Racing Tires

Garbageman

 
Supporting Member 1
Ok, I've got a question for all of you who are drag racing your cars. What rear tires are you all using?

When I started racing the '62 I used a set of BFG Drag Radials and the car never hooked up very well and spun the tires alot of the line.

I then bought a set of Goodyear Drag Slicks, 26x8.0 x 15. They worked great, sometimes too good.

Now it's time to buy a new set of racing tires but I choked a little at the $404.00 price for 2 new Goodyears. I know, if your going to race it's going to cost, but since I'm in the market for new tires I thought I get some opinions.

Paul
 

SS425HP

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 3
Tires

Just FYI, I'm using M/T 29.5 X 9 X 15 . Hooking pretty good. Some 1.55 60 foot times. They say they don't need a lot of burn out to work well. Also, I'm using the stiff sidewall that they recommend for standard shift. I know guys using radial slicks and they are working well, but you don't use them with a stick shift. You will probably get a lot of different ideas on this subject. What works for one might not work for others. A lot depends on the rear end set up. I see a lot of Hoosier tires, and Goodyear, too.

Good luck on your choice.
 

dq409

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 3
Paul, if you are going to use the tires only for drag racing you could use any brand.
Most racers say that the Goodyear is the most consistant tire compound.

I agree that the BFG Drag Radials are not the best but if you were loosing traction you had too much air in them.
I have seen tests on the BFG and they showed them to stick really good.

I use the Hoosier Quick Time DOT drag slick.
They feel great on the (dry) road with I believe 28# of air and stick really good at the track with about 15# air.

How did you do this weekend? Seemed to miss all but one of your passes,,dq
 

MRHP

 
Supporting Member 1
BFG is a BF letdown

I am running BFG drag radial 255/60/15 tires in my stroker 62 with a 4 speed and 4.11 gears. I tried everything from 12 psi to 30 psi. Nothing helped. No better than my street tires! Can't come out of the hole even at 2000! I am sure when some more suspension mods are completed it will hook better but for now my drag radials are in the garage. I was going to buy some drag only tires but was talked out of it. Boy am I sorry. They may hook better with an auto car, but not with me rowing my 4 gear. If someone needs mine, I'll sell. Can't be 20 miles on them. :dunno I know people run some impressive times on these tires, but they can tune a suspension better than me. I'm just a novice when it comes to racing suspensions. I heard moving the rear control arm mounting points helps plant the tires. Anyone have any experience with this? If so please start a new thread.
 

Ronnie Russell

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 2
Brian, I ran across an old thread the other day, posted by Denny Ford. I think Denny talked about lowering front lower control arm mounts 2 inches and using adjustable upper control arms. Mymemory is terrible , so you might try a PM to Denny. If you ever see his car leave, you would say " Thats what I want!!" Good luck :)
 

SS425HP

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 3
A Leaver!!!!!!!!!!

Ronnie, you can say that, AGAIN. Denny leaves with both front wheels in the air. Denny is using Goodyears. Don't remember the size, but they are 10" at least. Requires a slight modification to the wheel well opening. Not something that you would notice. Still looks nice. The whole car looks nice.
 

55Chevy283

Active Member
My slicks

I use Mickey Tompson ET Streets 26X10.5X15 on my stick shift 55. They hook hard. Very Hard. I have left the line at 7000 RPM with my 327 Chevy engine and pulled both front tires a foot to a foot and a half off the ground. This was with a Tremec 5 speed with a 3.27 low gear and 5.14 rear. The same car left hard with my 350 and 4.56 on the same tire and pulled the wheels about 8" leaving at 5500RPM. The car ran 12.80s with both engines on the same slicks. I had a hard time getting these times with automatics though. I dont feel that the slicks worked any worse for them though. My brother's 56 Chevy left pretty hard with TH350 and 4.11 gears. No complaints accept when they don't prep the track that is.

Danny's car sounds like a real nice one. I would love to see it someday.

Henry
 

DIV1RACER-2

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 12
slicks

Thanks for the compliments guys ! :)

I use a Goodyear 10.5 x 30 x 15 / thanks to Steve Moyer after 3 sets of problem tires he put me on the correct tire for this type car w/ the supension we use.

