How many of you guys run cheater slicks on the street? I am interested in ordering a pair of Hurst cheater slicks for the rear of my '65 Belvedere wagon to give it that period-correct racing look. I don't want to get h***led by local law enforcement. The Hurst cheater slicks are not street-legal, yet it appears as though many here have them (or other cheater slicks) on their cars. What are your experiences? Any issues with the police? How do you guys get away with it?
I've run them on my sedan since '04, and have had no problems, either with traction or law enforcement. Of course, I live in California, so i don't have to worry much about wet asphalt.
wet roads would be my biggest concern..... one of these days I'll get my 61 put together, it's running Drag 500s, they don't even pretend to have tread
I run 8.20 x 15 Radir slicks on my '57 Chevy 150 and 8.15 x 15 NOS Englewood cheater slicks on my '63 Impala. I drive them all over the place, in town, CHRR, Vegas, etc. ( I just drove the Impala over 1600 miles on a trip to Nor Cal over the weekend). I have never been h***led by the man over my tires.
Maybe they are street legal? I think the reason the Hurst ones are "not legal for sale for street use" is not necessarily because they are cheater slicks, but because they are re-caps that have modified tread pattern from the original casings (therefore the DOT number does not apply). Does anyone else know? Are cheater slicks generally street legal? I am thinking that as long as the DOT number is still on the side of the original casings, the police will have no way of knowing they are recaps...
How well do they hold up? I know they won't be as durable as my BFG Radial TA's, but I don't want to have to replace them in just a couple of years. I drive my car quite a bit. Strictly cruising - no racing.
Just checked with the Winnipeg Police Vehicle Standards Unit. They told me that as long as the tires has a DOT on the side, then they are legal and there will be no problems. Just need to check with Hurst now to see if their recaps still have the original DOT on the casings...
I've got Firestone 8.20x15 cheaters on my '57 150. I drive that thing everywhere. Never had any trouble from law enforcement and never had any problems running them. I forget they're on there half the time. However, when it rains, the thought of hydroplaneing slows me way down!
The Radirs hold up very well. I belive they are made from a harder compund than the Hursts which makes them hold up better on the street (but maybe not as good at the strip). I have been running mine for nearly 3 years now and put between 12000 and 15000 mile on them with very little sign of wear. A buddy of mine ran a pair on his Model A Coupe 75% of the time over 5 years and they were less than half way worn. He now runs the same pair on the back of his '49 Olds full time. As for driving in the rain with the Radir slicks, it's doable but pretty dicey. I reckon their cheater slicks would be better in rain, but I have no experience with them. My 1960s NOS Englewood cheater slicks actually perform pretty well in the rain.
I've been running Radir 8.20x15 cheater slicks for about three years now. I've put maybe 4k miles on them. I haven't had any problems with them and they still look like they have a ton of life left in them. I'm extremely leery when I get caught in the rain but have never had the back end step out on me yet. And my truck is a big block with no weight in the rear...it shouldn't get any worse than that. I'd definitely run them on a cruiser with no second thoughts.
my hursts are fine. I had to go downtown in a rainstorm last week, just kept the rpms low and shortshifted. Never got loose even with my hemi.
get radirs. they are not retreads and you can beat the hell out of them. stay away from hursts unless you like picking up the caps of your tire off the street/track. i have one buddy who drove on them on the street for a month and the caps started peeling off the tire badly(big triangle shaped chunks started peeling away from tire). i have another buddy that spun off both caps on a brand new set first run at the g***er reunion. both guys got no satisfaction from the tiremaker. before everybody gets in an uproar im not trying to slam anybody but i dont want you to buy a pig in a poke either.
You might not intend to drive it in the rain but if you've never gotten caught in the rain while out then you really don't drive your car that much. So in the long run everything discussed is a moot point.
I've been running slicks on the street for years. When it is raining, I switch to street tires. It's a h***le, but the slicks have the look and dry weather function that I like. I've been pulled over more times than I can remember, but have never been ticketed for the slicks. Maybe lucky so far, but with rain and cops, it's always a gamble. Just don't be too suprised if you get a ticket or wreck.
It's a personal decision of course. On the humid east we will have a lovely day at the show only to run through a thunderstorm on the way home in the evening. The day starts out beautiful and then all of a sudden...a cloud burst. A friend was driving home one afternoon when he ran up on a wet spot in the road. Just a single black cloud had p***ed over and dumped some rain on the highway. The sun was shining brightly. He came around a turn on the beltway and there it was. He did a complete 360 using up all 4 lanes before he miraculously regained control. No warning. No chance to slow it down for safer operation. He was lucky that the spacing of the cars saved his ***. Cheater slicks look good on g***er clones and muscle cars of the early 60s but for me that is one aesthetic where the risk out weighs the reward. JMHO living in the heat and humidity of the east coast.
I run the Hurst on 2 cars and never had a problem, I love them. One pair has about 2 years on them and they are still in real good shape. I even had to drive over the p*** once in snow and that was to only time it was real scary! It was not thick snow only about an inch or two and real wet, but SLOW speed was key that time. Never been h***led by the man. O yeah, my 69 Cougar has slicks as well, M/T's and they are alot "wiglier" than the Hurst.
In my streetracing days many of the guys used M / H Racemaster DOT tires. Soft compound, on my low, low 12-second Turbo Buick they worked just as well as real slicks. These were about $180/set 18 years ago. While tread life is of some concern, the real danger with these tires was the lack of a solid sidewall. If you hit a pothole at high speed, you could have a real nasty blowout, and the streets I raced on in NE Ohio were full of potholes and stuff. The streets are nice and smooth here in FL, though..
I have run a 10 inch set of Radir for 5 years. Mickey Thompson makes them for radir. That is why they are double labeled. I have been mulled over by cops three times and not once were the slicks mentioned. Back then they were not DOT approved and said not for highway use on the mold. I undersatnd they are now DOT approved with two groves. I do not beleive that makes them legal. . Think about it. They are the same as a bald tire with reagrd to tread. These are not recaps and have worn decently. I have run down the road two hours at a time and had to slow down when caught in the rain recently. I call that "White Knuckle"These were $235 each back then and are probably more now. If you plan on driving the car on trips and in the rain I would get tread. What would happen if you had to stomp the brakes in the rain? This is from a slick rider. If you like to gamble with the reaper feel free.
I always thought that cheater slicks were a hard compound tire but I could be wrong. And I wouldn't worry much about cops most of them are to stupid to even know what the hell's goin on anyway. If DOT is stamped in the tire they wont care.
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