Coupe guys.. Help me get traction

281pony · Dec 24, 2009

i have my 93 notch, i love driving the car. i've decided to keep it and make it my "perfect" car. there is 2 nagging problems. one is driveability (another thread) the other thing is i cannot get this car to grab.

i have full tubular suspension, battery is in trunk, coil overs, 12-way adjustables, ect ect.. 285/40/17 rear tires. what i think is killing me, 4:10 gears. wc t-5 transmission. i cannot grab 1st, 2nd, or 3rd gear with any confidence. it's cool for awhile, but i want to grab without doing burnouts first.

so what do all you high hp coupe guys do for street traction? i'm not trying to launch 1st gear, but from a roll in 2nd i should be able to grab. even 1/4 throttle shifts to third hard will break the tires.

i'm leaning towards gearing up to 3:55's. any other suggestions? i am making (i estimate) low 300's hp at the wheels. trickflow h/c/i, every bolt-on stock bottom end.

7upstang91 · Dec 24, 2009

3.55 gears sound good to me. I have problems in the 230rwhp range. But drag radials are the best thing, sorry to say.

Tanus · Dec 24, 2009

cant have it both ways, if you want your car to handle good its gonna have traction problems, even with drag suspension you still need a sticky tire. I use to drive around with et streets, surprizingly, I got more miles outta them than I did with BFG drag radials, but with a bias ply rear tire and drag suspension the car handled terribly, BUT it hooked so good on the street, way better than at the track. Smoked many, many low 11 sec cars in my low 12 sec car.....hypotheticaly speaking

281pony · Dec 24, 2009

ok, i even added 2 amps and a sub to the trunk for some weight. it's still radical as hell for low 300 rwhp. its crazier to drive then my 500 rwhp cobra was, but its not always cool you know.

i guess ill start pricing 3:55 swap for these 4:10's. suppose i'm looking at like $300+ labor and gears

281pony · Dec 24, 2009

Tanus said:
cant have it both ways, if you want your car to handle good its gonna have traction problems, even with drag suspension you still need a sticky tire. I use to drive around with et streets, surprizingly, I got more miles outta them than I did with BFG drag radials, but with a bias ply rear tire and drag suspension the car handled terribly, BUT it hooked so good on the street, way better than at the track. Smoked many, many low 11 sec cars in my low 12 sec car.....hypotheticaly speaking

well short of a 5k mile tire (et's, bfg dr's, ect), i think i have about the best tire i can get. i've been contemplating getting some welds as well. i could probably get a better setup tire combo with that on 15's.

if i get welds though, and then gears afterwards still.. i'm looking at alot of cash for essentially no gains. so i guess for now, i'll focus on my dyno tune and then swap gears out.

apollo12 · Dec 24, 2009

I'd say run 15" rims with a taller tire, or drag radials

7upstang91 · Dec 24, 2009

Well my Et's hook in the 388rwhp car on the street.

tannerc91gt · Dec 24, 2009

apollo12 said:
I'd say run 15" rims with a taller tire, or drag radials

+1 this would help balance out some of the gearing

2000xp8 · Dec 25, 2009

Going to 15 inch rims and not drag radials is just plain old stupid.
You can hook with any height tire these days, including 20's.

It's all about the tire. If your tires aren't up to the task, all 15 inch rims will do is make your car look worse. People have run in the 9's on 17's, so i'd say 300rwhp doesn't need 15's.

I see you say you have the best tire available, but don't see you mention a brand, treadwear, or type.

Also, i'm no geographical guru, but isn't it cold in WA in the winter? Winter traction and summer tracion are 2 completely different animals.

For a good all around tire, nitto drag radials are good for handling, better tire wear and not the worst in bad weather.
BFG drag radials on a tall rim also handle well, but tread life is noticeably less and they are worse in weather.
MT Dr's hook like race car, wear cray quick and will get you killed in bad weather.

I found that nitto drag radials lasted longer than normal tires. I know, sounds odd, but when the car hooks, you don't spin the tires so much, so you burn less rubber off.
I also found that i treated the tires better, i was much less likely to try and get sideways, A. Because it wasn't so easy, B. Because i had more respect for the shorter life rubber.

I use BFG's now, because i have other vehicles for not so perfect weather. If not, i would still use the nitto's.

7upstang91 · Dec 25, 2009

2000xp8 said:
For a good all around tire, nitto drag radials are good for handling, better tire wear and not the worst in bad weather.
BFG drag radials on a tall rim also handle well, but tread life is noticeably less and they are worse in weather.
MT Dr's hook like race car, wear cray quick and will get you killed in bad weather.