Stick shift cars usually work better w/ a harder sidewall tire w/ a harder compound , this does not hold true in every situation but is a pretty good rule of thumb.

Same goes w/ a coil spring vs leaf spring car , there all kinds of bolt on traction aids for a leaf spring car & very little availible that are worth any thing for our x frame cars w/ coil springs. I made all the mods on my car with the exception of Hoghkiss lower arms .

I have gone 1.45 60 ft times & if the track is good it will constantly will go 1.48 - 1.49 in the 60 ft.


Clutches have a dramatic effect on traction also / too hard a hitting clutch will break tires loose & they will never recover .


Lots more on this subject , such as burn outs ect.


Hope this helps , I don't have all the answers but have benn doing this for longer than i should admit!!!!!!!!!!!!:roll :roll
 

bluescreamer

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 1
Paul
At the present time have a set of Hoosier Radial 10.5X29x15 C06
compound on the car. Did a lot of work in the wheel well opening
this winter.
Had a best of 1.42 60 foot with these tires this spring. The past
couple of weeks the sixty are in the 1.47 and 1.49 area, if the
track is preped. Other wise its a crap shoot.
This is with a modified lower control arm mounting. and a highly
elaborate upper control arangement. air bags and QA-1 Shocks.
Allen
 

Garbageman

 
Supporting Member 1
Guys, thanks for all the great information.

Fred and Denny, your explanation of using the harder tire compound is interesting and I will go that route myself. :bow

I'm not pumping out the hp you guys are, (around 400), but my 60's suck, usually 2.0.... I do need to change the rear shocks thanks for reminding me Allen:doh

My rear is stock except for boxing in the upper and lower control arms.
I'm shifting through an M22 with a Ram 6 puk disc and borg&beck 2600 lb, long finger plate.

I'd like to stay with the 26" tire since it takes me to the traps at 6000rpm. I'll be on the phone today talking to tire companies.

DQ, I ran great all weekend, 13.1-2 @ 106mph but Sunday I should have taken the left lane in the first elimination round since the right got oiled down before my run. I spun the tires REAL hard at the line and couldn't run the number. Steve went out in the 3rd round-broke out. Dave red lit in the 2nd rd. Chip came out Saturday and on the first pass broke the Ujoint or yoke about the 1000' mark but still coasted through at 11.14. His '55 is wicked fast.

Thanks everyone:clap

Paul
 

dq409

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 3
Paul, I should have brought my tires so you could have tried them out.
That offer is open any time you would like to try them.

You could try and plan on a Saturday at PIR anytime before you plunk down money on a tire that you can`t try out first.

From what the others have said about stiffer sidewalls these Hoosiers might just work with your stick.

just gimme a call or email if you want to try them,,, dq
 

Garbageman

 
Supporting Member 1
Thanks for the offer Jim. I may take you up on that if I can get to Portland. What is the Saturday PIR schedule like?

Paul
 

dq409

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 3
Garbageman said:
Thanks for the offer Jim. I may take you up on that if I can get to Portland. What is the Saturday PIR schedule like?

Paul


Paul, They have the Late Night Drags every weekend. (Friday and Saturday nights)
Just show up, line up and race !!!

No ET racing ,,, just race yourself. This way you can try different ways to race like launch and shift points.

You can get as many rounds as you like.
I`d bet you could get close to ten rounds if you try.

http://www.portlandraceway.com/schedule.asp

Just give me the heads up as soon as you think you can make it.

I will be busy on the 26th though,,, dq
 

Steve "wully bully"

 
Supporting Member 1
Drag slicks

Garbageman said:
I then bought a set of Goodyear Drag Slicks, 26x8.0 x 15. They worked great, sometimes too good.

Paul,
I think you answered your own question. It is rare that anybody has the problem of tires working too good. That is an easy condition to deal with, much easier than the opposite. As has already been mentioned, ONLY use bias type slicks for a stick car, radials will NEVER work. We have had the best results on both cars with Good Years, and get average service life. Good luck!
Steven
 
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