i need traction!!

[Night Shifter]

so yesterday i found out that with a cammed car having stock LCA's and 8"wide rims SUUUCKS!

so, for the time being i have put myself on a budget to recover from my build. which route should i take right now to get the best traction in the rear

would i benefit more with 10.5" rears with 295's or 315's or would i be able to actually get traction again with the stock rims and LCA's?

eventually i will have both but right now i can only buy one of the 2 options

 

[bhuff30]

Here is my opinion... lower control arms won't help that much unless you have some tires that can actually bite in and put them to use. I also think a set of wide tires won't make much difference. Sure, it makes a little difference, but you are also adding weight and without changing the type of tire, the results will be similar.

Get some tires that can actually bite and you'll be much happier. The nitto can last 10k miles, and there are plenty of other high performance summer tires that will bite much harder that when you have now.

 

[Night Shifter]

cool thanks.. i know i need both for traction but hopefully one of those options will help me out at least a little bit...i need new rims anyway lol

 

[Rickyll7]

Nitto NT555R, NT05R or MT ET Street Radial II. Traction is improved from the 1st to the last I listed, but the softer ones will wear faster.

 

[Night Shifter]

i kind of want to go to a dr because im back to flat straight roads but its already sketchy as hell when it rains and i get stuck in the rain with the 555's

 

[sneaky98gt]

i kind of want to go to a dr because im back to flat straight roads but its already sketchy as hell when it rains and i get stuck in the rain with the 555's

Oh dang. Do you have problems with your NT555s in the rain? I thought mine did really well in the rain.

And yes, the 555Rs hook pretty dang good. I can't say for sure with a 5 speed car, but my car, making almost 340 ft-lbs of torque at 2000 rpm, has very little tire spin. My car actually bogged on a couple of launches last time I went to the track.

 

[Night Shifter]

it might be cause mine are a few years old but yeah, i hydroplane horribly in the rain. and have no traction if i stop at a light then start back...when it rains i have to slow waay down

 

[bhuff30]

Yes, the 555R will hydroplane much easier in the rain, but if the surface doesn't have standing water, they will still have better traction than any all season radial in the wet. I'd look at summer tire options, some of them have softer tread and tread patterns which are more suitable for rain.

Just to show how much difference the tire compound can make... I run a 245-45-17 nitto 555R on my 88. This is the stock tire size for the 94-04 GT, and I'm running an open differential, stock suspension (well, removed sway bar, but stock everything else), and still get 1.7 60' times. You'd think the open differential and narrow tire would hurt, but it just hooks and goes. No tire spin at all. On all season tires on the same car, the best I've ever gotten was 2.00X.

 

[Night Shifter]

hmmm... im running the stock 245 tire size as well...

the road/highway to my work has tons of standing water when it rains...thats why im a little skeptical about getting a DR

 

[Rickyll7]

Sorry, but you can't have your cake and eat it too. Maybe you need a 2nd set of tires...

 

[Night Shifter]

lol i fail at life....

 

[twogts4us]

Brian's post was spot on - it's more of a tire issue.

People need to realize that there is 'rain' and then there is the 'Florida Rain' - where the gods are dumping barrels of rain down on us - it's downright wicked. Several inches of rain can drop in minutes. And this happens a couple of times a week during our summer months (ya know, March - Oct...!)

I'm fighting the same fight and am thinking of just getting some of those new Nitto NT05 or NT05R and just not driving when wet.

 

[Night Shifter]

lol our storms suck bad...what tires were you running?

unfortunatly i have to DD this car for a bit so when it rains i gotta drive in it

 

[Rickyll7]

Whats your tire pressure at? If you set it on a cold day, they could be over inflated on a hot day.

Also, I would look into a torque arm if you want more traction without getting softer tires. The MM TA looks very nice.

 

[GettinThere]

Sorry, but you can't have your cake and eat it too. Maybe you need a 2nd set of tires...

Agreed. I'm hoping to find a used set of Draglites and (splurge) a new pair of MTs.

Dang, it sucks being poor.

 

[Night Shifter]

Whats your tire pressure at? If you set it on a cold day, they could be over inflated on a hot day.

Also, I would look into a torque arm if you want more traction without getting softer tires. The MM TA looks very nice.

right now theyre probably underinflated...i usually keep them at whatever psi the tire says to keep it at

im soon going to be getting a panhard bar and a TA but right now i = broke

 

[Rickyll7]

I would get a 2nd set of tires for dry traction or just save the money for a TA.

 

[Night Shifter]

im looking into som 295 35's and some 10.5's in the rear.. non DR though....should hopefully help me out a little bit for now i guess...

i wish rims/tires were as cheap as LCA's..but at least im getting the more expensive one out of the way

 

[007]

I ended up with 18x9 w 265s and 18x10 w 295. Perfect fitment. WAY more grip that the old 245s.
BFG KDW2s are simply amazing tires. Cant recommend them enough.

 

[Night Shifter]

whats wrong with the bfg's? thats what i was planning on getting