Fox Can I Run A Dr With My Stock T5?

[revhead347]

I don't like the bias ply tire idea. A 14 second car is going to have all the traction it needs with a drag radial. That and if you are running a bias ply out back with a standard wide radial up front, it can turn into a really hairy ride. I learned that the hard way.

Kurt

 

[FastDriver]

All fair points, Kurt. I think he's going to address them, because it sounds like he's going with an extra set of turbine wheels. He can wear his radials on the street and the bias plies at the track. Also, I think the point their addressing is that the DRs hit harder than a bias ply.

 

[deathb4dismount]

You may want to consider investing in better control arms. If you are set on running them, make sure you run rubber bushing on the axle side of the uppers. Also sub frames will help a lot.

 

[revhead347]

All fair points, Kurt. I think he's going to address them, because it sounds like he's going with an extra set of turbine wheels. He can wear his radials on the street and the bias plies at the track. Also, I think the point their addressing is that the DRs hit harder than a bias ply.

Yeah, they hit harder and they break harder too. If the original question was can a T5 handle drag radials, I don't think the answer should have been "Try slicks!"

Match your tire with your rim as well. Don't be an idiot like me and put a 10" tire on a 7.5" Jeep Wrangler wheel.

Kurt

 

[FastDriver]

Haha! Had a good chuckle at that post.

 

[revhead347]

I'm just going to come out and say it. When I was putting down those 11.5 passes with 10" slicks on those damn Jeep Wrangler wheels with 275 tires up front, my master eminent colon discharge light was very bright when I was nearing the end of the track.

Kurt

 

[PakstinN]

lol you guys kill me. so the odds aren't good that the t5 will handle drag radials but a less aggressive bias ply slick is much more likely to let me go home under my own power?

 

[revhead347]

The bias plys are more agressive, and far more likely to break the transmission. Go with the DRs. If you have a belted radial in the front, then you need a belted radial in the back. It's kind of like a marriage; radials and bias plys don't have the same sense of humor.

Kurt

 

[Dan02gt]

A friend of mine made probably a 100 mid to low 13 second passes on 245 Nitto drag radials with similar mods to what you have. He would launch the car at between 2500-3000 RPMs and his stock T5 handled it just fine. A hard slam into 3rd racing a M3 did kill it though.

 

[PakstinN]

nitto makes one of the least aggressive radials correct? or am I mistaken?

 

[TOOLOW91]

nitto makes one of the least aggressive radials correct? or am I mistaken?

Yes but they last the longest vs the mickeys. I had 3 seasons and what would've been 4 on my nittos vs just this one ill get out of my mickeys

 

[PakstinN]

Yes but they last the longest vs the mickeys. I had 3 seasons and what would've been 4 on my nittos vs just this one ill get out of my mickeys

Thanks for the lead on tire selection man I'll definitely check them out. I'm not trying to pull wheelies or get a 1.3 second short time or anything crazy. Just want to speed my car up off the line and for the love of god finally get into the 13s. I did however smoke a ws6 transam my last trip to the track. Purely driver skill won that race. I was a better driver and I backed that up run after run. Kid didn't know how to shift at all

 

[FastDriver]

A friend of mine made probably a 100 mid to low 13 second passes on 245 Nitto drag radials with similar mods to what you have. He would launch the car at between 2500-3000 RPMs and his stock T5 handled it just fine. A hard slam into 3rd racing a M3 did kill it though.

That's exactly how I blew out my T5 on 245 Nittos. It was a hard slam into 3rd, minus the M3.

 

[PakstinN]

That's exactly how I blew out my T5 on 245 Nittos. It was a hard slam into 3rd, minus the M3.

interesting. guess ill probably pull the trigger on those nitto DR's and not slam third too hard. I am normally pretty careful about hitting third as it is so maybe it'll survive? I've probably only missed third 3 or 4 times in the year I've had the car with a t5 in it (started as an auto)

 

[RangerJoe]

The bias plys are more agressive, and far more likely to break the transmission. Go with the DRs. If you have a belted radial in the front, then you need a belted radial in the back. It's kind of like a marriage; radials and bias plys don't have the same sense of humor.

Kurt

Not arguing the part about mixing tire types, but the general consensus is that a bias ply with softer side walls will absorb more of the hit. This is when comparing a bias ply that dead hooks to a radial that dead hooks.

I have ran both and I defiantly saw more wrinkling out of the bias ply. Cross my fingers, but I haven't broken anything on either.....yet.

Joe

 

[cleanLX]

^^verbatim.

 

[PakstinN]

how much worse does everyone think it would be to run a bias ply slick? would a bias ply slick be all that much worse than a regular drag radial?

 

[FastDriver]

It's debatable.

There's a trade off between getting traction and the stiffness in the side wall. The bias ply tire has a softer sidewall but more traction. The Drag Radial has a very stiff sidewall but less traction. On an equal launch when both would hook, such as on a sticky track, there will unquestionably be more shock through the drag radial. When shifting hard, there will be more shock through the drag radial. I believe that in your case the drag radial will be harder on the transmission.

However, the bias play will allow you to launch harder. So, for example, running a 1.20 60' through a bias ply (which you don't have near enough power to do) would be harder than running a 1.90 60' through a Drag Radial. I don't know where the break even point is, but I don't think you'll get there with your set up.

I know there's conflicting info in here. So, you'll just have to sort through it and make up your own mind.

 

[PakstinN]

It's debatable.

There's a trade off between getting traction and the stiffness in the side wall. The bias ply tire has a softer sidewall but more traction. The Drag Radial has a very stiff sidewall but less traction. On an equal launch when both would hook, such as on a sticky track, there will unquestionably be more shock through the drag radial. When shifting hard, there will be more shock through the drag radial. I believe that in your case the drag radial will be harder on the transmission.

However, the bias play will allow you to launch harder. So, for example, running a 1.20 60' through a bias ply (which you don't have near enough power to do) would be harder than running a 1.90 60' through a Drag Radial. I don't know where the break even point is, but I don't think you'll get there with your set up.

I know there's conflicting info in here. So, you'll just have to sort through it and make up your own mind.

What's the real killer? Hard launches or third gear shifting. If my tranny will survive a hard launch better than a hard third gear shift then I think slicks are a better option. If the launch is more of a killer than third gear then maybe radials is the better option. Mostly I just want my transmission/rear end to survive 2-3 trips to the track per year. This isn't an every weekend track car so if I can make it through up to say 5 times a year at roughly 6 passes per night that's all I'm after

 

[PakstinN]

I say up to 5 cause I think my local track only does a handful of test and tune nights per year