street drag radials

[fumanchu182]

Drove in a downpour with the MT Street ET R's once. Once was enough, I'll just pull over and sleep in the car next time.

 

[TorRedHellgato]

I hear ‘ya, I polished mine when I replaced my old brace with the DIRS:
View attachment 39952
And yes, my AC lines are done as well:
View attachment 39999

Lovely engine covers

 

[Old Mopar Guy]

Lovely engine covers

Yup! Got them from a local guy...They have served me well.

 

[Grape Ape]

I have been running the MT ET Street SS's for the last year. Granted, I don't drive in the rain, but I have been caught in a small shower. It drove decent. You just have to be careful. Last weekend I took it for a drive in the Mountains. It handled pretty well with them on. I didn't go as fast as I would have with regular summer tires on it, but I was hitting the wider curves in the 50mph range on the dragon's tail. I backed down a little on the tighter ones. I was surprised at how well they did.

 

[Xylander]

Out of curiosity, does a street drag radial give you worse off handling for turning/cornering? Like worse off than an all season tire?

Drag radials have more pliable sidewalls so they can twist under torque for extra traction. In street cornering terms, they are a weak tire. Under most normal conditions, you don't really push a car to its lateral G limit on the street, so you might not notice the tire's inability to hold a proper corner until you reach whatever the tire's limit is. When you do, unlike a more rigid sidewalled handling tire, the DR will slip out without too much warning, and will do so more violently. With radials (or racing slicks... aka Goodyear Eagles), you get a much more predictable tire that generally won't instantly slip out without plenty of squealing beforehand.

Drag radials are designed to put torque to pavement. They aren't designed to handle lateral loads. They all vary per manufacturer, and some will have better turning capabilities than others, but none of them are designed for sustained daily driving in anything but relatively straight lines and dry surfaces (dry, smooth surfaces... on irregular paved surfaces, they can get pretty bad there as well).

 

[droptopp]

Run an R888R if you want traction and ability to corner.

Drag radials also “float” or “track” on the street, conditions like tractor trailer grooves. That’s way more annoying than not being able to turn lol.

 

[Xylander]

Run an R888R if you want traction and ability to corner.

Drag radials also “float” or “track” on the street, conditions like tractor trailer grooves. That’s way more annoying than not being able to turn lol.

Yep, but pretty much anything north of 300mm wide is going to do the same thing, radial or otherwise. All seasons are a little more forgiving.

 

[EricG]

The Nittos are a better handling drag radial than either of the Mickey Thompsons, you can feel their ability to handle a lateral load better and they float less, but the Mickeys hook so much better. I actually like how the ET Street R feels over the ET Street S/S, and that's a 305/45r18 over a 275/40r20 too. I like the ET Street R and think they feel really good. The Nitto 555R is pretty close to just a high-performance summer tire IMO in that they spin too easy but are good when they are heated up, I have not tried the 2nd gen Nitto 555R yet. When the Michelin P4s's wear off the stock rear 20" wheels I think that is what will go on those next.

 

[Paladin06]

Out of curiosity, does a street drag radial give you worse off handling for turning/cornering? Like worse off than an all season tire?

Nope, not here.

 

[Xylander]

Nope, not here.

If your drag radial corners well, it isn't a very good drag radial.

 

[vortecd]

If your drag radial corners well, it isn't a very good drag radial.

If you have a 15" tire then it may. On a 20" you are not going to see much of any difference on the street being there isn't enough side wall. As a matter a fact, what you give up in the side wall not being as stiff you will gain in grip. I feel my car turns better with a drag radial then it does with a standard radial in the same size. Plus it will grip better in a straight line so win win

 

[why2kmax]

daily diving with the OEM Nexens and dont notice much of a difference in cornering with them in the rear. Theys sure do hook better though on launch.

 

[Hunter]

If your drag radial corners well, it isn't a very good drag radial.

Think he was referring to the fact that he doesn't worry about driving in the rain (lives in Az).

