I'm looking at a purchase (or rather a nice Christmas gift) of a set of 15X4 and 15X8 (with the 5.5" backspacing) Centerline Telstars.

I'm torn right now between the MT E.T. Street or the radial. I'm swaying towards the radial right now, but have a question:

Which size would be better suited towards the 8.0" rim?? The 235/60-15 or the 275/50-15???

I'm also still torn because of the weight difference between the E.T. Street vs. the radial.

If anyone has any advice I'd appreciate it.

 

A lot of the stock eliminator racers are going to radial slicks. They don't care about the slightly increased weight but do like the consistency of the radial. Tire weight isn't much of an issue until you start hitting 130+ mph in the 1/4 mile.

A slick on a heavy car normally runs 10 - 14 psi air pressure for best traction because of the wrinkle wall construction. The radial sidewall won't roll over the same way so minimum tire pressure is around 18 psi even for the radial slicks.

ET Street/radial. QTP, Nittos's etc are DOT tires. This doesn't mean they're designed to be run on the street. It just means they have enough rain grooves in them to qualify for a DOT rating. They're designed for racing classes that demand a DOT tire.

If you daily drive them on the street, you're probably going to need new tires about every oil change. If it's for strip only, buy another set of rims and buy slicks just for the track.

The 235/60-15 is about 1/4" taller than the 275/50-15. They should both fit on an 8" rim with no problems.

 

The sidewall on th 235 is 9.5" and the tread wideth is 8". which is on the money for an eight inch rim. The 265's have a sidewall of 11.3" and a tread width of 10" which isa too wide for an eight in rim, in my opinion. I have 275's on the back for street tires and on a ten inch rim they work fine. I would not put them on an eight inch rim.

 

The M/T website data shows the 235 measured on an 8" rim, and the 265 on a 10" rim. M/T generally recommends that you keep the wheel width within 1" of the tread width.

 

I had BFG drag radials 275/50-15s on Telstar 15x8 rims. The tires are too wide for an 8" wide rim, no arguement about it. Maybe if you had more sidewall like 275/60-15. Run those tires on a 10" wide rim.

 

I run the 275/50/15 on my 8.5" Convo Pros and they work fine, but yes they would be a little better on a 10" wheel.

 

In hindsight, I think I'm just going to suck it up and go with the E.T. Street considering I've got a 6 speed.

 

I couldn't be happier with my ET Streets. Absolutely amazing tire.