Seems there's a lot of good reviews for the XS. Since Discount Tire carries them I'll have them shipped to the store and in the end I'll probably save 100$+ over the Star Specs.

But will they last 4 HPDE weekends? That appears to be the limit for tires on my car.

 

If you're talking about 2-4 15 minutes sessions per day with cool down time between, they should last that long, maybe a little longer.

If you're talking 2-3 hrs per day or long stints without time to cool, I'd be surprised if they last a weekend.

If you run a square setup and can rotate them back/front and remount them to opposite sides, they could last a little longer.

But that goes for any of the ultra-high performance streets. The Star Specs will definitely wear out quicker--especially in a heavy car during hot temps. We nearly corded one Star Spec (outside rear, on a roval) on our LeMons/Chumpcar in maybe 12 hours during the last 24-hour race. And that's in a car that's ~1800lbs with the driver in it, plenty of negative camber, and running conservative laps (it's endurance racing). The other three tires were hurting, too. We ended up going through 6 tires in all.

 

My Star Specs are on track for 4 weekends. I've put 2 in already and the rubber has just started to chunk slightly at the tread edge on one corner. My RE11s before that lastest 5 weekends but one was rain all weekend (SUPERB RAIN TIRE FYI). They are still sitting on my spare rims but have been corded on one corner. Before that I had 2 sets of RE-01Rs and a set of Invo but can't remember their longevity.

Thus far the only tire I really don't like are the Invos.

 

The NT-05 is the only Nitto tire that is worth anything, imo. The rest are crap.

 

Fixed

 

Not a fan of the NT-01s vs. their competition. The NT-05 is a pretty grippy, very durable, not unreasonably expensive autocross/trackday (emphasis on the latter) tire.

 

I've got probably 7-8 weekends on mine, plus street use and a few autocrosses. Still have another weekend in em probably!

 

So far 8 days on my Nt05's and they are at the wear bars, see how much longer they last. Definatly a great tire.

 

Ordered. I forgot about sales tax So i ended up getting them shipped anyway.

 

I know you already ordered, but if it helps...I ran 275/40/17 at each corner last year for 2 hpde weekends. Each weekend saw about 3hrs total on track time and the tires looked great, nowhere near the wear bars. Whether you get 4 events out of them depends on your level of driving and time on track.

Enjoy them, I loved mine! They were very easy to drive, but be warned that they are utterly useless in the cold. One of my events last year was in Nov ~40* and they skipped accross the paddock surface when making tight turns.