Had a quick question guys, Just purchased a set of MT drag radail street, I'm going to the track saterday night, was wondering if it be safe to go to the track considering its an hour away? How do people deal with nails? etc. whats a safe amount of air in it while driving on the freeway? Safe speeds to drive? I was also going to take of my front sway bar and see how it goes. any suggestions?

 

I run 30 psi on the freeway with no problems. They did take some getting used to when I first got them. My stock tires are 275-40-17's and my M/T's are 255-50-16 so they have more sidewall that gives, but nothing bad. I do around 80 on the freeway, no prob.
I took my sway bar off last weekend and you can feel the front end come up alot easier but it makes the car feel weird in turns. I don't mind it, though.

 

Personally, I don't think a tire like that is suitable for the streets. It doesn't have the tread to handle wet conditions and is not a high mileage tire. I would look for a pair of old 16 inch spare rims to mount them on and swap them around at the track.

 

I've driven on the 255 50 R16s and currently the 275 50 R15s...They are the only tire on the car and I drive it alot when the weather is good. They've made the 360 mile round trip at 75 mph to OC, MD, dealt witha little rain and came home...I run them at 25 psi on the street, and while I'm not endorsing them as a regular street tire, they seem to be holding up very well to street driving in good weather...They are better than the BFG DRs in the rain, imho...

--Alan

 

I've run them on the street and they do very good compared to regular Et streets but they do wear pretty quick with street driving. I ran my best 60' to date last weekend on the 325/50/15's, 1.41 60', I never thought drag radials would hook that good with mostly stock suspension. Later

 

One thing you have to remember is that the compounds they use to make slicks/street slicks arent meant to take the abuse of heat cycling caused by driving on the street. Sure, they are different from an all out slick but only to a degree. Also, the more miles you put on them-the more oil, (insert road deposit) etc are absorbed. All the above boil down to how the tire hooks, and ultimately how quickly it wears out. Ive driven on all types-drag radial, et street and slicks-they all hook worse after street use than just track use and wear much more quickly on the street than strip (even after John Force burnouts ). The best thing (as stated above by 2000GTP) is these are best for spare rims and strip use only. The "tread" they put enough on the tires are not sufficient for rain, etc., manufacturers only put on there to classify them as a "DOT" legal tire.

have fun!

 

wat about at the track...255's on stockers whats the best psi?

 

You'll have to experiment...I was running 17 psi cold when I was using the 255 50 R16s on the stockers...I was hitting 1.55-1.57 to 60'...I don't run less than 15 in the 255 50 R16s and 13 with my 275 50 R15s...They get kind of squirrelly on the big end with low air pressure...and they like a good burnout...



--Alan

 

Stupid question, Is balancing required? I'm guessing so.

 

yep..you can even balance slicks.. I definitely would balance the radials!