Mr6spd

As far as I can tell, nearly all of the drag racing tire manufacturers just don't get it. They all appear to be living in the 70s still. Mickey Thompson is the only company that is even 50% with it. Any performance tire manufacturer, who would pull their head out of the sand, could make some good money. Here are my major points:

1) Nearly all performance cars made in the last 15 years have big disk brakes! 15 inch wheels do not fit over them! And no, I'm not going to grind my calipers.

2) Given # 1, who makes 16 inch front skinnies???? Bias Ply and Radial availability would be nice.

3) Given # 1 Who makes 16 inch drag slicks that fit late model cars (not 30 inch diameter!). Well MT makes ET streets that are 16 inch, which is great, ... but they are all so skinny (their 26X11.5X16 tires have a whopping 9.7 inch tread width). Have you seen these on a C4 or C5 vette? Looks like skinnies on the rear, ridiculous to leave all that wheel well width unfilled when we all know wider is better. Since all the late model domestic performance cars (stangs, vettes, f-bods) can handle a minimum of 315 wide tires at the back. Why not make W-I-D-E 16 inch slicks and ET street equivalents ????????

4) Drag radials: At least Nitto and BFG offer 315/17s. The new MT drag radials look to be the best, but they are only available in 275/17. What is really needed is a tire that is 16 inch diameter (taller sidewall than 17s) and 315 wide.


Am I missing something here?? It sure looks like the tire manufacturers are asleep at the wheel, and missing the whole domestic late model performance market.

:cuss


[Modified by Mr6spd, 3:16 AM 4/12/2004]

ToyC4

lol

:cheers:

Pete K

All good points. The MT ET street may not be wide but it sure does get the job done on alot of high power stuff. :chevy

Mr Mojo

15 x 3.5 will fit the front with 12" rotors, and with 13" you need a spacer.

The rear, yes you have to grind the caliper, but it's no big deal.

As for slicks, if you are getting traction with the narrower tires, a wider tire isn't going to help much.

these guys are rolling on 16's with 11" wide slicks
http://www.thevettedoctors.com/corve...2004-04-03.wmv

Nathan Plemons

Well I've got a set of "narrow" M.T. ET. Streets on 16 inch wheels that do more than a good enough job of holding my car back. If it can bog my car with a 4000 RPM clutch dump, it's sticky enough!

The reason these tires are made for smaller rims is because you need a sidewall. A drag slick is supposed to wrinkle to be effective, you can't wrinkle a 30 series tire. Drag radials are a different story, they are just an extremely soft compound but they are still a radial construction. They aren't designed to wrinkle, and thus you can find them for 17 inch rims.

Most people who run drag radials are running them on the street, thus they still want a street look to them, and don't want to run 16 inch wheels. If they want to run a 16 inch wheel just for a sticky tire, odds are it's gonna be a full out set of slicks.

Mr6spd

Any one running Hoosier Quick Time Pro tires? I see they come in a 28.0x14.50-16 size that has a 12.0 inch tread width.
http://www.hoosiertire.com/Drtire.htm

NitrousSam

On my S-10 I have the Hoosier Quick Time Pros and they are outstanding. They have actually held up really well on the street and have lasted longer than I expected. I have gone 1.28 on them and I have friends who have gone better than that. They are a great tire.

TIMSPEED

Trust me, those 26"x11.5" 16 E/T Streets are MEATY! I ran a set mounted on a set of stock Z51 rims (16x9.5) and they made my vette looked tubbed. If you can't hook it with THAT much tire, then there's something wrong. (Or you have a LOT of torque; and I mean like 1000rwtq)

scorp508

Think about what you are saying. Drag racing tires need a sidewall to compress. Making a 18" Drag Weld & ET Street combo would be rediculous.

mike 1985

For the rears i use the M&H muscle car Dot tire. It's been good for 1.61 60'.

As for the front you need to go to cokertire.com they make skinny 16" front tires , radial and bias ply. I looked into this, i found a weld shop to cut my rims to 4.5" ( $75 ea.)and then buy the front tires ( $90-135 ea. depending on which tire you go with) , anyway the total cost was $350-400.

Arisa

Scorp & Nathan both tagged your answer....SIDEWALL ! Gotta have it.

mackeyred96

Sounds like you have all the answers but don't hold ypur breath waiting for the tires your looking for. Just not enough demand for the tire companies to even bother with it.

Mr6spd

Thanks for all the great tips! Corvettes are such great multipurpose performance cars, that it's only logical to want both big brakes and be able to properly drag race the car also.

pablocruise

Weld makes the XP line of 16" rims. I haven't looked into them, but surely there is a tire for them. 135's maybe?
I use 15" pro stars. Yes I did have to grind the calipers and use spacers and x-tra long studs.
On back I use a Hoosier 27 X 10 X 15. Measuring the width of the contact patch is 10.5". Plus it just barely fits under the fender. These bog the motor down if I don't bring up enough RPM's on the dump.