Nitto 555R Extreme on GT40P2117

Rick Muck- Mark IV · 05-23-07, 09:04 PM

WOW!!!

Those look nasty sticky!

How do they work?

Rick

Rich E. · 05-24-07, 11:20 PM

What size are they and do you have a side shot with the clamshell down?

Thanks in advance
Rich.

Foowowee · 05-25-07, 12:08 PM

Well, they are a 15" tire, but at this time I'm not sure of the other specs. While I have not seen it personally with the rear section on, the builder tells me they fill out the rear wheel well awsomely.

Bill D · 05-25-07, 12:38 PM

They look like they may be the 325/50R-15 tires. Very wicked looking.

Check here

Foowowee · 05-25-07, 01:39 PM

They are a drag radial. A lot of the hot Mustangs are using them as a DOT approved tire on all four corners with no problems, except for the wear factor. Nitto also makes the NT555RII which is a road race tire, and looks identical, but is not availble in 15". Since I'll probably only put 2 to 3k mpy on the '40, and these are good for 15k or so, I'll replace every 4 or 5 years. Who knows how much tire tech will improve in 5 years.
I'm using a different type Nitto on the on the fronts

Mike Drew · 05-29-07, 09:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Foowowee

They are a drag radial. A lot of the hot Mustangs are using them as a DOT approved tire on all four corners with no problems, except for the wear factor. Nitto also makes the NT555RII which is a road race tire, and looks identical, but is not availble in 15". Since I'll probably only put 2 to 3k mpy on the '40, and these are good for 15k or so, I'll replace every 4 or 5 years. Who knows how much tire tech will improve in 5 years.
I'm using a different type Nitto on the on the fronts

Note that these are a DRAG tire. I talked with the technical representatives at Nitto about these tires for use on a Pantera, and he confirmed what I suspected--they are NOT designed for sports car use. They are intended solely for the mission of launching a front-engined musclecar down a 1/4 mile dragstrip, and they have numerous engineered-in compromises which make them marginal for any other use, other than slowly limping said musclecar to and from the dragstrip. Although they look fantastic on a GT40 (or a Pantera), Nitto strongly discourages ANY sort of spirited cornering with these tires. If you are literally just going to use your GT40 as a cruiser, you should be okay, but if you plan any Sunday-morning backroads blasts, or track days, you should be changing tires first.

These are a very specialized tool, and should be appreciated for how excellent they are in their narrow area of competence, but at the same time, acknowledged for their total unsuitablity for anything else....

Foowowee · 05-30-07, 09:59 AM

You hit the nail on the head. My intended use of the '40 is as a "cruiser".
"Spirited driving" in a car like this only draws police attention, and track use, in my opinion, just tears up your car. If I want to track, I'd rather just go to a school and abuse their vehicles.

Mike Norvilas
Homer Glen, IL