Slicks or DR's

I'd look at getting a set of 17" 99-04 GT wheels. They are fairly light and can be had for next to nothing.

I would not get slicks if you do not have 31 spline axles/diff. You will almost certainly break something in the rearend. With a sticky enough drag radial, you can still break an axle if you launch hard enough.

IMO, until you get the rearend built up, stick with some Nitto drag radials. If you did have a built rear, I would suggest you get some Weld Pro-Stars 15x8's with 5.5" backspacing or some 15x10's with 6.5" backspacing and run some Mickey Thompson ET street radials. 275/50/15's are the same height as the stock tires.

ahall2004 said:

That's what I was looking for. I guess I will look into some Nitto DR's. would the factory pony wheels N8 suggested be a good setup? I 'think' that bigger doesn't necessarily mean better when it comes to DR's does it? At this point I don't plan to upgrade the rear end but if I did blow it then I would take the opportunity to do it then.

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I'm running 275/40-17 Nitto DRs for track duty. They can be had for <$180 shipped per tire. I've heard that they run a little narrow; I have them on my 17x8 stock split-spokes, and while they bulge a little, they are perfectly fine. Pumped up and driving easy on them, you can get 10,000+ miles out of them on the street easily. Let some air out of them and get them good and hot, and they'll hook sub-400 horsepower cars pretty well. I've easily cut low 1.8 60's with the stock stall and gears. Better gears and/or a higher stall and they'll go 1.7s with no problem. Heck, I think I can get 1.7s with a little cooler weather.

Bottom line: Will they hold 5k rpm clutch drops? Most definitely not. Will they hold hard clutch slips and get you home safely from the strip in the rain, all the while keeping your rear end together? Yes. Easily.

N8Dogg98 said:

I'd look at getting a set of 17" 99-04 GT wheels. They are fairly light and can be had for next to nothing.

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I'll be selling mine soon *wink*

I wouldn't run nitto drag radials with a geared 5 speed car. They require a lot more heat to work, and are very inconsistant when you compare them to other drag radials. I went through a few sets on my 98PI swap car. 60FT's would be all over the place, depending on track prep, etc. On my 97PI intake swap car, I switched to BFG's. What a world of difference in performance, and now I run MT drag radials and will never look back at the other 2. BFG's and MT's seemed to be more consistant with regards to track prep and weather, or not as tempermental.

All drag radials do not like to be cold, they need to really be heated up to work properly. Where as with a bias ply, you can sometimes just clean them off an add a small amount of heat and they work well. I would opt for the smallest wheel so you can get the biggest sidewall with a 26inch tire. I thought would be to pick up some 16 inch mustang wheels at a junkyard for 50 bucks, and invest more money in a set of good tires. The added weight is not going to be as important as your 60ft.

A 255/50-16 MT drag radial would work excellent at the track. I run the same MT tire(different size) on the street, and just slow the heck down if it is raining. I run regular street tires if I need to drive distances or won't see the track in the next 1-2 weeks. They are not a good DD tire.

Here are my 2 cents:

The nitto can hook hard, but it is very difficult with a 5 speed. Manual transmissions can shock load the tires a lot more, and since the nittos have a stiffer sidewall and harder tread compound, it is easy to break them loose on launch and during hard shifts. With an auto, they can really work. I've gone 1.70 60' with my 4cyl on nittos.

Next, on shock load. I don't have personal experience on slicks like Tim, but from what I've read, drag radials can actually result in more shock loads on the rear end than slicks. The reason being that a bias ply slick will flex a lot more, 'softening' the initial hit. The drag radials still have a radial construction and generally have shorter sidewalls, so the shock loads can be higher.

Rear end strength is a funny thing, and I think it greatly depends on shock loads. Again, my 4cyl has gone 1.70 60's with a one legged 7.5" ford rear end. It has only been opened to replace the axle bearings and seals and has more than 140k miles. Again, the automatic seems to keep the rear end from seeing shock loads. My 97 GT is a manual though, and playing on all season tires, I ended up with a bad pinion bearing.

So if you are going to run a sticky tire, don't just dump the clutch and shock load the driveline.

I can't get Nittos to hook at all at the track. I cut better 60's on street tires. The Nittos dead hook on the street though.

FordTaurusSHO94 said:

I can't get Nittos to hook at all at the track. I cut better 60's on street tires. The Nittos dead hook on the street though.

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You getting them good and hot?

I hear a lot of stories of lots of people not being able to get them to hook, and I'm sure that it won't hold a hard launch or a lot of power like MTs will. I've found that they won't come close to hooking my car when they're cold or even a little warm. I have to get them HOT, like 8-10 second long 2nd gear burnout kind of hot. I was cutting low 1.9x 60's (at best) with short 1st gear burnouts. Did a nice long 2nd gear burnout to get them really hot, and BAM, 1.82 60'. It'll do it every time on my automatic.

FordTaurusSHO94 said:

I can't get Nittos to hook at all at the track. I cut better 60's on street tires. The Nittos dead hook on the street though.

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Like Qill said, you are probably not heating them properly at the track and running the correct PSI. They will hook at the track, but less consistant than other drag radials. Nittos will hook slightly better than a good street tire on the street. Nothing major. If you think they "dead" hook compared to a good street tire, then you probably were not running a sticky street tire before them.

I agree with what Brian is saying. Shock is a major issue with Radial tires. Completely different compound, that is why you need more heat in them than the bias ply tires.

The next step in this conversation with regards to each tire, is wheel hop, and the wheelhop threshold of each tire. After the initial shock, you might experience wheelhop, which can break all types of stuff back there. Maybe during the launch, or during shifts. Purely from a tire perspective, the softer the sidewall of the tire, the higher your wheelhop threshold will usually be, lessening the chances that you do hop and break parts. There are other ways to help this(bushings, susp), etc.