Nitto NT05 Tire Review

Published: February 19, 2018

I've been researching NT05 for possible purchase and did some internet searching as a result. I've decided to put the links to meaningful reviews here for ease of access.

Takeaways

  • NT05's tread design seems to be conflicted. On one hand the tread blocks are large, on the other hand there is a lot of void space, mostly in circumferential grooves. The resulting tread pattern is not particularly good at evacuating water but the huge amount of void space also compromises dry grip.
  • NT05 are compared to first generation Star Specs, Nitto Invos, Kumho XS, Falken RT615, Bridgestone RE01R. Some of the reviews date back to 2009, making this a 9 year old tire as of this writing. I've had a set of Bridgestone RE-11 and found them lacking in overall grip as well as heat resistance. It seems that NT05 are from an even earlier era with respect to tire technoolgy.
  • Reviewers are conflicted on wet weather performance of NT05. Some say it's abysmal, some say it's quite good.

Conclusion

I found some Star Spec Z2s on Tire Rack and bought those instead.