ironmikektm525

I have a 99 t/a with full bolt ons . I'm running nt555 275/40/17 on 9.5 wheels. Came off a awd turbo car so traction wasn't a problem. Going to the track so i need to know few things . do I need to warm up these tires to get better traction/launch? If so how long of a brake stand? Do I run through the water pit or drive around it? What tire pressure? Should i power brake it off the line or just let it idle then floor it? When I floor it from dead stop on the street it spins pretty good. Tires have approx 250 miles on them now. I have 3:23 and stock converter. Plz give me info/procedure? I have been to the track a bunch of times but with awd car that i've owned for the last 15 years so I need advice on rwd car. So plz help me out.thx

black79transam

Not going to be much help but I've always heard with nitto tires they really need to be warm to grip.

Otherwise I'm sure somebody with more experience will chime in.

PhoneniX

with grooved street tires you avoid the water box. From what i remember ~22psi worked for me. I am a 6spd car though and thats a huge difference on launch.
did you search? im sure theres other entries just like this, especially with the regular light mods.

JDEP162

nitto nt555, or 555R? if nt street tires i can only say dust em off quik and go. if 555R i have them, do a 5-6 second burnout and they hooked good for me. just bolt ons and spray.

ironmikektm525

Thx for reply. I was running OEM wheels/tires before I put car away last year. Seems like those gripped better lol. There's no way that's possible though. They were a cheap tire plus a lot more narrow. Maybe its the outside temp? Still 50's up here. I did add ls6 intake/did freeram air mod/k&n/160 stat/cooler delete)smooth bellow/catch can over the winter also. Maybe its the little added power. Car def feels stronger then last year.

murphinator

iTrader: (2)

stock stall and 323's I would think leave off idle to get the most flash out of the stock stall. I would go around the water and brake stand it until you see smoke starting with 20 psi and dropping a pound or 2 at a time if it wont hook for you as low as 15 but it will get squirmy at speed by then.

these cars hook much better with the front sway bar removed so plan on doing that and if your still fighting for traction I was able to find it first time out after dumping pressure and removing sway bar by adding ballast in trunkwell , in my case toolbox and a jack then she hooked (100-120 pounds ??). Weight transfer is key on rwd and if it wont hook its worth trying the ballast as counterintuitive as adding weight sounds its hard to run good numbers without a decent 60 foot time...

report back and let us know how she did !

ironmikektm525

All good advice thx a lot ! Was planning on going this weekend but got rained out. Hopefully next sat. I'll report back with numbers. II'll be happy with a 12.9999999 lol car has run a best 13.0 and consistent 13.1-13.2's before the mods listed above. Car has 129k but still rums great. Hoping to get a lot more miles out of it

murphinator

iTrader: (2)

don't let the miles scare you-129k isn't that high if it still runs good its still healthy just keep fresh oil in it , let it come up to temp before beating on it , and keep rpm's within reason 6000-6200 ish.

my 6 speed car is at 238,000 and ran 11.9 stock internal back around 215k(previous owner/member here) and last fall my stock internal stalled auto car went 12.1 for me again unopened 173,000 miles and hopefully hits 11's next time out.

Go in the hybrids & conversions section and you will see guys take 250k junkyard motors and slap a turbo on them lol

ironmikektm525

Lol that's great to hear these motors last for some miles. Yeah I always let it fully warm up and run mobile 1 and change ever 2k miles. I'm **** when it comes to oil changes. Cheap to change oil rather then internal worn parts. That's crazy times for those miles. I work at a dealership. BG came and demonstrated moa(bearing load test) I've seen bids on that stuff in the past. I have to say to see it in person I was quite impressed. I did a search to see if people use it in there sports cars. Some do some don't. What are your thoughts? Or should I start a new thread on moa?

ironmikektm525

Update. Finally went to the track. Kept getting rained out. Only ran once and ran 12.952 at 109.18 mph with 2.120 60ft. That 60ft is bad to me. I was used to running 1.6-1.7 with my talon. That's only thing I miss is the awd. I'm just happy to dip in the 12's on street tires. I just did a little break stand to clean off the tires(nitto 555 not R's) I spun a bit off the line and it spun even more when I hit 2nd gear(a4) only ran once because I figured I'm not gonna get any better traction on those tires. I'm hoping a good drag radial with net me a 12.7? Is that a realistic number? Also has 1/2 tank of gas. What 60's are you guys running with a4/3:23/full bolt ons on drag radials? New era had a couple of there cars there running mid 10's lol

jamesgr81

You are just making tire companies happy burning out with street tires. Avoid the water and just make a hard stab on the throttle before coming to the line. Heating up a street tire will do nothing for traction. Just looks good for the crowd.

