Street tires vs drag radial traction

[DoubleV]

Wondering how much of a drop-off in straight line traction there is between a high performance summer tire and something like a street/strip tire ( like a Nitto 555r ) on the street? We are of course assuming same size tires and setup.

To be clear, I'm asking about a quality high performance street tire such as the BFG g-Force Sport COMP-2, not a subpar all-weather tire that just looks cool like BFG Radial TA.

 

[jociha]

Really can't respond to the tire question but as a side note about your car, you are clearly building a good motor and surely a strong rear end so I just wanted to mention that the bracket where the lower control arm bolts to the frame is very week on these cars, make sure you weld some steel renforcement in there or it will break off. HR partsnstuff sells them.

 

[olds307 and 403]

The Radial T/A is a horrible tire at the track, my 2.8 60 ft was ridiculous. I dropped .7 with the ET streets. Why don't you use your factory rims and put your slicks in the trunk. I do it, not that terrible to swap at the track. I need to carry a jack and extra parts anyways. With ported heads I am putting on, I don't want traction to be an issue. If you build your diesel block build, street tires will be useless.

 

[DoubleV]

Really can't respond to the tire question but as a side note about your car, you are clearly building a good motor and surely a strong rear end so I just wanted to mention that the bracket where the lower control arm bolts to the frame is very week on these cars, make sure you weld some steel renforcement in there or it will break off. HR partsnstuff sells them.

It's already on the list. :wink:

The Radial T/A is a horrible tire at the track, my 2.8 60 ft was ridiculous. I dropped .7 with the ET streets. Why don't you use your factory rims and put your slicks in the trunk. I do it, not that terrible to swap at the track. I need to carry a jack and extra parts anyways. With ported heads I am putting on, I don't want traction to be an issue. If you build your diesel block build, street tires will be useless.

The track's a different story. I will run ET Streets or something like that there, but I want to know what the traction is going to be like on the street with quality street tires. Obviosly traction will not be great, but I'd like it to be at least OK and most of all safe.

 

[olds307 and 403]

Well I have the 245/55R18 Nitto Intivo on my Challenger. They handle very nice and are affordable. Any quality performance tires with suspension upgrades with handle a lot better than stock suspension with junk tires. Unless you modernize all your suspension, don't expect any where near new car handling.

 

[DoubleV]

My focus is more on straight line traction than cornering but with quality wheels/tires my car should handle extremely well with my suspension upgrades.

 

[online170]

The problem with street traction is no two streets are the same. Dust, dirt, crap, gravel is all going to negate the friction between rubber and asphalt/concrete. You can run true slicks with 12psi, and they will be garbage for traction on street. Track performance will translate to street if the street is clean.

That being said, my drag radial (ET Street) and a friends Nitto 555's are just as traction less with 500ish ft/lbs of torque as each other. I would have no preference from one to the other, they feel similar.
On the track, the ET streets will obliterate the Nittos if properly burned out.

 

[BPTTONE420012]

i have only ever ran street tires... even in my 92 camaro rs with a 502, well it wasnt really mine, it was my ex's car but she never drove it, that car was all *ss... anyways, now i get sh*t from everyone about the normal wall tires on my monte... "dude that looks like sh*t, why wouldnt you get a lower profile tire"... i look at it like this, why waste all that money on tires now when the car has 2 new tires in the rear and came with another BRAND new set for the rear... BESIDES I AM JUST GONNA SMOKE EM OFF THE CAR ANYWAYS... AND PERSONALLY, i dont think they look horrible and i have other crap to worry about and spend my money on, like a working transmission.... lol... MY VOTE IS GO WITH THE CHEAPER STREET TIRES AND WHATEVER MONEY YOU SAVE, BUY SOMETHING SHINEY FOR THE WIFE SO SHE CANT COMPLAIN ABOUT YOU BUYING CAR STUFF... at least thats what i do... women are like fish, easily distracted by shiney sh*t... lol...

 

[pontiacgp]

I have 245-50-16 BFG g-Force Sport COMP-2 on all 4 wheels and they are a good tire. They are pretty sticky and heated up they work well. I can't compare them to a slick though since I never tried a slick

 

[565bbchevy]

I have gone through many sets of rear tires on my Monte, I don't even waste my time with regular street tires since I just annihilate them and I have gone back and forth over the years between bias ply DOT street slicks and drag radials and my favorite bias ply was the Hoosier Q/T Pro but I have been hassled a little by police because they think it is a full slick. ( mandatory rim screws didn't help)
I've have tried BFG drag radials (did not last) I bought Hoosier drag radials but did not use them because they were way undersized compared to their spec sheet so I sent those back and then I tried the M/T drag radials and that is now my favorite all around rear tire, they look good, ride well, sizing is right and compared to everything else I've tried they last longer.
For me tires like Nittos don't have a size in 15" that will fill up my wheel well like the M/T's and with my frame notch I was trying to maximize the contact patch and am currently running a M/T 295/55R15 on a 9.5" wide rim and before that I had 295/65R15 on a 8.5 rim but they were too tall and made my car higher in the rear.