A while back I was looking for some drag radials to put on my 16's. I got as far as Nitto 555-R's I think they were. I found a tire size that would work, but it wouldnt look to good for daily driving. If i can swing some cheap tires and rims, that will open up the opportunity to just use my 16's to roll down to the track on and race with some good drag radials.

When I talked with the guy, he told me the nittos in the size I asked about were 24 pounds a tire I think it was. My tires im using now at the track are 20 pounds each.

I got kind of spooked of the idea of adding 4 pounds a tire (16 lbs. a set) When doing the unsprung weight calculations thing that would be like adding 128 pounds back to the chasis.

QUESTIONS

1. Are the drag radials so sticky/great traction that they more than make up this increase in weight ? Thus reducing 1/4 mile times.

2. Is weight still important when selecting a drag radial ? Are we supposed to be concerned with what they weigh ?

Would appreciate some thoughs, thanks !

 

Wouldn't you only need drag radials on the front 2 wheels?

I think for the 1st answer though is that drag radials definitely do show an improvement...regardless of weight.


(why not just buy 2 new 15-16" rims to put 2 drag radials on...just seems cheaper to me in the long run and you keep the general quality from 4 regular tires the rest of the time)

 

Go buy two used and beat up 11lb Mazda Millenia 15" wheels (~$40 each) and a set of 225/50R15 BFG drag radials ($220 set) and call it a day. The tire/wheel combo weighs around 32lb and is about 1" shorter than stock which means you'll increase your torque multiplication by about 10% for an even stronger launch.

The BFGS are a good bit better on the track than the Nittos, but the Nittos are better on the street. I wouldn't even consider running drag radials full time on a FWD car. If I had an F-Body or Stang then yes, I'd run Nittos (~10K miles a set), but for a FWD car the BFG drag radials will only be for the track and will last a LONG time.

Something to know about BFG drag radials is that they need a decent burnout and ~15psi to perform.

I plan on running this combo next season. BSwithTF runs this setup on his GXE auto and pulls mid 2.2s in the heat, hardly any burnout, and a stock stall torque converter. I think my 5 speed could get at least a low low 2.1 or even a higher 2.0 which means about a .25+ reduction in ET. Hopefully the extra torque multiplication and 10lbs less in unsprung weight could shed another .1.


Dave

 

Are these the wheels you are talking about Dave?

ebay link

 

Those are the ones. There's 9-spoke ones and I believe the other ones you can get are 12-spoke. The 9's are about a half pound lighter per wheel.

 

Ceasar, unless you have plans on driving to the track with your DRs on would you PLEASE forget the idea of DRs. You are going to spend all this money to run .1 or .2 seconds faster on DRs when you could run .4 seconds faster on slicks. Unless you want to drive to the track with them on, don't waste your time.

Maybe this will help you make a decision, my slicks weigh 13lbs. My slick/wheel combo is 25lbs. That's as light as the DR alone. Oh yeah I bet my slicks last longer, and I know for a fact they make my car faster than DRs would.

 

Ya just pick up a set of light wheels (only 2) and put regular slicks on them. That'll make more of a difference than street slicks. Amazing traction with real slicks, it'l be worth it if you're gonna make the investment

 

The reason I picked up D/R instead of slicks is because in the class I was running in (Street 6 All-Motor) you could only run D/R. If you ran slicks it put you into the Comp All-Motor Class. Then, the next year, they changed the rules so all classes could run slicks.

 

Has anyone put a set of 15s on a 02 I have a set of 95 gle wheels and thay won't fit thay hit the brake rotors if you have what were they from?

 

Same reason I'm going for drag radials too. I want to make some money racing and if I were to run slicks I'm in a whole different kind of class. Slicks also worry me a bit because of their extreme grip.


Dave

 

Are there any slicks taht fit over 16" wheels? The reason I ask is because I'm running Z calipers/rotors, are there any 15" wheels that fit over them?

 

I have....tsw revo 15x7 but Im not sure the offset