Burnouts for drag radials or slicks are standard procedure. Sticky compound and tires will hold heat.

bigteddy254

well man i had a 00 ss and i curently have a 98-99 vette. with the tires you have you wanna coast thru the water pit. dont start your burnout in the water!! i always run normal tire preassure because the cars gonna walk so thats why i dont run dreopped psi because i prefer the stability and your not running anthing crazy fast so really no need to drop psi. u got a auto so start first then kick it to second and wrap that ish for a good 3-4 seconds because you wanna burn off all the water u drive thru and let off the gas and prepair n feel the launch. so when you stage make sure your in the groove andyou wanna hold the break till you almost start a tire spin and keep the rev the highest u can without breakin loose because that sets ur car up for launch. i keep it in gear and shift it myself at 5.4 5.3 grand because after that your not gainin any more torque. you wanna pedal to the metal dont let up even if you spin some you will be okay. and another secret for you is when the three yellow lights count down you wanna let off the break and floor that bitch right as the last yellow light turns off before the green light hits. should give u a reaction time of .01 and even .00ish reaction time. i did bracket racin with stockies and highly modded ls cars. and i won alllllooooooottttt and if u dnt know bracket racin u wanna run the same time consecutively so you should be fine brutha man. dont be scared thats the main key just roll with the flow. you will catch on but i gave u the tips to run the fastest with what ya got. and this is commin from years of me racin and dominating slow scared ppl =)

bigteddy254

oh yeah and be prepared for the thrust you will get off the line. launches twice as hard as being on the street. good luck

bigteddy254

sorry to bust your bubble man but your wrong man. not tryin to be a dick by any means but if you have a 350 300 treadwear tire snd u try to launch it cold your gonna spin because heat contact helps grab the rubber burnt on the track, now on the streets you may have a point, but in the dragstrip that dosent work like that man.. and if you have a 400 treadwear tire and launch cold on the track your def gonna spin because its a harder compound, but if you warm it up and burn the water off of it your gonna grip bettr because you make it not as hard therefor bein more grippy. now if your roast your **** yeah your not gonna go anywhere eithr. its the perfect medium thats hard to find sometimes. only reason i say this is because i have experimented with these things and never have i had my fastest runs on a cold tire.. ever.

murphinator

iTrader: (2)

how much to heat up a street tire there really isn't a right or wrong answer - its not that easy... depends on the track , your mods & suspension , what tire your on how old the tire is etc...

as for going through or avoiding water that's easy , avoid it with a treaded tire as the tread will spin water up into your wheel wells and then it will drip on the tires and track while you stage and ruin your chances and everyone elses to be able to hook , nobody likes the treaded tire waterbox guys

don't be that guy

ironmikektm525

Did I say Im just happy I dipped in the 12's on street tires lol :-) thx for the info

murphinator

iTrader: (2)

sorry you must be psyched to crack 12's , breaking new second thresholds is the best

jamesgr81

Waste of time to burnout with street tires, your never gonna hook no matter how hard you try if your ride has any suds. You have to walk it out and give it as much gas as you can without going up in smoke. You can roast the **** out of your tires but they won't get any stickier or hold any heat. It's just part of the show.

Now if you have to drive through the water you have no choice but dry off the balonies, but it's best to go around if you can. And if the tires are loaded up with debris a quick spin of the tires will do.

Problem is that street tires ruin the track for drag slicks, so after all the test and tune guys on street tires tear up the rubber laid down by drag slicks, the track can suck for everybody.

The trick is learning how hard you can launch without going up in smoke.

In my 56 Chevy BBC, my 2014 SS Camaro and my LS powered 67 El Camino burning out is fun for effect but doesn't do squat for traction. And why the hell do I wanna burn up my expensive 20" Eagles?

If anyone can launch at full throttle with no tire spin on treaded street tires than they must be driving a Honda.

ironmikektm525

OK back to one of my questions. Do you think drag radials are good for 2-3 tenths?

jamesgr81

Drag radials are way better. If you are just spinning with street tires they will help a bunch because they will hook much sooner.

2-3 tenths is a bunch, but could happen. More like 1-2 tenths.

Drag radials are for automatics, use regular ET Drags for stick shift. Don't use them everyday on the street unless you like buying new ones every 2 thousand miles , they wear down fast.