New Nito NT850 tire review
09-19-2009, 04:01 PM
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New Nito NT850 tire review
Recently, Nitto has asked me to review their newest tire, the NT850. I'm in no way affiliated with Nitto, never had Nitto tires on any car I owned, so the review is honest and based on my experience with there tires compared to what I've had before on my 2002 C230 Coupe and 2004.5 C230 Sport Sedan. In the past, the factory Conti's, Pirelli Zero Nero, Bridgestone Potenza RE750, and Riken Raptors.
Nitto touts this tire as their first premium touring tire, it's emphasis is on quiet and vibration free. In this regard, these tires deliver with reduced vibration and quieter than any previous tire I've used. So Cal has a lot of grooved concrete freeways that challenge the best tires, so any help I can get here is worth the effort. Our claim to fame for our area is we have the largest interchange in the world, the El Toro Y, 26 lanes wide and also the busiest at 356,000 vehicles per day and it's all grooved concrete. Ironically, this is not where I get the worst tire vibration, that honor goes to the San Joaquin Toll Road that bypasses this masterpiece. It's typically driven at high speed (80-85 mph is normal) and it's all smooth looking asphalt, but not really, my previous tires developed a vibrating buzz on portions of that road that was very annoying.
Many tires for our cars, are high performance tires, which are fun, but there's a trade off with comfort and tread life. For example, the best handling tires I had were the Pirelli's, but it was so annoying with the tramling effect on the groove concrete that I returned them back after a week. In my half a century on this planet, I've never returned tires. I think these are a good compromise, where comfort takes #1 priority, but not at a big expense to handling. A good touring tire I had was the Bridgestone, but they didn't handle all that well.
What's interesting to note is that these tires are non-directional, a long time pet peave of mine as I've gone through tires faster due to one pair needing replacement, so I replace all four out of convenience. Being able to rotate tires is a plus in my book.
While I did not have a long enough time with these tires to tell you how long they will last, they have a government treadwear rating of 500. So in comparison, my last tire, the Riken Raptors have a treadwear of 300 and they lasted about 25K miles, based on how these treadware ratings are defined, I would expect to get over 40k miles on the Nittos. Interesting because the Nitto's handled better than the Riken in every way. The Rikens are Z rated (186 mph) and the Nitto's are V rated (149 mph) but that didn't concern me, don't believe I'll reach those speeds, not in my C230.
For those that don't know me, I live near the ocean in So Cal, but have a weekend place in the local mountains at about mile high. The road going up the hill, the 18, is a lot of fun, hairpin turns with huge 1,000' drop offs if you miss a turn. These tires did great up there, no major squealing, no drama, very predictable, braked well entering the corners.
So what's the bad? The bad is these tires don't come in size that fit the factory rear wheels on 2004.5 or newer C Sport Sedans, including my 2004.5 C230. What I did for the test is use 2003 C230 17" wheels that I swapped with my daughter temporarily. If they have these in your size, I would recommend these tires if comfort, good handling and long tread life is a priority. Who it's not good for is people that want the ultimate performance tire, this is not it. My only regret is I can't get them to fit my factory wheels on my Sport Sedan, so if Nitto sees this, add the 245/40R17 size.
Nitto touts this tire as their first premium touring tire, it's emphasis is on quiet and vibration free. In this regard, these tires deliver with reduced vibration and quieter than any previous tire I've used. So Cal has a lot of grooved concrete freeways that challenge the best tires, so any help I can get here is worth the effort. Our claim to fame for our area is we have the largest interchange in the world, the El Toro Y, 26 lanes wide and also the busiest at 356,000 vehicles per day and it's all grooved concrete. Ironically, this is not where I get the worst tire vibration, that honor goes to the San Joaquin Toll Road that bypasses this masterpiece. It's typically driven at high speed (80-85 mph is normal) and it's all smooth looking asphalt, but not really, my previous tires developed a vibrating buzz on portions of that road that was very annoying.
Many tires for our cars, are high performance tires, which are fun, but there's a trade off with comfort and tread life. For example, the best handling tires I had were the Pirelli's, but it was so annoying with the tramling effect on the groove concrete that I returned them back after a week. In my half a century on this planet, I've never returned tires. I think these are a good compromise, where comfort takes #1 priority, but not at a big expense to handling. A good touring tire I had was the Bridgestone, but they didn't handle all that well.
What's interesting to note is that these tires are non-directional, a long time pet peave of mine as I've gone through tires faster due to one pair needing replacement, so I replace all four out of convenience. Being able to rotate tires is a plus in my book.
While I did not have a long enough time with these tires to tell you how long they will last, they have a government treadwear rating of 500. So in comparison, my last tire, the Riken Raptors have a treadwear of 300 and they lasted about 25K miles, based on how these treadware ratings are defined, I would expect to get over 40k miles on the Nittos. Interesting because the Nitto's handled better than the Riken in every way. The Rikens are Z rated (186 mph) and the Nitto's are V rated (149 mph) but that didn't concern me, don't believe I'll reach those speeds, not in my C230.
For those that don't know me, I live near the ocean in So Cal, but have a weekend place in the local mountains at about mile high. The road going up the hill, the 18, is a lot of fun, hairpin turns with huge 1,000' drop offs if you miss a turn. These tires did great up there, no major squealing, no drama, very predictable, braked well entering the corners.
So what's the bad? The bad is these tires don't come in size that fit the factory rear wheels on 2004.5 or newer C Sport Sedans, including my 2004.5 C230. What I did for the test is use 2003 C230 17" wheels that I swapped with my daughter temporarily. If they have these in your size, I would recommend these tires if comfort, good handling and long tread life is a priority. Who it's not good for is people that want the ultimate performance tire, this is not it. My only regret is I can't get them to fit my factory wheels on my Sport Sedan, so if Nitto sees this, add the 245/40R17 size.
