going to be shoping for tires prety soon, want to get something wide and not too short. number one concern is traction. would a set of drag radials like the nittos DR hook better than a normal street tire even without warming them, i dont want to warm the tires. if DR dont hook well when cold then what should my next choice be?

 

hey parish, i was at the local burger joint the other night, and a friend of mine got some dirt drack tires and said they grip like glue. DOT approved too. this is on a 72 ElCamino. just a thought.

 

BFG Drag radials hook great,but there's no way I would consider running them on the street.If it rained the truck wouldn't even climb an interstate ramp,I hate to think what ice would be like.Toyo Proxes are a good compromise I run a 29" and they hook almost as well as the BFGs.

 

a toyo proxes in the same league as a bfg drag radial? what kind of power are you putting down? I could see that if you were bone stock that they would hook somewhat. I used to sell those tires and can honestly say they dont hook for squat. But they are a decent handleing tire. As far as drag radials are concerned they will suck as far as wear wise I got 3500 miles on them with my vette driving every day. A good bit of money to spend for daily driving but it be nice to have if ya had a extra set of wheels. how tall of a tire you looking to run? how are u geared?

 

I'm making over 400rwhp in a Tahoe and the Toyo STs hook up almost as well as the BFG Drag radials.Especially without a burnout to heat them up.Heating up the BFGs helps them a lot,but does'nt help the Toyos.

 

2wd and 4wd is a world of difference. He could get a nice tire with good street traction and decent wet traction and still hook good in 4wd.

 

i dont want bfg's just due to the 3000miles of wear. they have an 18" nitto 555r that is 29" tall and they are suppose to be good for 15,000 miles or so. i could live with 15k if they really hooked better.

so my question is would the nitto hook better than a regular street tire if i didn't warm them? if not then is there a trie brand that hooks better than others? we need some actual tests on tires.

 

A buddy of mine who I went to school with had 275/40ZR17 Nitto's on his 'Cobra. Well those Nitto drag radials hooked up a lot better than regular street tires...he had a few bolts ons and a set of 4.10:1 gears too. Remember just normal driving will warm tires up a bit anyway.

But now we are comparing cars to trucks again but I'd assume since this is about traction this may be of some help.

I had a set of Hoosier road race tires on a vehicle once and they hook up like a slick when warmed up.

 

You probably already know this, but the treadwear rating is related to the softness of the tires. The lower the rating, the softer and grippier the tires.

I think stock tires are around 400-440, my Yokohama AVS-ST's are 320, and they grip a ton better than stockers.

So you can check treadwear rating for the grip of the tire.

 

Nitto Drag Radials on my car lasted about 10K miles and just a few burnouts before they were DANGEROUS to drive on.