? about drag radials
 

I have a question about drag radials. I'm looking to get a set of rear tires for the track but I also want to be able to run them on the highway to and from the track. I'm looking at like the Hoosier Quick Time, MH cheaters, and Mickey Thompson's. How well do they hold up to highway driving? How many miles can they handle? They say they're DOT approved but are not meant for highway use. I used to run slicks at the track but I'd like to be able to put these on at my house and drive to the track.

If you want to be able to drive to the track look at actual radial tires. While they are DOT approved, Hoosier QTPs, MT ET Streets, etc. are actually bias ply tires.

Stick with Nitto 555, BFG Comp DR, or MT ET Drag Radials if you want to drive to the track on them regularly.

- Justin

Nitto 555R's are you're best bet for driving on, the rest are very soft, bias play and wear out in about 2500-4000 miles. I had the nittos and I got 11,500 mile sout of them with probably 20-30 track runs on them.

BFG and MT both have DRs too, and they are just as good on the street as the Nittos are. They are also softer than Nittos, so they will wear out faster on the street, but hook better at the track.

- Justin

Well, my experience:

I've run-
nitto extreme drag radial 245 50 16
bf drag radial 255 50 16
mickey thompson et street 26 X 10.5 X 16

The nitto's lasted 2 yrs. I drove back and forth to vermont, maryland etc. Drove in rain... they were AWESOME in rain!!!! Didn't flick up rocks that often

The bf's are entering a 2nd season but I'm not racin as much. I've driven to maryland....and all over the place. NOT great in rain. Constantly flicks up rocks n stuff ALL the damn time!

The et streets lasted 2 yrs.... but for nitroused passes. I would not drive them in the rain. I drive back and forth to e town on them, 45-50 min drive. They flick up more than nitto's and less than bf's.

If you want a tire that you can drive to and fro the track, I've heard MANY good things about the miickey thompson et street DRAG radials. I actually have NOT heard 1 bad thing about them yet!

hope that helps

Awesome info guys, thanks. I'm trying to push the envelope of what I can safely run on the street and max traction at the track. I guess the MH cheater bias plys are too much. Too bad, those white walls would have been teh sexy :lol: Next I need to se if I can stuff some 15x12s under the rear.

Is this for the '79?

- Justin

Max traction at the track = MT ET Radials. Drag radials drivability is all the pretty the same: just like a regular tire when dry, a little more crappy in rain.

My Hoosier QTP's (bias-ply slicks with lines) ride amazingly good @ 20psi. Only on really bumpy and uneven roads do I feel the back-end "floating" around. Sometimes I forget I'm riding on slicks with skinny front tires. I havent driven them in the rain yet, nor do I plan on it.

For both cars. I just went outside and measured the Hawk and there's no way 12's will fit under there. 10's are about as wide as I can go. Mine was ordered with the stage 2 suspension so I have even less room to play with than a stock 'bird.

I'd never use them in the rain. I'd be buying a new set of rims for these and only using them to drive an hour to the track, run, then home. I'm curious if the bias plys can handle sustained highway use for an hour or more. The companies make it sound like if you run em on the street they'll blow out or something. I'm not worried about miles either, I'd probobly be replacing them after the season anyway. I'm curious just what kind of miles they'll handle, 5k? less? more?

biggest problem with the bias plys is the sidewall being so soft (the car will roll over on the rim) and severe succeptability to road hazards, they are easy to puncture (I know, I blew one of my BFG's running over a stick). I just bought new wheels and staright up Slicks and run street tires now. You can get some 16IN take offs cheap.

Personally I would go with the MT ET Radials....Rick Head has gone 7.6x in the 1/4 with a set of these on his fully built 3rd gen. They hook great (so everyone says) and will last longer on the street than the bias-plys will.

- Justin

Agreed!

I've run MT ET streets, Hoosier QTPs and Hoosier QT's on my camaro, the QTs got the best road use out of them, no real noticeable difference on the line between ET streets and QTPs (60' around 1.78) but the QT's cant handle my launch that well. ET streets and QTPs are not very road worthy, but they're driveable. If they get down to around 15 psi, your back end will start to get soft on the street, but thats where they like to be run on the track. Just be sure not to drive them in any kind of rain, if it starts raining one night at the track, you're SOL b/c they SUCK in wet weather.

Definately go for the ET Radials if you want radial, or the ET Street or QTP if you dont mind a bias-ply. Like I said, my car has completely stock suspension sway bars and all and you'd never know it wasnt on radials driving around town. 27x10.5" QTP's @ 20psi. I plan on switching to ET Radials once these tires wear out because I've seen some pretty impressive times out of them in stock suspension cars.

I've also had 28x10.50" ET Drag slicks on it and they were kinda ruff driving around. They are quite a bit softer than DOT Hoosiers Sitting in my driveway on a windy day you could see the car swaying back and forth...thats how soft the sidewalls were. They would also slowly leak air without tubes. Everytime I took the car out I'd have to air them up... Big pain in the ass.

Easy quick fix for that. Coat the inside with dish detergent. (Lemon Joy is my preference ;) ) You'll never have a leaky tube tire w/o tubes again. If it works on my 33x16-15s I think it'll work on anything.

I'm getting the M/T drag radial next week. I'll let you know how they are.

The entire inside of the tire, or just the bead? (I have 26x9.5x15 QTPs in my garage that are getting mounted soon).

- Justin

Entire inside of the tire justin. A pretty decent coat, but doenst have to be gobbed on there.