears instead and get ~20k overall good performance miles (but not as good as the RIIs in their first 5k)?

And this may all be a moot point - I have not had RIIs on the car yet. Up until this point I've had the original 555R available/on the car. Due to lack of availability I would need to buy the updated RIIs. Maybe they do not have the same problem (or maybe it is not as bad) when it comes to drop in performance. Maybe if I get them I will get 10k miles out of them with good performance relative to my driving style/habits.


Has anyone on here had RIIs on their car for 8k+ miles? I know it is rare for them to last that long because most people that drive on an R tire (whether the old 555R or these new RIIs) do a high proportion of aggressive driving, track driving, burnouts, etc. But if anyone can attest to how they perform in the 5k-12k mile window I'd appreciate it.

[Robmnrd]

Well I decided to go with the G2 RII combo - since the RII is supposedly an upgrade from the original 555R, I figured it was worth a shot trying them. Maybe they'll give me closer to 10k solid performance driving miles than the 555Rs did. I will be the guinea pig lol.

Only had one opportunity so far to give them any sort of real quick test and I had almost forgotten just how violent first gear can be with traction!

Will update in 3k, 5k, 8k, and 10k miles (If I remember at each interval lol) how they are performing!

[12oclockshadow]

I think you did good. For a DD hard to beat that setup. I just ordered a 17" drag pack so definitely ready for traction again.

[Ds98formula]

Originally Posted by Robmnrd

Well I decided to go with the G2 RII combo - since the RII is supposedly an upgrade from the original 555R, I figured it was worth a shot trying them. Maybe they'll give me closer to 10k solid performance driving miles than the 555Rs did. I will be the guinea pig lol.

Only had one opportunity so far to give them any sort of real quick test and I had almost forgotten just how violent first gear can be with traction!

Will update in 3k, 5k, 8k, and 10k miles (If I remember at each interval lol) how they are performing!

How much power do you make? I am looking for tires and was between these and r888rs. Do the tires hold all of first gear?

[Robmnrd]

Originally Posted by Ds98formula

How much power do you make? I am looking for tires and was between these and r888rs. Do the tires hold all of first gear?

I'm only mildly modded - CAI, LTs w/hi-flow cats, stock catback w/flaps open, dyno tuned. Basically 500whp through the auto.

I've not had an opportunity to *genuinely* get the rears warm and do a hole shot, but compared to the old set I took off the difference is night and day. I can use all of 2nd gear again, the 2-3 shift holds fine, the 1-2 shift holds fine even without the tires being fully/purposefully warmed (will still bust loose w/cool pavement w/o a little heat in the tires) and I can mess around with 1st gear again w/o any real issues.

Supposed to get some good, warm, dry days here in the near future (and I won't be working those days) so I will get the chance to give a few digs (with warmed tires) a shot and can report back.

[Ds98formula]

Cool. I am interested how they do in the warmer weather.

[Robmnrd]

Oh and to anybody that reads this thread and gets a similar setup:

Tire Pressure:
Straight from Nitto when I called and asked about tire pressure: Do NOT fill all four corners to 35 cold like most dealers/tire places will automatically do.

Assuming ~10% increase in pressure from cold to warm, Nitto rep said to fill the G2s in front to a cold 32 (will hit about 35-36 when warm) and the rear RIIs to 28 resulting in ~30-31 when warm if you are using the car like I am, as a nearly daily driver with a desire for the balance to swing closer to performance than MPG. I don't take mine to the track ever, but they also suggested with the weight of our fat-piggy cars, the rears should only be aired down to ~24 cold for track use. Any lower typically won't actually show any additional benefit, so no reason to air down to like 18-20 like some will try with these tires. Anecdotal evidence suggests that these aren't the best for track use anyway, just an excellent street tire that performs better on the street than the majority of its competitors.

Rain:
Accidentally got caught in a small rain shower (Did not result in standing water on roadways) this morning - with the few miles on the tires it did completely fine on the roads I drove (max speed of 65). In fact I'd say it felt better than when my previous set of the old 555R were brand new. She very rarely sees rain though so this may be the only time it gets tested for a long time...

[zman1969]

I currently have Nitto Invos TWR 260 on my 15 and was curious if any one has compared the NT555GT2 TWR 320 the 555s are cheaper and should last longer - can anyone weigh in here?

[Robmnrd]

Originally Posted by zman1969

I currently have Nitto Invos TWR 260 on my 15 and was curious if any one has compared the NT555GT2 TWR 320 the 555s are cheaper and should last longer - can anyone weigh in here?

My experience with my previous set of 555G2 (the ones I just replaced when I made this thread) was about 15k miles of good performance (including very rare rain occurrences), then 5k miles where I could feel the difference and no longer would want to get stuck in the rain (but also wasn't scared if it happened), and finally another 5k miles where performance dropped rapidly and it was kind of becoming 'unsafe' to keep using them as even just cool roads/tires made a significant difference in handling/grip.

Realistically, in a climate like mine that is warmer and dryer than average, they are a 20k-21k mile tire if it is your DD without track duty. If you have a more aggressive driving style just drop that to the 18k-20k mile range. If you deal with inclement weather frequently I would suggest shopping for new tires when you hit 15k miles.

I would have replaced mine at about 22k miles but I was trying to get both fronts and rears at the same time so I pushed them pretty far all the way to 25k miles. I do not recommend doing that. lol.

I can not speak for invos or how this compares - I don't know how long they lasted for you.

[Robmnrd]

Update:

After about 16 months of ownership (and approaching 10k miles) I will say the 555RII is definitely a superior DD tire compared to the old 555R.

I can still use them for my fun warm/dry weather driving with only marginal decrease in traction once they are warm (as compared to new), and on a 2200 mile roadtrip last month I got caught in some short but heavy rainfall in a number of spots and I did fine as long as I slowed to about 50-55mph.

I would say that if someone is looking for a primarily dry/warm weather tire for the street and no track time, it likely will be hard to beat this tire, as long as you are aware of the inherent lower mileage life of them compared to tires that come from entirely different (and lower) performance ranges.

[racesloth]

I have went with the same G2 RII combo. It is not a DD and I didn't want to spend the money on Michelins. Happy so far, much better traction than the MPSS 315's I had on the rear. I have a track pack for track days...