Took my car to Richmond dragway last night for the first time. First run was a 12.59 at 110 mph with a 1.84 reaction time. Not bad for my first time down the track. It was about 90 degrees on that first run. My buddies are telling me its got a lot more in it still. I ran 3 more times and this is what I got... 13.2 at 109 mph with like a 2.14 60 ft... 13.16 at 107 mph with like a 2.20 60 ft and 13.2 at 107 mph again with a 2.14 60 ft. I ran a brand new set of Nitto 555r's and I spun pretty bad on the last 3 runs. I was hoping to dip down to around 12.2 but I kept spinning. I was launching around 1500 rpm's. Any advice from the experienced dragracers on here??? I am just getting my feet wet so looking for all the advice I can get...

 

heat your tires up a little more, maybe drop some pressure in them, and launch a little higher. you'll 60' should improve, therefore improving your et. also a little work on the reaction time wouldn't hurt.

 

Well it was street night and from what I understand there is NO track prep on street night but I've already been told that I should sell my Nittos and get some et streets. I tried to heat the tires by doing the longest burnout possible but it didn't seem to help any. Anybody have good luck with Nittos??? Most of the threads I'm reading are saying the nittos aren't as good as other drag radials.

 

I got same/better 60's on a stock stall with nitto 555r two days ago. Granted, I may be comparing apples to oranges seeing we have "different" engines. Yours has ported heads though.

 

So how much pressure do you guys run in your drag radials? I was at 22 for the first three runs and on the last run I dropped down to 20. Not a big difference I know. My buddy told me to drop it to around 18 but I didn't get a chance had to leave to go to work.

 

Nitto's are the poorest choice if looking for the best 60ft. times. Don't get me wrong, I still have a set mounted on salad shooters sitting in the garage.
I had to drop them down to 15lbs. cold (about 17lbs. hot) and do a long burnout for them to work half way decent.
Another thing is, they need a few runs before they start to work as compared to when there brand new.
Pull your front sway bar off for the track if you need a little extra weight transfer. If you can hook you'll knock at least a 1/2 second off your times.

 

I highlighted your problem....I tried everything possable to get my nittos to hook, I even gave them a bath in VHT. The best 60' I could cut on nittos was a 1.8. Now that I have m/t radials, BAM 1.69 60'. There a decent long lasting tire for the street but they suck at the track.

 

I went a 1.69 60' on 295/40/18 Drag Radials and went 11.1x @ 125.xx on a night there was good track prep. On a night there was none, I was lucky to break into the mid 12s.

You don't always need an unstreetable tire (can't drive them in the rain or on wet streets) like a M/T to be successful. My guess is that the track prep was crap. Unfortunately, if you're making somewhat decent power, there's nothing much you can do about that. 20 psi in 275-305 Drag Radials will hook pretty much anything up shy of 500 horsepower.... even nearly 650 horsepower in my case.

There's plenty of guys running in the 1.6s-1.7s even on Nittos.

Track prep is a must for decent ETs.

 

Well it looks like I have a couple of choices... Either ditch the nittos for some et streets or go back next time and drop some more pressure out of the nittos and take off my front sway bar. My nittos are 245/50/16's. Too small??? Someone above stated 275-305 should hook so maybe mines aren't wide enough??? Thanks for the replies and all of you guys advice.

 

Side wall height is just as important as how wide they are.

 

So what would be a better size to run than the 245/50/16's??? Do I need the widest tire that I can fit on the wheel??? I have some 18x9.5 Z06 wheels in my garage...

 

Yeah, 245s are a little on the small side for that power level. Some 275s at least would help immensely (over an inch wider). If you want to keep those on your car to daily-drive with and be able to drive in the rain with, I'd invest in some Nitto 275s-305s.

If not and you're just putting them on the car for track-duty, I'd get some M/T Drag Radials or something more on a slick-level.

 

I ran a nitto in 245, they ran on the narrow side. My 255 mickeys are 1" wider than the nittos and they hook great on the street even on the bottle.

 

10mm != 1 inch.

Just saying

 

I believe 25.4mm = 1 inch
just saying