Drag Racing tires

[Riverdaves50]

OK Guys I haven't been on the forum for a long time. Need a little help, I plan on doing a little street legal drags at the Qual Comm Stadium in San Diego. Need to know the best drag tire to run on the back of my roadster. I currently have 17" rim for my track auto-X tires, but I can switch to 15" If need. Would prefer not to, but will if I have to. Not going to auto-X car anymore, have another car for that.
Please help, any suggestions. Car will be trailer to the strip.
Dave

[BEAR-AvHistory]

NITTO 555R in 315X35X17. $198.94 & FREE Shipping from Amazon. Its a DOT legal Drag Radial with a shaved tread but not a pure slick. Launches very hard. Not sure a slick is a good plan as its more likely to break things.

I run the NITTO 555R as my rear street tire & it works very well. Have normal NITTO 555 on the front in 255 size with a matching regular depth tread.

[6t8dart]

I recommend Mickey Thompson 17" drag radial, but I would get a taller sidewall, if possible, maybe a 275/40. If you really want a hard hook, go with 15's.

[Riverdaves50]

Don't know if this makes a difference. I have a pretty nice 347 stroker,Aluminum Heads port polished and port matched, complete Lunati top end (cam, lifters, pushrods, rockers and valve springs, with about 425-450 plus Hp turning 6800-7000 rpm, not the best rear-end fordrag racing, but strong, IRS T-Bird with 355
gears, Just installed line lock on the front brakes. Car will always be trailered to the track when I race. Still will use for the street with the Sumitomos.

[BEAR-AvHistory]

These cars very light & very powerful & don't need a lot of drag strip oriented gearing unless that's the cars purpose. 3:55 is a good all round gear that will not hammer you to death on the highway. With the 5 speed at cruise in the 65 range with the not so quite FFR side pipes wind noise in more of an issue than the exhaust. Local streets at 59mph in 5th no trouble listening to the radio. 4 6" speakers up front.

[Plebeian]

I personally run the Nitto NTO5R's and really like them. Below are my experiences with 3 different drag radials. On a side note, a fellow roadster owner cut 1.4 60 foot times with both the MT ET Street radials and NTO5R's.

The Mickey Thompson ET Street drag radial hooked consistently the best due to the softer sidewall. Downside is they can be scary in the rain, handle mediocore, and have a shorter tread life.

The Nitto NTO5R is very very close to the Mickeys. They have a stiffer sidewall so require more finesse at the launch, but they handle better and are not as scary if you get caught in the rain. They have a limited tread life.

The Nitto 555R drag radials hook decent at more moderate power levels and are a harder compound so they last a good 15k miles, they have reasonable handling, and are OK in the rain if you are careful.

[Riverdaves50]

Plebeian......When you talk about NTO5R's do you mean Nitto 555R or is there another Nitto tire I am not a familiar with? I am not really worried about rain, like I said before, the car will always be trailered to the track. Not just because of tires, I try to be pro-active in case I break something. I want to get my car home, it has happened in the past with Auto-X.
It sounds like the Nitto is the right tire, would you still stay with 17" or spend the extra and go 15" and take a chance of breaking something?

[Plebeian]

Here is a Nitto Tire link on the NTO5R http://www.nittotire.com/race-tires/nt05r-dot-compliant-competition-drag-radial-tire/. They are stickier than the 555R. I'd stay with the 17's as that is what you have and I don't even know if they make them in the 15" size. The MT ET street radials do come in the 15" size if your trying to get every last couple hundreths of a second, but to me it isn't worth buying new wheels over. The biggest problem you may have is "tech" booting you off the track for going too fast.

I like the NTO5R's for my back tires because they hook nearly as well as the MT's but handle better. My FFR roadster is 99% street driven so I value traction and handling.

Here is a pass I made at an outlaw 1/8th mile track back in September. Considering track prep was nearly non existent, I hooked pretty good for over 600 rwhp https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jRH7PPGVDY

[Riverdaves50]

OK thanks, it sound like the NTO5R's is what I will go with. I currently have 315/35-17 for Auto-X on the rims now, which are worn and being thrown away. Would you go with the 315/35-17 or would you go with the 275/40-17 they are only a couple dollars more?

[Plebeian]

I'd go with the 315's, that's what I use. Let us know how it goes.

[Riverdaves50]

Sure will let you know, thanks for the help. Oh what times are you turning in the 1/8?

[Plebeian]

I'm in the 6's at 116 mph (16 lbs boost) at an outlaw 1/8th mile track that doesn't have much surface prep. I'd have a shot at 5's if I turned up the boost a couple lbs, ran race gas, and installed a competition engineering anti-roll bar. Just not worth the hassle and expense (or possible broken parts) to me when the NHRA (sticky surface) tracks won't allow those kind of speeds or times. NHRA tracks limit us (Cobras) to 13.5 seconds in the 1/4. They may ban you if you go over 135 mph, which is considered 9 second capability. Our local NHRA track won't allow Cobras to race at all unless you have a full halo type cage. I'm thankful I found an outlaw track, just wish it wasn't so far away and 1/4 instead of 1/8th mile so I could get my 9 second time slip. Cheers.

On a sidenote, If you're driving a snowmobile the NHRA says you're fine to run 9's in the 1/4 though, LOL.

[Real time recon]

Back in the day these we the best.Some say they still are https://www.mickeythompsontires.com/strip.php?item=ETDrag

[Riverdaves50]

Tires are ordered will be here next week, got them through amazon. Twenty-five dollars cheaper than anyone else at $204.50 each.
What are you running for air pressure on the track and air pressure on the street.

[Fuel an]

Which tire did you go with in the end, the nittos? On tire pressure, I would run the recommended pressure on the street, guessing 29-32 psi for these tires. Pressure at the track should be experimented with, I would start at 24 psi, but not go below 20 psi. Also, with that IRS and more stick now you may get wheel hop on a well prepped track, number one rule on wheel hop is to 'lift,' don't say in it and if it is bad it is better to skip the run and inspect your halfshafts. I have drag raced Vipers alot, their IRS are stout, but I have seen one wheel hop incident complete trash a half shaft.

Have fun with all that power, I have been running half mile drags a bit now and man what fun....

[Plebeian]

I run 22 on the track, 24 on the street.

[Plebeian]

Did you race yet?