in confused between the following...


regular street, sport tires
ET streets
drag radials
slicks


what EXACTLY is the difference between each individual ones?

 

An ET Street is a drag slick with some thin grooves cut in it so that it is technically a "DOT" legal tire. IOW, it meets the formal definition of a treaded tire and thus can "legally" be used on the street. It is no more (or less) suited in actuality for street use than a true slick. The name "ET Street" is the brand of DOT tire produced by Mickey Thompson. Another popular equivalent is made by Hoosier and called the "Quick Time Pro" (QTP). That's the tire that I use. These are bias-ply tires.

I will leave an explantion of drag radials to someone else. Street and "sport" tires are pretty self explanatory. But "sport" street tires tend to be optimized for overall performance, especially handling, and not just straight line acceleration.

In order of utility for drag racing, in the same size and compound, the DOT and full slick are basically the same. Both have a lot more grip than a drag radial, which in turn are much better than a street tire. To give you an idea of the differences, typical 60' times for each with a stock suspension are as follows. These times refer to a 4th gen in the sizes typically used.

race tire (slick or DOT) ~1.6 sec or faster depending on hp
drag radial ~1.8 sec
"sport" street tire >2.0 sec

Rich Krause