Hey guys, I'm in a process of building my car, and next on the list is wheels and tires. Soonish down the road the car will get heads and a cam. It probably wont be at 500whp but its a nice round number. I would like to get 18 inch zr1 wheels. But they are only 10.5 inches wide, which would allow me to run a 295 tire. But is there a street tire in that size that would grip? There are a bunch of nittos available in the size, i know they run small. Are they sticky enough to grip from a dig?

 

To be honest man, I'm not sure that you'll find a drag radials for an 18" wheel that will hook from a dig. At the power level you mentioned, it's going to be tough hooking on an unprepped surface from a dig with a drag radial also.

I'm over 5xxrwhp and my drag radials don't have a ton of tread left and I haven't got to try them in weather over 60 degrees yet. But if I go wot on a 20 roll, I'm smoking them and sideways like crazy. I'm a stalled auto though, so you may be able to roll into them easy and have luck. From everything that everyone has been saying on here, the M&H or the ET street radial is a couple of the best options if you're wanting to stick with a drag radial. I'll be trying one of them this summer and hopefully have a good review for people.

 

Thats the thing I dont really wanna run a drag radial. I live in New York and streets here are terrible and it rains a whole lot. Im really looking for a tire that id be able to drive on everyday without having to worry if it rains, but also that is at least somewhat sticky enough for me to be able to go WOT from a roll. Cause with my tires now and my stock power even if I go WOT in first itll break loose in higher rpm

 

Yeah unfortunately, at 500rwhp you're going to blow street tires up in smoke. I'd get another set of wheels and throw some drag radials on them for when you want to play. That's alot of power for a regular street tire though.

I wouldn't drive a drag radial in rain though unless I had to. Tough choice man... I guess you'll just have to pedal it until you get to a speed that you can hook. If you were only around 400rwhp, then it'd be a little easier to accomplish what you're wanting to do.

Good luck though man, hopefully you can find a happy medium.

 

Im not at 500 rwhp but have heads and cam and like said above normal street tires won't cut it. Im currently running toyo r888's in a 305/35/18 and have also ran nitto dr's in that size. Both of them do fine in rain and grip better then a regular street tire. I have also heard the toyo dr's are very streetable. Dr's like the mickey thompsons are the ones that people have had issues in the rain

 

I'm blowing through 1st and 2nd on the street on the roll with 315 17 Nitto 555r's, No front bar and a full tank of gas. Got to find something allot better myself.

 

I did well with ~480WHP on a pair of Toyo r888. Size was 305/35r18 and I think I'll try them again.

 

Id go with the NT05r or et street 2 for that much power. FWIW I make less than 400 to the tires and my toyo tq's do a decent job at hooking on the street.