Attached are photos of my Nitto NT-01 tires after 3 dry sessions at Mid-Ohio (tires were new going in, and were in perfect condition going out), and 5 sessions at Putnam Park this October. These are the right front and left rear tires, with the inside edge having the deepest cut in both. This is EXACTLY the same failure I had in two tires (but it was the right front and RIGHT rear that time) the last time I was at Putnam in July.

So, I've had two of my four Nitto's fail in exactly the same way, twice, at the same track. The first time in July I drove r.t. on new NT-01's to Putnam (120 miles total). I ran for three days in the dry, some 12 sessions. When I got back and took the tires off, I noticed the failures.

So, I bought 4 new tires, and kept the two good ones as spares. I took the 4 tires to Mid-Ohio in September in the back of a pickup, only ran them 3 dry sessions on the track and to the hotel (hotel was 10 miles away). I monitored the tires the whole time, and there were no problems. Then I trailered the car to Putnam again and ran 5 dry sessions. I figured the tires were fine, and didn't check closely. I trailered the car back and when I took the tires off the car, I noticed the failures.

According to my tire/wheel guy, this is a 'seam separation', and can be caused by excessive stress. He'd seen it a lot on Goodyears, but never on Nitto's. I monitored my tire temps at Putnam and never got over 175 deg F (after cool-down lap). I was driving very hard there, running in the 1:19-1:20 range. I've spoken to a lot of people, and posted on some other sites, but no one has had this problem. I've had it twice. What do you think is up? And - has anybody else had this problem with Nitto's???

 

I had the same thing happen to on Khumos. At the time it had happened to a few other people.

I ran the tires and they never failed due to the condition you note above.

 

Was it at Putnam?