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General Car Related Discussion.To discuss anything that is related to cars and automotive technology that doesnt naturally fit into another forum catagory.
I wanna try some drag slicks soon on my sapphire and was thinking about using the standard 15 inch lattice alloys (two for the back as its rwd).
Wondered if anyone has done this and what slicks did you use and with what results?
Were the lattice rims wide enough?
Any info appreciated
Cheer Paul
Are you talking about using drag slicks purely for strip action? As you must be aware they are not usually allowed on RWYB or track days.If you are going to use them on the strip to get more traction off the line then wider and bigger will be what you need.
The difference between proper tyres for the strip and other more ordinary road tyres is huge.
And you can use any tyres you want for RYWB.
As for size...a lot will depend how much room you have, and as for actual tyre type...will depend whether it's drag strip, airfield, or just how far you want to push.
Bias ply slicks can be quite wobbly, and dont forget the more grip you have, the more chance of breaking something.
The various drag radials are about as good an all rounder as you'll find though.
In order of grippiest I've used..
Hoosier.
MT
Nitto
BFG
I havent tried M&H, although they come in some weird sizes anyway.
Hoosier DR would never pass as road legal here, some MT DR's might scrape by, Nitto 555R and BFG DR you could easily use on the road as they still have good tread patterns etc if you wanted to drive to/from racing.
Are you talking about using drag slicks purely for strip action? As you must be aware they are not usually allowed on RWYB or track days.If you are going to use them on the strip to get more traction off the line then wider and bigger will be what you need.
Yes purely for the drag strip.
I thought any tyres can be used on rwyb days??
Never heard any different.....
I wanted to try and use the lattice wheels as I already have two and obviously drag tyres will have a huge sidewall so can't really go much bigger with the wheel size....
The difference between proper tyres for the strip and other more ordinary road tyres is huge.
And you can use any tyres you want for RYWB.
As for size...a lot will depend how much room you have, and as for actual tyre type...will depend whether it's drag strip, airfield, or just how far you want to push.
Bias ply slicks can be quite wobbly, and dont forget the more grip you have, the more chance of breaking something.
The various drag radials are about as good an all rounder as you'll find though.
In order of grippiest I've used..
Hoosier.
MT
Nitto
BFG
I havent tried M&H, although they come in some weird sizes anyway.
Hoosier DR would never pass as road legal here, some MT DR's might scrape by, Nitto 555R and BFG DR you could easily use on the road as they still have good tread patterns etc if you wanted to drive to/from racing.
As just mentioned yeah I wanna try full on drag slicks for santapod & Shakespeare.
Not worried about using them on the road, I'll either change the wheels when I get there or trailer the car.
Want ultimate grip so wanna go full slick.
I hear good things about the MT's.
I don't understand their sizing a though either....
Slicks and bias ply tyres are all odd sizes and numbers..
Drag radials are all typical tyre size numbers. Really..dont overlook the radials, they can work very very well AND they will be much more stable at speed. I've bad better luck with the Hoosier DR than the MT, although the MT's have a much stiffer sidewall so do feel better at very high speeds ( far above normal 1/4 distance though )
The new Hoosier DR2 is supposed to grip even better and I'll be getting a pair myself for next year.
Bias ply tyres can wobble a lot and definitely feel strange going up the track. Some full slicks will also say they need to run inner tubes too...not sure how essential that is though.
I did use some bias play ET Streets a few times and never had tubes in them. Although if you do fit tubes, the tyres must be screwed to the rim.
Given the low pressures you can run drag type tyres at, the tyre can and will rotate on the rim hence if there is an inner tube the tyre must be screwed so it cannot rotate.
In 15", the world is your oyster as far as sizes go, as they make more for 15's than any other. I doubt you'd be disappointed with either Hoosier or MT though. Really...find whoever makes a tyre in a size that suits you, and go for it.
I was just gonna stick with the lattice wheels as like I said I have a pair already, I can have a reasonably tall sidewall and it the right size tyre should fill the arch nicely without any grief, esp when squatting a bit etc.
Like you said I'll check out the MT and Hoosier sizes and pick a set and try em
Bare in mind too.....you're talking the guts of Ł500 a pair for new tyres.
