Trying to Avoid Starbursts

[68 Fastback]

For those of us who do not have fender wells how sticky a tire can you go without busting the fiberglass, You know those nasty little star bust? I know, I know you can add additional coatings and other stuff. So lets not consider that at this time. I currently have Goodyear F1 (old and hard) They are listed at 280 AAA. Has anyone used Nitto NT05 (200 AAA) and not slung a rock?

[Tom Wells]

68,

I like my NT05s. I don't think they throw things, but I have a sturdy Power Performance body on my Cobra so I'm not sure there is anything that could cause a starburst.

I've run Victoracers (wear rating less than 30) and other track tires without problems too.

The 200 wear rating tires don't seem to me to have any adhesive quality like the dedicated track tires seem to have. When the race tires are warm they stick to everything; not so the 200s.

If you have really vulnerable fenders make sure you don't accidentally get the NT05Rs...

Tom

[bobcowan]

Any tire can kick up a rock or other FOD and cause a starburst. To protect the panel, you need to put something on the underside of the fender. Some people use a thick coating of pick up bed liner. Some cars have an inner plastic liner. And I even remember some one gluing sponges in the there.

I think I'll use bed liner.

[legenmetals]

You can fabricate aluminum inner liners and rivet them in or use a 1/2 inch foam and glue them in. I fabricated aluminum liners on my CSX 8000 per David Wagner. These ideas should help control the foreign object damage.

[fordracing65]

Kirkham sells wheel well foam.

[Tom Wells]

Why avoid? On a diet?

(couldn't resist...)

[Three Peaks]

You could try putting some Dynamat on the inside of the fender to dampen the rock strikes. Other mats may not stay positioned upside down like that, but I'm pretty sure the Dynamat will stay put if you roll them in like the directions specify.

Bob

[Kobura]

My car came with Nitto NT05 tires. After almost 10k miles, I have no damage from rocks. I believe it is because the tires have no tread grooves to contain rocks that then could be slung off at high speeds. As I don't deliberately drive my car on wet pavement, I intend to replace them next year with a new set of NT05s. I don't think the tires are a good choice for wet roads.

[68 Fastback]

Thanks Kobura, I was looking at the NT05 myself but I was concerned about the 200 rating. Thats softer than the Goodyear F1 I currently have. Have you heard much on the NT555 or NT555G2? They are rated at 300 and 320 respectively.