How much time do skinnies typically take off your 1/4 mile ET? I have 17x9.5 inch rims all around. What gains at the track could I expect switching from the big rims to the skinnies?

 

I would also like to know an answer to this. i have 17x9.5 TTII's and they are heavy. What kind of gains? Someone on here should know.

 

Depends on the tire and rim. The biggest advantage is the reduction of weight off the front of the car. Drag cars don't need a wide tire on the front. They don't do high speed cornering where a wide tire helps keep the front end from pushing around a corner.

Narrow tires also have less rolling resistance since there's less rubber on the ground. Pumping up front tire pressure to 45 PSI reduces rolling resistance even more.

The height of the tire will affect reaction time. A very short 165R15 VW or P165/80R15 tire is in the 25-26" range. Many of the front runner drag tires are 28" tall. The taller tire can get a better reaction time with less chance of red lighting because of the rollout.

 

I took of my stock 245-16s and put on 3.5" Bogarts with 165R-15s and cut .1 sec and added 1 mph on all of my runs since.

 

Hmmm. that's not too bad, I have 275 40s, zr 17s, 17x9.5 inch rims....so I might see that similar gain, maybe a tad more. Might be a track mod I do eventually.

 

Buddy of mine dropped .1 in the 60 foot losing his 17x9 American Racing Le Mans wheels for some Weld Drag Lites.

 

Some of the performance gains may be simply because of the increased rollout from a taller tire and a good shallow stage and unrelated to the minimal loss of weight and decreased rolling resistance.

 

From a weight savings point of view, you are looking at nearly 50# savings. The typical 17x9.5 w/ 275 tire is going to be close to 50# each. My 15x3.5 Pro-Stars w/ 26" Moroso DS-2's are closer to 20# each. Allow a little extra for the longer studs and heavy lugs required with the Welds.