Complete opposite for me. MT Et street are the best for weather and hooking but not life.
The Nitto 555r is the best for spinning, okay in weather and have a longer life.
The BFG is well, so so. Better hooking than the 555r, horrible tread life, tried to kill me multiple times in bad weather, and I know bad weather.

But different people are going to have different experiances.

281pony · Dec 26, 2009

i currently have yokahoma 285/40/17 tires. i have a pair of SIPED bfg kdw 285/40/17.

i picked them up for 80 with low miles. they were siped, and have some chunks missing on the drive tire. so i don't expect much from them.

i guess ill just try some 555r's. i know cold weather traction sucks, but i had a 331 stroker in my 89 GT. it hooked in first better then this car does in third.

Shaolin Crane · Dec 26, 2009

281pony said:
i currently have yokahoma 285/40/17 tires. i have a pair of SIPED bfg kdw 285/40/17.

i picked them up for 80 with low miles. they were siped, and have some chunks missing on the drive tire. so i don't expect much from them.

i guess ill just try some 555r's. i know cold weather traction sucks, but i had a 331 stroker in my 89 GT. it hooked in first better then this car does in third.

NT05's, Advan AOA8's, Hoosier R6's, Azenis, R888 are all great tires that have great traction when hot, do pretty well in adverse weather (minus the R6's) and will hook quite well after driving on them for a few minutes or after spinning them and getting them warm

281pony · Dec 26, 2009

Shaolin Crane said:
NT05's, Advan AOA8's, Hoosier R6's, Azenis, R888 are all great tires that have great traction when hot, do pretty well in adverse weather (minus the R6's) and will hook quite well after driving on them for a few minutes or after spinning them and getting them warm

you seem to know your tires well. compared to the yokahoma ones, those are a big improvement?

NT05's, is that a 555r tire? are you listing series numbers?

Shaolin Crane · Dec 26, 2009

281pony said:
you seem to know your tires well. compared to the yokahoma ones, those are a big improvement?

NT05's, is that a 555r tire? are you listing series numbers?

NT05 are nittos new all weather tire, my buddies camaro had them (full bolt on car) and i drove it with both the michelin pilot sports and nt05's and the nt05's were a HUGE improvement over the pilot sports, and i drove the car many many times so it wasnt just some fluke feeling, ive ran on my car, R6's (currently running those) Azenis, and R888's as far as a dual purpose tire the R888's were the best of both worlds except for price, azenis were slightly less grippy than the R888's but were alot cheaper, but now i dont even drive my car in adverse weather and avoid ALL water on the street in the R6's, they are a little stiff when cold but once hot they GRIP hard, even on launches granted im a 3 link setup but i can do a 3500 clutch dump and the car hooks with the R6's (when hot)

281pony · Dec 26, 2009

i want the best of all worlds.. haha.

i drive the car in all weather conditions except ice/snow obviously. i'd just like to get something that grips better on dry pavement. i spin 1-3rd to the limiter, it's rediculous if i'm ever trying to accelerate hard.

they do grab, but i need to heat them first. which is unpractical. any improvement is what i'm looking for. maybe i will just try out the bfg's when these yokahomo's are shot.

7upstang91 · Dec 26, 2009

I now remember reading that Nitto has a new Drag Radial based off the NT05's. I have no clue how good it is, but from what I've read about the NT05 in magazines its a really good tire. But then again I've seen a 500rwph ZO6 spin the crap out them, more than the stock tire and the owner hated them. But thats when they first came out. Sounds like Shaolin would be able to direct you, since they are mostly a handling tire. But if I were you, even though I'm not a huge Nitto R fan. They have a 555RII tire, made for the straight line and can take corners.

2000xp8 · Dec 26, 2009

Any tire in the winter is going to need some heat for traction.
I used to see a major difference in traction when getting off the highway as opposed to tooling around town.
Winter equals more power less traction.

The one thing i liked about the BFG's were that they were reasonably priced.
The nitto's in my size literally at the time costed twice as much. Like $150 a tire as opposed to $298.

Shaolin Crane · Dec 26, 2009

2000xp8 said:
Any tire in the winter is going to need some heat for traction.
I used to see a major difference in traction when getting off the highway as opposed to tooling around town.
Winter equals more power less traction.

The one thing i liked about the BFG's were that they were reasonably priced.
The nitto's in my size literally at the time costed twice as much. Like $150 a tire as opposed to $298.

Thats another downside to all the tires i listed, they are all quite expensive

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