2002_TAWS6

I am in the process of buying heads and cam and install a 2 stage nitrous setup to my 02 Trans Am. The only thing is I dont have a good amount of knowledge when it comes to selecting the right tires for my setup without breaking the stock 10 bolt rear.

Which ones are the Nitto drag radials ? (the huge slicks like the HOOSIER tires?) Which ones are the ET streets? (Im guessing the street slicks) ? I get lost everytime someone mentions those as I have no idea what to picture in my mind.

I want to stay away from huge slicks because I want to be able to drive my car to work and around town without using those as I think they dont look good to drive with. Just too much IMO. I wanted to go with 315s in the back and stay with 275s at the front.

What would be the best tire choice for everyday driving? And if I were to drive around with those in the rain how big of a problem would it be? How long do those tires last and how much do they cost?

If I were to go 315s with 18" rims will that be any good? Do I have to stick with 17s? How big of a difference in traction would I see with the 17s in comparison to 18s if both were as wide as 315s? If its a huge difference ill have to make some sacrifices.

My daily driving would be around 420ish RWHP and 410 torque or a little less. One thing for sure is that my daily driving would not exceed 450rwhp.

Also, my stock rear is NOT going out. So Ill need something that wont make my rear go . I dont and wont ever lauch over 3000 RPMs so that should make it safe enough. Right?

Help! I suck when it comes to having tire/traction knowledge.

2002_TAWS6

come on guys help me out.

00a4z28

i use bfg drag radials. i could always hook up until i got my supercharger and i have stock suspension. nittos are radial tires just like normal street tires, just a little stickier. bfgs are stickier than nittos. i usually stretch them to 10k miles before replacing them. in rain showers they are ok but in a downpour my rear will start to hydroplane. et streets are slicks with grooves cut in the center and they have enough traction to break a rear. my recomendation: bfgs. sorry i can't help with suspension i'm trying to figure that one out myself

2002_TAWS6

thank you for the reply.

can you send me a picture of the tires please? email: aka9399@hotmail.com

What are the dimesions your bfg drag radials tires? How bad does your car hydroplane? Does it do it even on 2500 rpms? Just want to know the kind of control ill be expecting as its my ONLY car.

00a4z28

dont know how to post pictures, go to www.summitracing.com, click on wheels and tires, bf goodrich comp ta drag radials for a picture. if the tread is worn off and there is a heavy downpour on a smooth road surface i start hydroplaning at 42 - 45. the nice thing is my fronts are still gripping good and light countersteer corrects it. in a downpour i usually get in the right lane and go 40. i assume you have an m6? you'll spin your tires under normal acceleration in the rain (unless you have traction control) but its pretty easy to control. my car is my daily driver and the only problem with these tires is you can't go fast in the rain.

NA$TY-TA

iTrader: (21)

You are contradicting yourself. You say u want a tire thats sticks good but wont break your 10 bolt. You can break your 10 bolt on the street with Nitto's or BFG's let alone E.T. Streets or hoosiers. The 10 bolt is junk. I broke my 2nd set of gears just a week ago... 12 bolt or 9" time. With the amount of horsepower you want to run you will eventualy break it. Nitto's on the street hook better in the rain then BFG's.

Visceral

iTrader: (1)

ok...Im close... maybe 470rwhp but alot of torque.

1st, 2nd, and third just spin. But I do have 4.10s.

I currently have ALOT of rear suspension stuff. In fact, pretty much everything you can buy from BMR or Spohn. It works pretty well, but Ive ordered 17x11 rear for the car and some Nitto 315/35/17 Drag Radials. They are the stickiest tire that rides OK and Im not scared of getting caught in the rain with (although the car will never see a drop if I can help it). BFGs arent as friendly in the rain. ETstreets are a death sentence in the rain.
If the 315s still spin I'll put 3.73s in instead of the 4.10s. Im still on the stock 10 bolt though and always will be if I can. (no drag slicks)

You can have all the suspension in the world but if you have 550rwhp and you need street tires, you are going to spin alot.

chris

Quickin

Go with the BFG drag radials, they rock man. I have the 315/17/35's on my factory 9" WS6 rim. They fit perfectly with no rubbing, and I'm lowered. If I heat them a little bit they stick great. I have about 500 RWHP N/A. If they're not heated up and I mash the throttle I can leave 200 ft long black marks.

