"D. Barry Stubbs" <z24man@earthlink.net>
>> I have Nitto 450s 205/40-16 on a delSol. They are not a high performance
>> tire period. They do look cool and they are not bad in the rain and snow.
>> They are wearing very well. Considering the price I am satisfied but they do
>> not like 9/10ths spirited driving.
>
>Interesting. I have NT-450s 205/50/16, and find them to be a very
>competent tire for hard driving. Rain performance has been good, and
>I'm not in an area where there is ice and snow. Wear seems to be good
>as you said, but I have only 5000 miles on them so far so my observation
>is probably not valid. The only item I don't like about the tires is
>that the tread pattern seems to pick up small rocks more than the
>previous brand of tires... that 'tick tick tick' really drives me crazy.
For the past year, I've had a set of 195/50-15 NT-450's for the street
on my 89 Jetta (Street Touring prep level) mounted on 15x7's. For
daily driving they're great especially in the rainy Northwest. Very
predictable at the limits even in snow (I occasionally like to play
World Rally wannabee :-). Wear is great even with autocross alignment
specs. Nice and even, no chunks and the compound stays very consistent
as it wears down. The only gripe is increased road noise, but this is
bearable. On the autocross course, the NT-450's are 1.5s slower (per
60sec. course) than a set of well worn 215/50-13 R-1's on gritty
concrete.
But the original question (carl.crites@us.pwcglobal.com) referred to a
185/60-14 size. Unfortunately NT-450's don't come in that size. The
only one is the NT-460 and that looks nothing like a performance
oriented tire. The only other Nitto in a 14" size is the 555R Drag
radial. Try Yoko A509 ($53) or AVS-intermediate ($74), or Dunlop
SP-8000 in a 195/55-14 ($78)- I hear the Dunlops are pretty good
all-round tires. I'd recommend increasing the budget a bit and going
for the AVS-I or Dunlops. You'll be happier in the end.
YMMV, but you get what you pay for.
-c.
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Cliff Loh, Vancouver, B.C. CANADA
"I started out with nothing
& still have most of it left."
vcmc001@ibm.net, h:604.597.6784 c:604.202.8724
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