They aint cheap ! When I as buying it seems like there is a lot of price fixing. Hoosier UK were cheapest for me, simply because they had the cheapest postage. But actual sale price of tyre seemed to be same from the places I queried.
And again because of postage...importing from the US sucks. Although to mainland UK Summit etc seem to offer iparcel ( whatever that is ) which is a lot cheaper than other options. Although they dont offer it to Northern Ireland.
I did my best 60fts years ago on MT ET streets ( wrinkle wall, not the drag radial )...although not sure they even list them anymore. I do think I could run the same on the Hoosier DR's though.
A friend has had good success with Hoosier QTP's on his Subaru. 10 year old tyres still grip superbly...and they never seem to wear lol.
Oh yeah I've heard about people running with tubes before as well, ideally I just wanna fit the tyres to the rims and that's it
Cheers Paul
For a normal car with normal wheels...I wouldnt see any issue running the slicks without tubes. The tyre may turn a little on the rim, but it's no problem.
But the tyre suppliers will recommend it, they're just covering themselves for the real fast stuff.
Trackstuff lists some prices....although excluding VAT for some reason.
Lee at LARacing parts is another who can supply all brands. Or Hauser, Webster etc
But as said, last Hoosiers I got was from Hoosier UK direct. Although it seems nobody keeps stock of anything, but can usually get tyres in a week or two.
I have just fitted slicks to my cortina i went for M&H drag slick as they did the best sizes to suit my car, i went with a 8.5/23 15 on a 8" rim they also do a 8.5/24.5 15 but these where a little to tall for me.
Going to slicks i knocked off .6 of my 60ft and got my et from 12.6 to a 12 with out trying, it was my first time on drag slicks and as Stevie says there not very stable at the top end basically my arse fell out and i backed off, after talking to a few lads who run on them all the time they said grow some balls and keep ya foot in it, this was at ford fest and it was so busy i only got two runs in so no time to make a full run all the way, i think with a full power launch and keeping in it i will be well in to the 11's.
Normally if you knock 0.1s off your 60ft, it should translate to 0.2s off your ET.
So 0.6s you'd expect the ET to fall by around 1.2s
Yep my arse fell out at the top end and I lifted well before the line, it was only my second run on slicks and I was hoping to build up with a few runs but it was so busy couldn't be bothered to sit in the warm up lane all day, those slicks defenetly take a little getting use to.
Bare in mind too.....you're talking the guts of Ł500 a pair for new tyres.
They aint cheap ! When I as buying it seems like there is a lot of price fixing. Hoosier UK were cheapest for me, simply because they had the cheapest postage. But actual sale price of tyre seemed to be same from the places I queried.
And again because of postage...importing from the US sucks. Although to mainland UK Summit etc seem to offer iparcel ( whatever that is ) which is a lot cheaper than other options. Although they dont offer it to Northern Ireland.
I did my best 60fts years ago on MT ET streets ( wrinkle wall, not the drag radial )...although not sure they even list them anymore. I do think I could run the same on the Hoosier DR's though.
A friend has had good success with Hoosier QTP's on his Subaru. 10 year old tyres still grip superbly...and they never seem to wear lol.
No worries, cheers buddy.
Yeah I see they ballpark around Ł250 a tyre.
out of interest is it a Cosworth you've run em on?
I have just fitted slicks to my cortina i went for M&H drag slick as they did the best sizes to suit my car, i went with a 8.5/23 15 on a 8" rim they also do a 8.5/24.5 15 but these where a little to tall for me.
Going to slicks i knocked off .6 of my 60ft and got my et from 12.6 to a 12 with out trying, it was my first time on drag slicks and as Stevie says there not very stable at the top end basically my arse fell out and i backed off, after talking to a few lads who run on them all the time they said grow some balls and keep ya foot in it, this was at ford fest and it was so busy i only got two runs in so no time to make a full run all the way, i think with a full power launch and keeping in it i will be well in to the 11's.
