2009 Camaro & Nitto Aftermarket Tires - Asymmetrical? Directional? Or ??? VOTE!

Word just came down from Nitto Tire (http://www.nittotire.com). They are interested in developing a tire with the new Camaro in mind!

One thing they are considering is should the tire be Asymmetrical or Directional? Consider the idea that you will be purchasing tires and this is assuming that it would be for YOUR new Camaro. Would you prefer one or the other?

Leave your mark in the poll above, add a comment or two if you like. Nitto will be looking at this and considering the poll results and the comments people leave. Please try to stay on topic. :)

This poll will close two weeks from today.
Poll closed, results noted!

I say directional but NOT soft compound found on some cars. They wear down too quickly.

I say directional but NOT soft compound found on some cars. They wear down too quickly.

I agree 100%

Directional, this ain't no grocery getter!!

I agree 100%

+1,000,000

If they were to give us an idea of the functional difference in the tires it would be much easier to express an opinion. If it's about eye candy, I couldn't care less.

Also, why would I be buying new tires for my '10 Camaro? I expect to get at least 3 years of street use out of the OEM tires. If I were to buy others sooner, they'd be R-compounds for autoX.

If i were to buy some i would want Directional.

Asymetrical is probably what they will go with. Not many cars come with a directional tread pattern from the factory, while most performance cars come with an asymetrical pattern like the Goodyear F1 SC tires.
Another question is will the Camaro come with run-flat tires for the larger diameter rims? Gunna look like crap when you are rolling on 18's and you have one doughnut on the car...

Asymetrical is probably what they will go with. Not many cars come with a directional tread pattern from the factory, while most performance cars come with an asymetrical pattern like the Goodyear F1 SC tires.
Another question is will the Camaro come with run-flat tires for the larger diameter rims? Gunna look like crap when you are rolling on 18's and you have one doughnut on the car...


:lol: :lol: :lol:

ill have to find the picture where i had to do that- someone stabbed the tires on left side of car. Funny part was the nitto in the back went flat (275 40 18) so had to put a spare on it, but the Goodyeear F1 SC i had in the front never did. they couldnt get all the way through the sidewall. The sucker went for another year without losing air ( and i checked weekly)

+1 directional

Is Nitto planning on developing a street tire or something else for this car? Just curious. I would want a directional tire personally though.

I say directional but NOT soft compound found on some cars. They wear down too quickly.
Directional - agreed :thumb:. That's my vote too.

NOT soft compound? :no: Sorry, but I don't want another set of tires on my car like the GY Eagle RSA's that came on my '02 ... they're hard as hockey pucks, so they last quite awhile, but they never hooked worth a damn :rolleyes:.

I'm "assuming" that Nitto would be developing a tire for a "performance" model of Camaro, not just a "base V6" model? :think: Would that be right? :confused:

If they're developing the base/entry tire, then might as well make it asymmetrical so people can do 4-wheel rotations, BUT if it is for a "performance" model, which I believe it should/would be, then I say a "soft-ish" directional performance tire :cool:.

We all know that ~400+ HP is worthless without traction ;).

Wouldn't an asymetrical tire be directional by default?

That aside, I don't care what Nitto does to make it perform well. Just make sure it does.

Is Nitto planning on developing a street tire or something else for this car?

That's pretty much the reason for this poll. :cool: They did not specify a street or race tire (or any other info), just aftermarket (NOT factory installed).

I applaud Nitto for asking us.

+1 directional

I applaud Nitto for asking us.

+1 directional directional also, definately performance oriented with a softer compound for maximum performance in all weather handling and straight line accel/braking.

Personally I'm not a huge fan of Nitto. Perhaps it is the whole "boy racer" image they portray. However that said, I'd rather someone develop an asymmetrical z-rated tire that performs on par with a directional tire.

NOT soft compound? :no: Sorry, but I don't want another set of tires on my car like the GY Eagle RSA's that came on my '02 ... they're hard as hockey pucks, so they last quite awhile, but they never hooked worth a damn :rolleyes:.

One coworker got a WRX sti with soft compounds and another got a Nissan Altima top of the line performance model. They really dont seem to last long. I have directional tires now that arent soft compound and are nowhere near hard as hockey pucks. Soft compound just seems a bit much and need to be replaced alot more frequently.

Directional, soft compound tires...It's a performance car and the tires it comes with should reflect that...If they could make an asymmetrical tire with no performance loss compared to a directional model then fine...But I don't see that happening.

Wouldn't an asymetrical tire be directional by default?

That aside, I don't care what Nitto does to make it perform well. Just make sure it does.

Nope. Assymetrical means it has an inside and an outside. Directional means it has a specific rotation. You can cross rotate assymetrical tires but not directional.

When I replace my tires I will want the maximum dry performance.

ohhhhhhh, well for aftermarket it better be good and affordable. I also hope that BFG moves fowards with a future of there g-force tires.

Directional is where the tread blocks go in one direction, kind of like arrows.
Asymetrical means that the left side of the tread is not the same as the right side of the tread. Usualy they are designed with outside= performance, inside=all season traction.
Now, there are such things as Direction/Asymetrical tires. BF Goodrich's Gforce KD tires and an example of this, as are the Goodyar Eagle GS-C's.

Ummm... why not asymmetrical and directional?

This is hardly groundbreaking stuff. Remember 1993? Goodyear GS-C was a factory option.



Yeah, yeah, yeah... having run two sets those particular tires, I know as well as anyone how much they sucked... but still, the point stands.

I run Nitto NT555 directionals now. I like them and i'll probably buy some for my 5th gen too down the road

The new generation Goodyear F1 that are coming out this week at Daytona would do just fine.

I see that Nitto now makes a "red line" tire!! I thought that was pretty cool.

Nope. Assymetrical means it has an inside and an outside. Directional means it has a specific rotation. You can cross rotate assymetrical tires but not directional.

When I replace my tires I will want the maximum dry performance.All of the assymetrical tires that I've owned were all directional.

I'm "assuming" that Nitto would be developing a tire for a "performance" model of Camaro, not just a "base V6" model? :think: Would that be right? :confused:

If they're developing the base/entry tire, then might as well make it asymmetrical so people can do 4-wheel rotations, BUT if it is for a "performance" model, which I believe it should/would be, then I say a "soft-ish" directional performance tire :cool:.

We all know that ~400+ HP is worthless without traction ;).

I don't care what Nitto does to make it perform well. Just make sure it does.

I applaud Nitto for asking us.

+1 directional


That says it all for me.:cool:

**UPDATE!**

Nitto has already reviewed the poll results and the feedback. Barring any engineering problems or other issue, they will be developing a directional tire! :thumb:

Thanks for taking part in this! If more news comes down from Nitto, we will post it! :cz28:

Cool! :thumb: So which model will these be showing up on???? (any ";)'s" for us??? :D)

In this case, I only post what I know. :D