Drag radials or slicks
 

This past weekend I finally made it to the track. I ran better than I was expecting, a best of 13.76 at 98.99. I had major traction issues though. I am just using BFG street tires. My average 60 ft was around 2.25. All of those passes I tried to ease into the throttle but ended up spinning and letting off. My best was 2.0 with a passenger. Too bad I had to let off at the end, that would have been a good pass. I obviously need sticky tires but i am wondering if I will be able to hook well enough with radials. I plan to spray a 150 shot next time. Should get me into the 12s if I can get rid of the tirespin. I have a transbrake too but haven't used it yet for obvious reasons. By the way this is the truck. An 85 GMC with stock rear suspension

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Re: Drag radials or slicks
 

I'd go with a full slick.

Re: Drag radials or slicks
 

I agree, at very least a DOT slick like a QT-Pro or a ET Street.

Re: Drag radials or slicks
 

I'm going from a ET street to a ET Street radial. Why?

I can get more contact patch with less side wall
Radials tend to have a touch more mph.
Slicks aren't street legal.

Either tire can work well, it's all in the set up. What works for a slick, may not work for a radial.

There are guys cutting 1.3x's on drag radials. Here is an example: http://www.wolferacecraft.com/7s.aspx

Re: Drag radials or slicks
 

My buddy has been 1.57 in a 67 camaro with slapper bars and a drag radial. This is a street car that we drive to the track.

At the orsca race the other day a mustang went 4.67 in the eighth on a drag radial.

Re: Drag radials or slicks
 

The only thing is if I go with a full slick I have to buy another set of rims because the truck does get driven. I plan on narrowing a 9 inch and using a wide slick hopefully for next year so what I buy now will get me through the rest of the year. If I do buy drag radials and still spin I am no further ahead. Man I may have to flip a coin on this one. One of the reasons I am wondering if a drag radial will be good enough is a dilemma I have with my current suspension. I only have an inch of travel before my rear end hits the bumpstops. I can even see it in the videos my brother took. The truck starts to squat and then bottoms out the suspension and almost bounces back. It seems like that unloads the tires and they spin worse. I don't know if drag radials would do the same thing or not. Maybe any tire would do the same thing. Or maybe I am overthinking this

Re: Drag radials or slicks
 

Do you drive it to the track or trailer ? I like a drag radial for a friday night street car deal . Just show up and your ready . Ive driven in and changed to slicks , it's a pain , locking up you tires , tools and jack to a light pole . I have a trialer also . To me it is alot funner to drive in on a drag radial , tech in and go make passes . I have always run the minimum tire i can and still get the job done .

Re: Drag radials or slicks
 

Maybe I wouldn't have problems with drag radials either, but I didn't want to find out the hard way that I couldn't hook with them.

I think the only drag radials actually recommended for street use are the BFG's and Nitto's, most other drag radials I've read about wear and drive horribly on the street.

Re: Drag radials or slicks
 

M/Ts drive fine on the street -put air in them!

Re: Drag radials or slicks
 

The nearest track is 3 hours away so I trailered it in case I broke

Re: Drag radials or slicks
 

It sounds to me like you might need a little suspension work. My old 70 would 60' at 1.76 on Dunlop 275/60-15s at 3950lbs.with me in it.It was a coil spring rear setup though.Good luck:chevy:

Re: Drag radials or slicks
 

You are going to have the same issue with a slick. Perhaps notching the frame is an option or building some adjustable LCA brackets and induce antisquat.

Re: Drag radials or slicks
 

I picked up some M/T ET Drags. The price was right and I am towing the truck back and forth so I figured I might as well. I am heading to the track on Friday so hopefully I will come back with good news. I plan on doing some suspension work this winter so these will have to do for now

Re: Drag radials or slicks
 

Can you not cut the bump stops off some?

Re: Drag radials or slicks
 

I agree with DJ,I cut my bumpstops and have over 3 inches clearance now.What are you running for a rear , if your going to use a slick .