That looks awesome mate,
Fair play for doing it. The people telling u to grow a pair need to realise you've gotta get used to something before u go balls out. Their not the ones who will fund and do all the labour on your car should the worst happen!
out of interest is it a Cosworth you've run em on?
Cheers Paul
No, just an old granada.
And as Cossie rims normally took a 205, I wouldnt see any real issue running the 225 on them, again noting wheel arch clearance etc. The 225/50 will be a fair bit taller as well as wider than the 205/50 road tyre.
I'm running a 23/8.5 15 on mine slightly shorter than a 225 50 15 or they do a 24.5/8.5 15 which is a little taller, unless your running big power I wouldn't gear it up with a taller tyre. If you could pull it that tyre should take you through around 130 mph.
I have just fitted slicks to my cortina i went for M&H drag slick as they did the best sizes to suit my car, i went with a 8.5/23 15 on a 8" rim they also do a 8.5/24.5 15 but these where a little to tall for me.
Going to slicks i knocked off .6 of my 60ft and got my et from 12.6 to a 12 with out trying, it was my first time on drag slicks and as Stevie says there not very stable at the top end basically my arse fell out and i backed off, after talking to a few lads who run on them all the time they said grow some balls and keep ya foot in it, this was at ford fest and it was so busy i only got two runs in so no time to make a full run all the way, i think with a full power launch and keeping in it i will be well in to the 11's.
That's awesome stuff mate!
.6 of a sec off without trying to hard is good going!
Do you think them 8.5' would go on a 7.5J rim?
And the 23/24.5 is the overall diameter I'm guessing?
That's awesome stuff mate!
.6 of a sec off without trying to hard is good going!
Do you think them 8.5' would go on a 7.5J rim?
And the 23/24.5 is the overall diameter I'm guessing?
What power you running Jamie?
Mine are on a set of 8's I would think 7.5's would be ok, why you want to put them on cossy wheels I just brought a set of wheels to put the slicks on.
Mines running a t34. 48 at around 390hp going back to pod in a few weeks I'm determined to get in to the 11's before the end of the year.
Mine are on a set of 8's I would think 7.5's would be ok, why you want to put them on cossy wheels I just brought a set of wheels to put the slicks on.
Mines running a t34. 48 at around 390hp going back to pod in a few weeks I'm determined to get in to the 11's before the end of the year.
I was thinking about that, it's just I already have the lattice wheels.
If not then maybe get some custom made steels, 15" by 8/8,5 wide.
For your spec that's even more impressive!!!
I know it's a cortina and not a Sierra.
What do you think your car weighs?
You'll have to let us know how you get on
And would agree, even those Nitto drag radials are like night and day vs an 888 etc. And if need be the Nitto's could be driven on the road, as they have a relatively normal tread pattern
Yeah still have he Cortina , also got a mk1 4dr tina which is very old skool , x flow , lsd ,still on steering box so
mainly get my kicks out of that at the mo .
Sounds like the op's transmission is fairly bomb proof , a decent set of nitto 888's would work well imho .
Good luck , puddy
I've tried to make the engine and transmission as bomb proof as possible tbh as a new this day would come, ha ha, I'd rather try getting it right from the start than keep having to replace gearboxes and diffs every few hundred miles.
For the road I have Nankang AR1's on the rear and they seem pretty good so far
Me and my eldest son were at Ford Fest with my sr20det Anglia ran 12.7 @111 with a 1.2 60ft on 225x50x14 toyo 888 . I was speaking to Dave Colledge of Retro Ford ltd with the st170 mk1 Cortina he said his car spun the wheels into 3rd I was wasting my time with 888 and to pick a drag slick
I used to run Avon slicks on my escort ,tried mickey Ts but the size I had effected the gearing too much but they had a lot more grip than the avons as these are used for hillclimb and formula 3000 etc but still available in a lot of sizes and plenty for sale used at reasonable prices
I run toyo 888's on the rear of my 3 door standard 15 inch rims, they are 215/50/15 and are 228mm wide and 594 tall. On the front I run Toyo R1R 205/50/15 which are 215mm wide and 284mm tall. I have found this setup to work well.
25-09-2016, 11:33 PM
Drag slicks on standard Cossie lattice wheels