In the rain you're limited to about 40 mph in straight lines and NO sudden left/right movements of the wheel or it's bye, bye. I slowly changed lanes once at about 35 and the rear started to come around, it took the whole lane to get it back. Mine are doing just fine with 7,000 miles on them, the traction is almost gone but they're getting better on dry pavement

I think in a month I'm gonna get the Nitto 315's so the rain isn't as much of a problem.

2002_TAWS6

Thanks for all the replies. So far I see that most votes go for the Nittos Nitto NT 555R Drag Radial.

I found a website where you can click on "customer feedback" and see what people have said. Thought some people would be interested:

http://www.discounttiredirect.com/di...ypeCode=NITHV4

My only concern now is that my car is my ONLY daily driver so I dont know how bad it would handle in the rain. Is it that bad to drive with those in the rain? We have a lot of rain here in San antonio so it wouldnt be worth the while for me to swap my tires every now and then. What do you guys think?

00a4z28, your are correct I do drive an m6.

NA$TY-TA, I can definetly understand that the 12 bolt moser is much stronger than the stock rear but I dont see how the stock rear is junk as there are many people running 11s and 10s in the quarter mile with no problems to report??. If I rememper correctly theres someone in this forum running 707RWHP on his stock rear and he says his stock rear is holding up fine with no problems whatsoever. I have yet not heard of anyone breaking the rear with easy mid range launching and of course no slicks. Someone please correct me if I am wrong here.

Visceral, I only mentioned 550 rwhp as I was planning on having H&C as well as a 100-125 N20 shot. My normal daily driving would definetly be under 450rwhp (I would expect 430 RWHP tops). How would you think I would hook up with nittos in the rain? Also if I were to spray in 2nd or 3rd gear (ofcourse not in the rain haha) would I be able to hook up fine? I do have 3.42 gears and I dont plan on changing them.

Quickin, 200ft of black marks sounds cool. I wouldnt be able to do that though as I would need tires for all seasons (it doesnt snow here but it rains a lot).

Let me know how bad you guys think the nittos are in the rain. Thanks again for all the replies!

NOBR8KSS

iTrader: (12)

If you are referring to Rob Raymer's 98 Single Turbo Z-28 that makes 707 rwhp...there's a Moser 9" bolted to it.
A 10-bolt won't handle the traction necessary for a 10 second pass.
Oh, and his best pass is a 9.94!

2002_TAWS6

I dont know who Rob is but I was talking about 383LQ4SS. He is using n20 for a power adder not a turbo. His is a 99 SS so we cant be talking about the same person.

He mentioned he will get a better rear so he can get better times simply because the moser is better.

This is his signature on board:

99 SS, M6, Black
707.0 rwhp 721.8 rwtq
Agostino Racing 383 LQ4 Short block
Custom tuning by Jeremy @ Fasterproms.com
Custom NOS dual stage with nitrogen push
10.3 at 135 on ~630 rwhp

I just noticed his sig says he ran 10.3 with 630RWHP

n2o

iTrader: (1)

Yes many have broken 10-bolts I know 3 people in the last 6 weeks, these guys were on drag radials.
Two were m6's and one a4, the a4 is a head and cam car one m6 has a hotcam and the other has 125 shot. You need to save for the rear b/c if you keep on it will break. Good Luck

Stan

2002_TAWS6

would 315/35R17 tires be fine with stock 2002 WS6 rims?

my tires say 275/40ZR17