Hi. I am currently running BFG Drags on my '95 Z28. I plan on moving on to 4.10s and/or 12 bolt and have yet to hook well with the BFG Drags. I installed a Line Lock and should be able to hook a little better due to a better burnout (M6 Car).

From experience, how much of a drop should be expected in my short times if I swapped over to E.T. Streets? They would be the 26" x 10.5".

Any and all help is appreciated!

 

DOT slicks driven on the street can be worn out even when there's lots of tread left. Constant driving on the street heats up and cools down the rubber. When the rubber is heated up it lets the oils out of the rubber and makes the tire sticky. From high street use, the tire can dry out and once you go to the track it won't hook up like it should. Installing a new tire will feel like it hooks up better but it's usually just that it's in better condition. I've know racers to sell off a new set of tires (20 passes) because they just came from a bad batch of tires and wouldn't get a consistant 60' time. Another new set and they ran great.

Buy 2 sets of tires and rims. One set of street tires and one set of track tires. That way the track tires will be in good condition when you go to the track.

I used to use MT ET Drags until I needed a tire size that they didn't make. I now use Hoosier. My other choice would have been Goodyear but they had to order the tires in and I couldn't wait. I've never noticed a traction difference between the brands but they say the Goodyear tires are the best for consistancy.

 

I've heard of that, but never had a problem w/ it last year. I drove mine on the street all year w/ ET Streets and skinnies. Several of my friends run the same combo all the time and haven't had any problems.

I definitely see how it could happen though.

 

On mickeys around 12psi or less.... and on drag radials you should run about 16-18 psi.

 

I had a pair of BFG Drag radials, they hooked up well at first, but once started street driving them, hooked for ****, no better than street tires. last about 2k miles, listen to the people, get a second set of wheels, or just 2 more salad shooters and mount drag radials on them, and use for track duty.

 

Any tire that's a decent true race tire will be essentailly unusable on the street. This would apply to E/T Streets and the other "DOT legal" race tires as well. They are the same as racing slicks except for a few narrow grooves in the tread. The bigest reason is that the side walls are way too flexible and fragile for street use. So, if you use them on the street along with typical stiff sidewall radials on the front, you will have suceeded in turning a sweet handling car into an evil beast. That leaves aside the issues of wear, heat related damage, and the total unsuitability of the tire if there is even a bit of rain. I have not observed major differences between the different brands of small slicks and their DOT counterparts. If I had to pick a brand, I'd say I have a small preference for Hoosier though. Big slicks, for real race cars, are a different matter and I don't know much about them.

Now, drag radials are different. They can be used safely on the street. They do wear pretty quickly and with their shallow tread you'd best be very careful if it rains. The problem is that they don't give nearly the traction of real race tires. The tread compound is much harder (and therefore wears better) and the sidewall is much stiffer. Especially on higher power cars, they just don't have enough grip and will give up at least 0.2 seconds or more on the 60' time. A powerful car will spin them all the way throught third gear (M6) or further. I prefer the BFG, but it has less tread and will wear faster than the Nitto.

Rich Krause

 

My husband Has 3 sets of tires for his car. One is just for show & daily driving(his ZO6 rims & tires) then he Swaps out when we head to the track to his Org tires & rims. But has his BMF DR in the back. Hes never had a problem with hooking up what so ever in the 1 1/2 yrs for doing it this system. He also runs like 18 PSI in the DRs

Me I run on my street tires & have only had a few problems with not hooking up (once when I desided I needed to let some tire pressure out to see if I get better traction NEVER AGAIN) I hook up 95% of the time on my little old street tires.

 

Yeah, but "hooking up" is a function of a number of variables. One of the most important being how much hp you are running. I tried some DR once just for the experience and spun all the way down the track.

Rich Krause

 

I am running about 245HP in my car (its almost totally stock)

 

I've run Nittos, BFGs, and Et streets on my car, as well as your usual street tires (Bridgestone re910s, stock size).These are my bests.

60 ft.
Street.............2.04
Nittos..............2.03 (big burnout, little burnout, high psi, low psi, didnt make a freakin difference. I do like them on the street, but not on the track. 245/50-16
BFGs................1.74 (12 psi, decent burnout...255/50-16
Et streets.........1.70 (13 psi, decent burnout...26x11.50 16)
Et Streetsand spray..1.51.....9 psi

I ran my best time on motor with the BFG's. They worked good on motor, but tended to blow off when shifting to 2nd gear on nitrous. Thats the only reason I got the Et streets.

 

Thanks for the replies.

It isn't a street-use issue. I have 2 complete sets of rims and about to go get some Weld Draglite XP's. I tow the car to the track (170 miles to E-Town, 170 to NED, 105 to LVD). Haven't been to NED yet with it, but anyways, I spin pretty much hard all the way till the top of 2nd, and squall 3rd pretty good. I'm just trying to maximize the potential of having a surprisingly quick bolt-on car before I do major mods and figured this may be one of the problems.
Greenbean, based on your info, I'm gonna get a set of ET Streets to try out for late 2003. I'll start the season back up with the BFG's since the line lock is a done deal, just to see if I can get 'em to hook. Besides, I'll probably be doing another clutch/rearend change by late season anyways.

Thanks again guys! Good luck this year!

t/c