What street tire has the most traction?

 

they all suck.. Drag Radial is the best compromise if you want a street tire that hooks good at the track..

 

After getting used to the F1 Supercar tires on my Z06 daily driver, I can't find a tire for my C3 that even begins to feel right.

 

BFG Drag T/A radials. I ran 12.70's on them and they are for sale now (4 passes at the strip.) $350 will buy them on a set of 15X8 rally wheels (275/50/15 tire size.) There are other DOT radials but none are street tires, the BFGs are OK for driving on the street.

 

Do the drag radials work well for road racing, or are they only good for the straight line stuff? The F1's are a fabulous tire!!!


Chuck

 

Eric,
How OK are they on the street? How much drivability do you lose on curves vs. a decent conventional radial street tire? I don't want to mislead you here- I'm looking at the new M/T drag radials right now, probably in a different size, but don't want to give up much ground on lateral traction. Thanks.

 

I haven't tried drag radials yet, but since they are DRAG radials there must be some compromise as far as lateral stability/traction is concerned.

 

The F1 tires are great.. but they still don't grip by far as good as Drag Radials... I spent a lot of time at the track.. and Z06's with the F1's geat about 2 second 60' times.. I got 1.591 with Drag Radials...

 

-What size and brand drag radials did you use?
-Was this on your C5?
-How do the drag radials handle on the street?
-Are Drag radials suitable for a daily driver?

thanks,
~Jay

 

This was on my C3.. Never used Drag Radials on my C5...

My Drag Radials were BFG Drag Radials 275/60R15's and they hooked great when warmed up good... A good burnout is needed to make them stick...
I drove them on the street in heavy rain and they performed good.. I didn't try to drive crazy in the rain.. but for normal driving - they were just acting like regular street tires...

I'd use Drag Radials on a daily driver.. but the only problem is that they are not going to last long.... You probably won't even get 10000 street miles out of them on the street...


[Modified by GrandSportC3, 12:02 PM 6/24/2004]

 

Doesn't sound like anyone knows how well drag radials would do on a road coarse compared to something like F1's.


Chuck

 

Drag Radials weren't designed for road courses...

 

I ran 275/60 r15 drag radials on the street for a while. They have extremely soft sidewalls. I could actually feel them flop over. But then they stuck like glue!

 

Chuck - I had the F1's on my car before and now dunlop p8000. Next I'm going to try the Michlen Pilot sports in in either 335 or 345 width unless you have some bad feed back.

I liked the F-1's until they got about a year old and many heat cycles. Then they also turned to grease.

 

The Nitto drag radial would be a better street/strip tire . But beware the Nittos are great in the rain when new , but I would not use a drag radial if you drive in the rain at highway speeds once they are worn they are dangerous.

I run the Nitto drag radial on my Zr1 315/35/17 on the street , but I don,t drive in the rain unless by accident. I drove to Bowling Green on them and did get caught in alot of rain and had no problems less then 3,000 miles on them ......Now another Zr1 with the BFG,s drag radial was going all over the place at the same speeds ....We pulled off because his rear got loose and was too dangerous.....

My 60ft times at the track with the Nittos are 1.9,s @ 20lbs and that is just spinning them to clean em a bit ..No big burnout.

The BFG is a sticker tire for the track ...

Another reason for the Nitto is it is Z speed rated for 150mph ....The BFG is around 112 ? I think

I plan on running drag radials on my 68 once it is put back together...315,s with off set trialing arms ...17inch rims

 

Thank you one and all. It looks like the drag raials win hands down.
Nitto's don't have a 15" wide enough.
Goodrich Drag Radials seem to be the choice.
Has anyone tried the new Mickey Thompson Drag Radials?


[Modified by jpatrick636, 4:42 PM 6/24/2004]

 

I'm looking for the same feedback on the Mickey Thompsons but they're so new I doubt we'll know much for awhile- the way the grooves are cut it looks like they may put a bit more rubber to the road. I was just looking at the Tire Rack & saw that the Goodrich drag radials are now out in a G-Force version w/ different tread design. I also wonder how they compare...

 

M/T DOT radials have not been shipped yet as far as I know. BFG DRag T/A's were tried by one of our local autocrossers in the ultra low profile 17" sizes on his C3 and were BEAT by my LT-1 on Hoosier radials and another C3 on Hoosier biased belt "Autocrosser" tires (the guy is on Kuhmos now.) My Drag T/A's are waiting for a new home for anyone who wants to run 12's consistantly. The tires fit a car with parking brake brakets removed from the trailing arms (you can re-weld the brackets to the top and still have a PB) and no rear sway bar.

 

SOLID LT1, Were those Hoosiers street tires? What size are your Drag TA's?


[Modified by jpatrick636, 5:24 PM 6/24/2004]

 

I'm kinda late getting in here...
You are much braver (and richer) than I, to want to run DOT drag tires full-time.
I'd like to suggest that you take a good look at a set of performance street tires that are real soft, but actually have good all weather performance. I'd suggest buying 2 rims from jegs or summit, and buy a set af slicks, and play with those at the track, instead of burning your grip off tooling around the neighborhood.
If you shop by manufacturer on tirerack.com, and check out the spec's, you will see the UTQG column, which is the hardness rating. Look for a tire with a low UTQG, and it'll surely be real sticky. They explain- a tire grade of 150 wears 1.5 times as long as a tire graded 100.

The tires my parents have on the '94 caprice are rated at 520. BFgoodrich g-Force T/A KDWS (ultra high performance) are rated at 400. Goodyear GT- II's are rated at 420. Goodyear eagle HP Ultra Plus's are rated at 340- but don't come in 15". Goodyear eagle F1's are rated at 300, and also don't come in 15".
The tires I'm currently running are rated at 260, and they're almost completely bald after less than 15k miles. They are a good all season tire, with excellent cornering grip. I remember whipping 90 degree turns at 45mph in an empty parking lot when they were brand new!

If you get some of those drag radials, you might be buying tires every season.
Good luck in your choice.