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Best Street Tires for Drag Racing?

42K views 57 replies 17 participants last post by  Tim_K 
#1 ·
Last Friday I ran about 5 passes at a local drag strip, my first time ever. I'm hooked! And I'm going to back on Sunday.

So, yesterday I was detailing my car and noticed quite a bit of my rear tires were splattered all over the inside of my wheel wells lol

I want to get dedicated tires to switch out for race days, but they must be legit street tires (as opposed to "street" tires), and I'm going to buy OEM dimensions.

Reason being I want to hone my skills before I help myself too much with drag radials and such. I don't mind if they stick better than the EOM, all-season Pirellis, in fact I prefer it. I just want them to be actual legit street tires. I might also be driving on them for a day or two before track days.

Thanks for any suggestions.
 
#3 ·
Nitto makes a drag radial, NT 555R in 275/40r20, why waste your time with anything else? I have them on my Scat Pack and I'm glad I do!!!
 
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#4 ·
Toyo 888s outperformed Nitto-anythings on my SVT Cobra (tried 555DRs and NT05s). Maybe NT05Rs might have hooked for me, but once I went Toyo I never went back. Unfortunately they don't make a usable size for our Challengers (yet?). I hear Mickey's have worked well for some 1/4 milers, but not much street life on those (4-6k mi in "tenderfoot" mode). --Decisions, decisions...
 
#5 ·
Toyo owns and makes Nitto I believe. I had these Toyos on my last Challenger and I thought they preformed really well, I don't know why more people don't get them really.

TreadDepot.com: Toyo Proxes T1 Sport Tires
 
#6 ·
I ended up going with BFGoodrich g-Force Sport COMP-2.

I called around and one of the tire places suggested it. I did some research on the tire and it seems it has:

- Great bang-for-buck
- Very good (but not the best) dry traction as compared to other ultra-high performance street tires
- The best wet traction and handling.

They're mostly for tearing up at the track, but that last feature will come in handy if I'm ever caught in the rain. I'll let you know how they do.
 
#8 ·
#13 · (Edited)
wait, what? Your going to buy a dedicated tire for the strip, but it has to be a street tire? Sorry, i dont get it. Do you think running a true street tire at the track will make you a better driver?

I would be putting the biggest drag radial on the lightest/widest 15 or 17 inch rim i could afford/fit.

I used to run dr's full time on my nitrous/full bolton/tuned car, with no issues. About to do the same after my current ride gets the blower installed.
 
#26 ·
He's correct about the reaction time. You can sit there for an hour and still won't affect your time. The most important thing to work on is your 60'. That takes lots of practice. Let the tranny shift itself. Focus on your 60' time first. Experiment with launching at different RPMs. Yes there's lots of skill involved in drag racing as well. Most road course racers don't understand that or at least won't admit it.


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#27 ·
He's correct about the reaction time. You can sit there for an hour and still won't affect your time. The most important thing to work on is your 60'. That takes lots of practice. Let the tranny shift itself. Focus on your 60' time first. Experiment with launching at different RPMs. Yes there's lots of skill involved in drag racing as well. Most road course racers don't understand that or at least won't admit it.


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Seriously? Is that all drag strips?
 
#29 ·
So, I don't know what you are doing, but here is some unsolicited advice, that is worth what you paid for it.

Take an inflation device (so you can pump them back up after your done) and a good tire gauge to the track with you. Start with the rears at 28psi and the fronts at 40psi.

When its your turn, DO NOT drive through the water box. Go around it. Do a mini-burnout, just a few revolutions to clean the crap off the tires. You don't need/want to heat up street radials above where they should be from just driving to the track. Since you don't need a big burnout, going through the water box just gets your front tires wet, which your back tires then drive through on the way to staging. There just isn't any point in a street car.

For me, when I see the 2nd light, its go-time. Not that it really has anything to do with your time, the others are right, clock starts when you move. Yes, at all tracks.

2.x + 60's are pretty bad. I don't know what challengers usually run, but you really need to get that as low as you can.