 

[swatdocsc]

I have tried the Nitto's 555r's MT's 2 flavors and settled on the toyo r888r for street use as it has a good compromise for street tire not perfect for a drag radial but much better than the tires that came with our cars, and they have the 186+ y rating so they drive pretty good.

 

[Xylander]

If you have a 15" tire then it may. On a 20" you are not going to see much of any difference on the street being there isn't enough side wall. As a matter a fact, what you give up in the side wall not being as stiff you will gain in grip. I feel my car turns better with a drag radial then it does with a standard radial in the same size. Plus it will grip better in a straight line so win win

Well, soft sidewalled drag radials "may" be able to hold in a turn. The problem with them is that there is a very fine line between in traction and doing a 180 in the middle of the turn. When drag radials slip out under lateral Gs, they tend to slip all the way out with little warning. A proper cornering tire will bite, which you can feel, then you can feel it getting progressively looser with added tire screech before it loses traction. Drag radials need that ultra squishy sidewall to wrinkle under traction to put torque to pavement. Their sidewalls aren't designed to flex side to side so well (one of the reasons folks use beadlocks on slicks). DRs aren't nearly as unforgiving as pure race slicks, but they are a hybrid of the two tire types.

 

[Alain]

fellers, how wide of a Nitto 555r can I run on OEM narrow body Hellcat wheels?

 

[swatdocsc]

Well, soft sidewalled drag radials "may" be able to hold in a turn. The problem with them is that there is a very fine line between in traction and doing a 180 in the middle of the turn. When drag radials slip out under lateral Gs, they tend to slip all the way out with little warning. A proper cornering tire will bite, which you can feel, then you can feel it getting progressively looser with added tire screech before it loses traction. Drag radials need that ultra squishy sidewall to wrinkle under traction to put torque to pavement. Their sidewalls aren't designed to flex side to side so well (one of the reasons folks use beadlocks on slicks). DRs aren't nearly as unforgiving as pure race slicks, but they are a hybrid of the two tire types.

All true It's just what kind of compromise do you want to settle for? the one I chose has the softest compound available on the highest rated tire. so it's a flip.

 

[Grape Ape]

fellers, how wide of a Nitto 555r can I run on OEM narrow body Hellcat wheels?

According to their website, you can go to a 285 or there is also a 305 option.

 

[Alain]

According to their website, you can go to a 285 or there is also a 305 option.
View attachment 41930

Thank you for posting that chart. I was just headed to their website to see if they had something like this.

Does anyone know if someone has run something bigger than a 285 on the OEM narrow body wheel?
Any complaints ?

 

[Xylander]

Thank you for posting that chart. I was just headed to their website to see if they had something like this.

Does anyone know if someone has run something bigger than a 285 on the OEM narrow body wheel?
Any complaints ?

I would say a large percentage of people run 305s on the stock wheel. They will also say they're great, no complaints.

But they're kind of math dumb, because the contact patch on the stock wheel maxes out between 275 and 285, so anything wider is 1) not going to ever touch the ground, and 2) cause the car to skate as the patch shifts under traction. So, while they may have no complaints, their butt dyno is lying to them. Most people post reviews on their tires in the first 1,000mi when the tires are still super sticky. Once the new tires break in, their performance should be slightly worse than the OEM tire size (again, skating and reduced down pressure coupled with just a tiny bit more added weight). Of course, you would get better performance with a Michelin PS4S 305 vs. a Pirrelli summer 275, but you'd also get quite a boost on a Michelin PS4S 275 over the Pirrelli. That's only because the part of the Michelin, Nitto, Conti, etc. is better than the Pirrelli. Still not using the whole 305 though, and you end up paying about $300 more for a set of 4 that you won't ever use fully.

To use a 305, you need an 11-11.5" wheel. An 11 is just slightly too small (295 usable traction patch). 11.5 is just right. And, for those who like to disagree, feel free to mount your 305s up, and send us a photo of a tape measure after you do a nice burn out and try and tell me that the contact patch is bigger than 275-285mm on a stock 10" wheel