Re: Drag radials or slicks
 

Yeah I guess I could cut the bumpstops. I wont be out anything.

The truck has the stock 8.5 inch with a set of Richmond 3.42s and a spool. I know :) it might break but I want to see what I can get it to handle. My cousin was running low 11s in his 76 Camaro with the factory 8.5 inch and slicks so I think the truck should survive for a few more passes. I don't think I am going to spray it off the line. Maybe towards the end of the season ;)

Re: Drag radials or slicks
 

i was more worried about c-clips or F**d ends,too nice of truck to tear up the quarter with an axle,wheel and tire.

Re: Drag radials or slicks
 

Slicks would be the way i would go if towing also . Imo the softer side wall will help with bad suspension also .

Re: Drag radials or slicks
 

The slicks worked perfect. I will post a video as soon as I can. I ran a best of 12.74 at 104. 1.82 60 foot. That was a nitrous pass. The nitrous didn't help as much as I thought a 150 shot should so I put a gauge on the bottle and it showed 600 psi. It was a cool evening.

Re: Drag radials or slicks
 

Need more bottle pressure depending on your set up . I ran 63/71 with 5.75 psi fuel pressure and around 900 psi with a NOS cheater and had good luck .

Re: Drag radials or slicks
 

I am going to mount a pressure gauge on the bottle and get a bottle warmer. Just for kicks I revved the engine to 3000 and manually hit the switch and the rpm didn't really jump up. They did climb but not like I thought. That was on that cool evening with the low bottle pressure. A bottle with two passes on it by the way. I figured I should be able to gain more than 5 mph with a 150 shot. I went from 99 to 104. Not using slicks on the 99 mph pass either

Re: Drag radials or slicks
 

When I was testing at 700psi I saw a gain of about .1-.2 with 1-2mph at best. Moved to real pressure and picked up 7mp in the 1/8 on a 100 shot with out spraying in the first 60'

Re: Drag radials or slicks
 

Just a tip never rev the motor to test the nitrous. You are asking for trouble there.
Second check out a NANO system. It is basically a pressure regulator. As long as it's not to hot and there is nitrogen or similair gas in the NANO tank your nitrous pressure will always be correct. You don't have to wait for the heater, just hit it.

NANO=Nitrogen Assisted Nitrous Oxide.

Re: Drag radials or slicks
 

[QUOTE=Wild83C10;3416059]Just a tip never rev the motor to test the nitrous. You are asking for trouble there.


Not trying to start any trouble , but i have a " bang button " and a air/pressure/visual purge . I always "rough purge" the bottle with the visual ,then purge through the motor in short blasts above 3000 rpm to find the sweet spot on bottle pressure . I usually never purge through the motor more than 3 times a pass . This is dangerous if not done properly ! . Once you find the spot you can get there quicker and be more consistant . The purge takes some variables out of it . I always try to have extra pressure to adjust it down with . Just my style .

Re: Drag radials or slicks
 

I finally got my video uploaded. I only got 2 runs in so I was like oh crap when they lined me up against the Charger. I had gotten spanked earlier by my cousin's 406 powered RX7. But it turned out to be a good race and I beat him by a tenth.

Re: Drag radials or slicks
 

I'll look into that. It sounds interesting and we have nitrogen at the shop I work at.

Re: Drag radials or slicks
 

Have you thought to add Cal-Trac bars to it? Leaf spring rear? I read you think the rear will live compared to your buds camaro? I doubt that it will live much longer, your truck is way heavier and that alone will grenade it.

Re: Drag radials or slicks
 

Cal trac bars help eliminate wheel hop right? I don't seem to have that problem. I am planning to narrow a 9" and build a coilover suspension this winter. I will most likely use ladder bars. I don't want to put a lot into this stock rear end setup. If you watch the video on the bottom of the first page its kind of neat to watch the M/T lettering on the tire when I launch. The tire doesn't spin at all :)

Re: Drag radials or slicks