Has anyone tried out the newer 20" drag radials that Mickey Thompson and nitto came out with? They're both 29" tall but for two have a $100 difference between them. Thinking of Maybe running these instead of buying another set of wheels and tires just for the track. I only go to the trackage 4-5 times a year anyway and do mostly street driving.

 

If you want a track tire I would stay away from nitto. I don't know what these new tires are but everything nitto has so far isn't that good at the track. Some have good luck with them but most wish they would have went with an actual track tire like the mickey.

Remember weight is a big deal so you can probably weight a lot less with a cheap steel 16" Wagon wheel and 16" slick then with your 20" and this tire.

Lastly 29" tall is going to hurt your gear ratio over a 26 or 28 inch tall tire. Very slightly but if you drop a good bit of weight and a 16" set up you will have a big gain in performance. Might cost less especially if you get a used set of slicks.

 

^^agreed. But to add to that, OP does "just for the track" mean you're going to swap rims/tires before the track or do you plan to drive on them all the time? Remember this, if you plan to race on them and not on the street much, Mickey Thompson's are the way to go. If you plan to drive on the street a lot and not race much, Nitto's would be better. Mickey Thompson's are one of the best DR' there are but will wear out extremely fast on the street everyday. Nitto's dont hook good compaired to MT's but will wear a lot better on street driving. Just my .02, think about that before you spend $600+ on Mickey Thompsons to drive on the street everyday. I swap to a 17" steel wheel with Mickey Thompsons on them before the track.

 

Well I decided that I'm gonna run specific track wheels with et streets but I do come across a lot of roll races with my 20's on and was thinking maybe those nittos would be the ticket for a DD

 

If you want a drag radial for a DD then Nitto is pretty good. Also check out Toyo Proxies TQ drag radial. Just be careful driving in the rain with DR's.

 

The 555R are better than the NT05R on a daily. The NT05R are horrible in the rain but they do grab better than the 555R on dry pavement but also wear a little faster.