Don't know anything about your car - stick or auto? You have a scat-pack, right? Whats your current launch rpm, traction control settings, shift points/technique? Don't they have a launch mode and just drive themselves to 11.8s in the 1/4 ? :)
 
#30 ·
Thanks for the input! A lot of that makes sense. I didn't even think about my rear tires rolling over the wet track marks of my front tires.

So what I have is an SRT 392.

It's an 8-speed automatic. Long story short, I set it up so it would auto shift right at redline, although I don't know if shifting at redline is the optimal shift point.

Traction control: I set it to sport (There is default, sport and track). I was told be a forum who drags his that you can only burn out in sport, but ironically you can't do a burn out in track. I also turn it "off" manually using the button. If turning the TC off I'm not sure if it matters what setting it's on.

Launch RPM, about 2000 maybe a little under. I did keep getting a lot of wheel spin and it got worse as the night went on. A few people have told me it's a poorly prepped track. There was a Caddillac CTS wearing slicks running low 10's all night, so it couldn't have been that bad.
 
#35 ·
So what were your 60 foot times? Please share a couple of your better time slips with us. Once you get a few trips to the strip under your belt you will be surprised at how good you can get at it. Your car certainly has the potential to run faster.
 
#38 ·
high 1.9s to low 2.0 is normal for stock street tires. wider and stickier street tires will yield low to mid 1.8s and some drag radials will get you high 1.6 to anywhere in the 1.7 range.
 
#39 ·
I had to run with traction control fully on. I started the night with it completely off and 2.4 - 2.5 60 ft times were my reward. I was still spinning well into 2nd. My best E.T. was 13.2.

I turned traction on and ran a 12.528 w/ a 2.0 60 ft. The suck thing about traction on is that the car does all it can to prevent wheel spin. It doesn't leave hard at all and still spins a good bit, except you start to get some wheel hop.

So, at least no wheel hop with traction off. Your just going down the track sideways.. :)

This was on 275 Continental DW tires as well, which have a good reputation. I have hundreds of 1/4 miles pass so I know all the rules.. avoid the water box, light burnout, etc.

I'm eyeing the perfect wheel / tire combo for the track now. I'm looking at a 18" wheel and either a M&H or MT DR. I would really like to stick with a 275 width DR. On a 18", you'll have more sidewall wrinkle and I just don't see the need for a 305 on a stock SP. You probably need a 305 on 20's though.

My goal is a 1.7x 60 ft.
 
#40 ·
I've got some M&H's. 275/45/18's. Maybe we can work a deal if you get the wheels. They have 8 passes on them. No monster burnouts and about 1k street miles on them. The tits just wore off approximately 500 miles ago. New $600 and I'll sell them for an excellent price to move them. They are stored in my attached garage on racks.
 
#46 ·
So I made a few passes. First pass was 12.80 with a 60' of about 2.118 (or there about) seconds.

Then: 12.95
Then: 13.3

Temperature outside was 88 degrees.

The traction seems to get worse and worse as the day rolls on both times I've been to the track. It's not a temperature thing because the first time was at night. I *may* have figured out why.

I left after only a few passes because I started hearing a popping noise that I (thought) was coming from my exhaust, so I decided to leave. After I left I noticed the popping noise was going away. Upon further inspection I discover the noise is just pebbles that got stuck to the tires. At the turn around point you drive up a gravel road to the time-slip shed. Is that normal for a drag strip? Why the hell would you make people roll over gravel after running on a sticky track?

It's Fayetteville Motorsports Park. I've been hearing from everyone that their track prep stinks. Not sure if that's a valid complaint or just people justifying poor times, but there was no shortage of serious drag cars making runs there so who knows.

I'm going to keep going and also look for other drag strips in the NC area.
 
#47 ·
Even with street tires you should be doing a small burnout. Do a big one it's fun! ;) Due to rubber getting laid down and heat buildup, typically a track gets better as the day wears on, unless some car pukes out fluids on the starting line or something.

Talk to other drivers there and get their thoughts on launching, that's part of the fun is meeting everyone and checking out their cars. Good luck.
 
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#53 ·
Nitto 555 drag radials work great on my car.. A little trick to keeping your car clean of rubber is to spray the rear lower 1/4 and the wheel liner with a silicon lubricant. Not much but a little cover.. The rubber will fall back off real easy.
 
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