Looking for feedback from those who are running drag radials on the street

FURYGT

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The "Flyin' Whale" '66 Chrysler 300 needs new sneakers as the tires on her date back to 2005 and the car has been sitting most of the time for the past 10+ years.

For Sale - Found an auction listing the "Flying Whale" '66 300 For Sale

The car currently has 295/50R16's on the rear & 255/50R16's on the front and I really like the stance of the car and at least for now, I would like to keep the wheels that Henry, who built the car, had made for it. The problem is that no one, except an Asian tire company, Maxxis, makes them in the 295/50R16 size and those tires appear to be more truck orientated. The only tires I can find in this size or a size that is close are drag radials. Henry ran a 12.11 1/4 mile in the car with serious traction problems on BFG T/A radials (499 HP @ the rear wheels) and I may take her down the track a few times a year but she will be mostly a street car. My concern is that I have heard that drag radials ride like crap, handle like crap and are not good in the rain. This car was built not only to go fast in a straight line but to also handle like a modern muscle car so I don't want to put drag radials on if they don't handle, ride lousy and suck in the rain. Let's face it, if I bring the car to Carlisle some year, it's a given that I will have to drive her in the rain at some point in time so any feedback would be appreciated.

Finding front tires is not a problem and the car looks so bad a$$ with the 295 steamrollers in the rear and I would rather not go smaller. My only other option is to go up to an 18" rim size as the larger 16" & 17" tire sizes are going the way the of the 14" tires (discontinued) and moving down to 15" may cause some interference with the rear disc brakes and suspensions modifications. Your feedback is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Bill
 
What you heard about drag radials is all true. They are designed to provide maximum traction on a dry strip in a straight line. My suggestion would be to find a second set of wheels for street use and keep the track tires for the strip. The other issue with the drag radials is that they have a relatively soft rubber compound on the tread face that has good traction for strip use but won't wear worth a **** for street use. You would need to check the regulations in your jurisdiction, but most places require a minimum tread depth to be legal for street use, most true slicks have no tread, just a pocket in the face to measure wear.

Dave
 
Thanks Dave. As always, you have great input. Looks like I may be stuck with either going to a more narrow tire or spending big $'s on new wheels + tires. :mad:
 
I have had Nitto 555s on quite a few of my cars.
As mentioned, the compound is softer, so they do wear quicker.
The 2 cars that did any cornering, were a 99 and a 2001 Camaro SS.
The stock tire size for those cars were 275/40R17s, I went up in size to 315/35s.
Maybe the extra width made up for less grip, but they held corners really well.

Those cars were light and have a really wide footprint, so they weren't good in the rain, either the DRs or the factory supplied BFGs in front.

Not sure what "The Whale" has for a suspension, it would be hard to think you would need any tire with more grip.

I have had more old iron with those tires, my 65 currently has a set for street driving, they suck at the drag strip (irony). I never want to drive in the rain, but they weren't anywhere close to being dangerous when I did get caught in a squall.
 
PS I ran those Camaros as semi dailys and put thousands of rain miles on. Even a snow fall occasionally.
 
Back when some of our Mopar club guys were running the national Muscle Car Challenge series, locally, one got the BFG street radials and didn't tell one of our other guys. He already had Radial TAs on the front, so he got some white latex house paint and did the letters on the blackwall drag radials (got minorly out of the lines in a few places, but it was good enough to fool many others). The other giveaway was that when he got back from a run, then drove through the pits, the tires collected gravel and the Radial TAs didn't.

There was a durometer (rubber hardness) spec for that race series. It was "50", which the Mickey Thompson street/strip tires met.

What he ended up with on his '70 Dart Swinger 340 was an autocross tire, which happened to match the orig D70-14 diameter and width perfectly. Being a Z-rated tire, it had a more expensive rubber compound in it. When he left the line, the tire spin sounded more like slicks than treaded tires. A minimum of warming at the starting line was all that was needed. He didn't have nearly the power, but the tires hooked quick and hard.

An autocross tire has to "work" immediately from the starting line with a minimum of heat in the tire. Unlike some normal drag tires that need a good burnout to get to temp for best traction.

After that first foray in incognito BFG Drag Radials, the other guy in the club ordered several sets for his 440 6-pak cars (stock-spec, well-finessed cars). "The secret" was out. But the autocross tires just looked like normal tires, other than the names on the sidewalls. Driving them at highway speeds didn't seem to bother them, tread-wear-wise (it was an hour's drive to and from the track) with a tread wear rating of "50". No real mention of a harder ride and they weren't driven in the rain.

The issue with "rain" can be their generally thin tread depth, which is still legal, but with the wider tread sections, more prone to hydroplaning, I suspect. The original "street legal" slicks had one circumferential groove on each side, but with no other "tread" on the traction surface. Plus the normal "slick" square corners at the tread's edge.

Sometimes, wider isn't always better as the tread contact patch gets wider AND thinner, rather than comparatively narrower and longer, front to back. For a really wide tire to work in cornering, the tire must remain perpendicular or with a slight negative camber when the outside wheel is in a turn. Otherwise, only the outside edge of the tread is working (and wearing). And, of course, the rubber compound is a major player in the mix, too.

To me, the thing about the sizes you're using, they're not going to be "general use" tires, so that affects their basic construction and tread rubber compound anyway. If they can be Z-speed rated, then you've probably gotten pretty much the best tires in that size for the particular brand of tires. Using the treadwear ratings to gauge "softness" would not always work as when the tire "works", the rubber compound's grip can change for the better from a higher treadwear rating.

Just some thoughts,
CBODY67
 
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