Whose running Nitti DR's?

[Loudace02'L]

Whose running Nitto DR's?

I just got Nittos new 305/35/18 Drag Radial. I went to the track last night and couldnt hook very well. I spun through first and halfway through second and ended up running a best of 14.0 at 101 with a 2.2 60ft. I was just wondering what anyone else drops their pressure to when they are at the track and what rpm they launch at.

 

[poopnut2]

Yep, nitto's are overrated as a drag radial in my opinion. Hook just a tad better then regular 555's but only last a 1/4 of the time. BFG's are better, but don't last very long at all.

 

[BlueBullitt3686]

did you heat them up at all?
Second gear burnouts can result in 1.7 60 ft's on those tires...
keep trying...

 

[LTHL VNM]

drop the pressure to about 18psi and warm em up

 

[S2 Stallion]

i agree. you have to warm those suckers up good befor you run them.
did you buys them new? whats the tread depth on the 305's?
i was thinking on putting those on my 18's but hesitant cause like BFG's i thought they wouldnt have that much tread to begin with.

 

[Firemanz]

Do you have any pics from the rear with them installed?

I was seriously thinking of investing in some when my 295/35 BFG T/A's are done.....

 

[Loudace02'L]

Yeah i bought them new and that size just came out. So a good burnout and launching at 3500 will help alot. PLus my control arms just came in and i got them on yesterday. Maybe ill find somewhere to do alittle practicing. Oh and the tread depth is 5.0. The tires look awesome on teh back and ill try to get some pics up

 

[87fcoupe]

I have a set of nittos drag radials 275 40 17 and nittos 255 40 17 on front 17x9 rims cobra chrome and heat them up real good in 2nd gear burnout with 18 psi.I pulled a 1.7 60 ft time and a 11.58@128 mph in 1/4 mile . I do have a set of 28x10.5 mt et streets on welds pro star and fronts with skinnys so i know the difference.

 

[Killercanary]

I've run nitto's for years. Nitto's ARE a great drag radial... if you know how to use them. They do require more driver effort than say an ET street, and they are more incosistent. From my experience with nittos:
1. They never hook very well on their first outing. A heat cycle a day or so before racing on them might correct this.
2. They are a dual compound design, so yes, you've got to heat them them if you want them to hook. I do a second gear burnout (I have 4.10's) for about 5-8 seconds.
3. For the most part, nittos require the driver to learn the finesse of clutch slipping. On the near stock motor I was able to pretty much dump the clutch at 4K and they would hook and go to a 1.91 60'. Now I have to slip the clutch out at around 3000rpms, but I've had a best of 1.72 60' on 245-50-16 nittos, and that was with the 100% stock suspension. I have since added LCA's but I'm running on ET streets now.
4. Lower air pressure works well on the track, and the street. Every set of nitto's I've owned wear out in the center first. I ran my second set with 25lbs of air on the street and they lasted about 2K more miles. I got around 10K out of my first set and around 12K out of my second. At the track, my car likes 16-18lbs of air. I have friends with H/C/I + Vortechs running their air pressure down to 12lbs and it works for them as both are in the 1.6's.
5. The type of clutch you have can have a BIG effect on how well you are able to launch on nittos. I run the often disliked FMS HD unit, but it works well for me as its an easy clucth to slip. I have a good friend with a Vortech'd 94-95 cobra and he made a switch from the FMS HD setup to the Spec stage II and since that clutch engages much faster and is harder to slip, he lost almost 2 tenths just in his 60'. He fought with it for most of the year last year and I don't think he ever got back to mid 1.6's like he was running before. He runs 275-40-17 nitto DR's.

Be careful of running too low of air pressure with the 18's though as you don't have much sidewall to begin with, you don't want to bounce the rim off the ground on launch.
All that being said, I have switched to 26X10.5X16 ET streets for the track and my time shave fallen dramatically. I just bought a set of bogart RR10's for my car with a 17X10.5 for the rear, I am putting a set of 315-35-17 nitto DR's on the back and I will see how good I can run with these big meets.

 

[5.0 stanger]

Originally posted by poopnut2
Yep, nitto's are overrated as a drag radial in my opinion. Hook just a tad better then regular 555's but only last a 1/4 of the time. BFG's are better, but don't last very long at all.

Thats what I tried to tell them. Form is greater than funtion to somepeople though I guess.

 

[juicedgt02]

when u say burnout in 2nd gear do you start in 1st gear and than shit to 2nd and keep on the break, or do you start off in 2nd:shrug: just rev it up and pop the clutch in 2nd gear, please help as I always do my burnouts in 1st gear, and does a 02 GT have enough power to do burnout from 2nd gear :read:

 

[cobraman302]

With a low enough rear gear you can do just about anything. I guess with 4.10 gears and a good clutch you could do it in second starting off easily enough. I had an 86 notch that would do it with ease and it had 4.10 gears and a king cobra clutch, with less power. :burnout:

 

[Coiled-up-GT]

Hmmm, I run the same as many guys do around here, except they have 4.10's. My opinion, it's useless to change gears. I run better with my stock 3.27's, just like the Mach's run their best with the 3.55's...I have 315/35/17's on some 17x10.5 inch wheels. I launch at 3 grand and only yield 2.12 60 ft's because this track sucks and the DA here is usually 5 to 6000 feet. I have BFG drag radials, but only clean them off. When I tried to heat them up once, they became greasy and spun...

 

[ib6-ub9]

You guys who are saying nittos suck do not know what your talking about:rollseyes i have a stock 99gt and will never go back to radials, granted my car isnt super powerfull but i can totally dump on the street cold at 2400 and not spin and if i slip it i can launch at about 2700-2800. Once they are heated i can launch at about 4000. Nittos are great because they dont wear like the bfgs an they can still give you great traction when u need it. Plus for the 17 inch wheel they are like 175 a piece at discount tire and the nitto 245 fronts are like 125, the 245 good years that it came with all the way aroud are 155 a piece so its cheaper to get the nitto settup and it yeild 100% better traction. And i only got 14 thousound out of the stock 245s becuase they spin so bad and i can get about 12 ouf of the nittos, best mod ive ever done, i highly recomend it :rockon:

 

[Bullitt_#1346]

I think that most people on here are missing the fact that you have 18" wheels. I think that the best 60' you can hope for with 18" wheels is around 1.95 - 2.10 seconds. You just don't have any sidewall which you need for launching at the track. The people that run 1.6 and lower 60' times are running 15" or 16" wheels.

Your best bet is to heat up the tires real good, but don't expect to hook up very well on 18" wheels no matter what you do.

As for a 2nd gear burnout, you can just dump the clutch in second at around 5,000rpms. The tires will bust loose just fine and your burnout will be much easier in second.