Mixing tires

[zee]

Nitto has their amazing NT555RII in 15" that fit the rear (P275/50R15 101W). Unfortunately, they don't make them in 235/50/R15 for the front.

Nitto says:


The NT555®RII Drag Radial Tire works in unison with the NT555®G2 Summer Ultra High Performance Tire, so you can put the drag radials on the driven axle and the NT555®G2’s on the non-driven axle. When developing both product lines, Nitto matched the tread pattern and sizing to fit modern performance vehicles.


Sadly, they don't sell NT555G2 in 15" at all.

So that got me thinking, how bad is it to put NT555RII on the rear (the driven axle) and another brand on the front?

(Pardon my ignorant question, it's an area I know little about)

[rich grsc]

Why would you want a drag tire on the car? It'll handle poorly on the street

[BEAR-AvHistory]

FWIW have NT-01 (275/315X17) on both axles now but ran a lot of years with NITTO (255/315X17) 555 on the front & 555R on the rear. Had no handling issues on the street or at AutoX events.

Might handle better with matched 555G2 tires all the way around but think you would really need to be pushing the car very hard to get to a point where its a problem with the NITTO mixed setup.

[Jeff Kleiner]

Zee,
I’ll disagree with Bear and say that based on my experience drag radials are a poor choice for anything other than going in a straight line. Due to their soft sidewalls they tend to get squirrelly when cornering. A friend had them on his Mk4 and asked me to co-drive his car at an autocross because he was struggling to get a handle on it. The problem was the tires.

You mentioned 235/50-15 for the front—-this is not the correct size. The proper 15” size for the front of a Mk4 is 235/60-15.

Jeff

[zee]

Zee,
I’ll disagree with Bear and say that based on my experience drag radials are a poor choice for anything other than going in a straight line. Due to their soft sidewalls they tend to get squirrelly when cornering. A friend had them on his Mk4 and asked me to co-drive his car at an autocross because he was struggling to get a handle on it. The problem was the tires.

You mentioned 235/50-15 for the front—-this is not the correct size. The proper 15” size for the front of a Mk4 is 235/60-15.

Jeff

Uh, that makes a whole lot of sense. Thank you.

It was mostly just curiosity.

[BLUE KNIGHT]

Based on " tire science " .... as long as you have the same type & size of tires on the SAME axel, it will be fine. Front to rear won't matter. The choice of tire is for you to decide. Remember these are relatively light cars, so tire selection is important ..... Mike :D

[NAZ]

Take it from a drag racer who sometimes runs drag tires on the street -- tires specifically designed for drag racing have thinner, more flexible sidewalls and are not designed for turning corners. On a car set-up for cornering, when you spin the car, you can many times mat the pedal and complete a 360-deg loop, let off and recover. Try that on drag tires your gonna end up on your lid. That was the biggest difference I found when transitioning from dirt racing to drag racing. Those drag tires don't like to be thrown into a slide. Get crossed up on a run is hairy and somewhat unpredictable. So forget drag tires unless you want to drag race. And be cognizant of the fact that they will radically change the handling characteristic of your car if you normally run street tires or DOT style track tires.