ToplessZ

Do drag radials hook better than street tires on the street even when cold? Or are they only better when heated.

BlueWheels

The hotter the better, but drags are generally stickier tires and will hook up better. Be ready to shuck out 2-3 grand for a rear end, though. <img border="0" alt="[Burnout]" title="" src="graemlins/burnout.gif" />

MaxHax

My Nitto 55R's are sticky even on the street. Huge difference compared to my RSA's that burned out all over the place at launches.

Patman

Keep in mind that when you are driving around that your tires will still heat up. So you don't need to do a burnout before you take off from a stoplight for instance, in order to have good traction.

When you first start up your car in the morning and your drag radials are cold, they obviously wont hook up as well, but then again you wouldn't be launching hard with a cold engine either. Once you've driven a few miles, those tires will heat up enough to give you good traction. The same holds true for regular tires BTW, they obviously won't hook up as well when stone cold compared to when you've driven a few miles.

Stu

I usually race at least twice a month on my BFG's and drive at least 20 miles daily on them and they still have a little tread after 4600 miles.

Granted I only have a mid 12 sec. car
But after a little driving on them I can launch on my 2800 stall full bore with hardly any tire spin.

I would say if you have another vehicle or drive small distances daily BFG's are the best you can get. If you drive alot then get Nitto's.

Later, Stu

Patman

I should point out that I had BFG DRs on my 98 Formula and only got 5k of street driving out of them and they were pretty bald by then. I didn't drive that hard on the street either, and I only made 22 passes with them at the strip. They wear down fast!

My current car is sporting Toyo RA-1 road race tires on it, which are very soft (softer than Nittos) but have 8/32" tread depth, so they are great in the rain, and should easily outlast the BFGs. I am very impressed with how they handle hard launches on the street. I can launch at full throttle with my 3.23 A4 LT1 and get no wheelspin at all.

VINCE

iTrader: (1)

Remember the surface counts as well.. I have Nitto DR's and they hook like crazy on concrete, but on other road surfaces you have to do a burnout.. Oh yeah, I do most my streetracing around 2am.. So it could just be dew on the ground.. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="gr_stretch.gif" />

Postal

Patman brings up a great point <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="gr_grin.gif" />

I have the Nitto's on my vehicle and they aren't as good as an ET street but much better than the POS Goodyear's. Driving around town for 1/2 an hour and you can push on the tread and notice how pliable it gets once warmed up. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Cool]" src="gr_images/icons/cool.gif" /> I'd recommend the Nitto's for street since they last longer than the BFG's. I have 5K on my rears now and they still look new <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="gr_grin.gif" /> . BFG's with 5k would mostly likely look almost bald or at least 1/2 tread remaining only <img border="0" title="" alt="[Mad]" src="gr_images/icons/mad.gif" /> .

So to answer your ?, they hook up better than a street tire when warmed up. You don't necessarily have to burn them out to warm them.