I have the 8.5" Radirs on my coupe. In the past, I ran them at anywhere between 15-20 psi. and couldn't really get them to hook very well. I was running 60 fts. in the 2.0-2.3 range and a best of 12.85. I was either spinning, or leaving really soft. Last time out, I dropped the pressure down to 12 psi, and did a bigger burnout. Nothing huge, because I don't have a line lock. But more burnout than I was doing in the past. 1st run was a 2.00 and 13.06 "easy" run. 2nd was a 1.90 and 12.93, with a bog right after launch. (weird deal) 3rd run it hooked hard and snapped an axle. So, less pressure and a little more burnout "worked" for me. We'll see what happens at Mokan. I may start out with a bunch of pressure and work down, if we can get enough runs. I may also have a line lock by then to control my burnouts a little better.
When I go to the track, here's how it goes. Street tires: drive through the water, then burn out just enough to get the water out of the tire sipes. Drag radials: about a five second burnout. I just put the tires in the water and mash it, no line lock or power brake. Slicks: I've had the most luck with a huge smokey burnout with the line lock
Well i tried more air. Up to 34 psi and no better traction. Their sitting on a shelf now with some ET drag slicks on my Radirs. Hooks like a bitch now, went from 11.43 to a 10.92 just by changing to REAL drag slicks.
I think we all know that "real" slicks will hook better. It's just a matter of how much comprimise we're willing to make when we go to the track. I'd like to see how fast my car will go in it's street trim. At some point, I may put my ET Drags on it and see how quick it will go. Did you see any difference, good or bad, in your 60 ft. times?
I always thought they were more smoke show them not.. look at the old videos from the day and you see those rail jobs spinning the tires all the way down the track... with lots of smoke.. that sucks about your 55 tearing up its rearend. guess they do hook
Anyone tried the Firestone dragsters or any of the other reproduction slicks with anymore success than what this thread outlines? Also does M/T still make the ones they had from around 97' on. I worked on the ugly, yellow, M/T promotional 66 Nova that ran on the Powertour, driven by the CarCraft staff. By the way, we did some final assembly, the sound system, and the interior. The rest of that wavy, ill built, P.O.S. was someone else... Point is, I remember the representative that was responsible for the car being built, talking about the whitewall slicks they had came out with. He claimed one version was made to smoke like they used to with a small ripple to the contact surface and a hard compound while another was softer and intended to hook-up rather well. I never ended up with a set and I have not seen them listed since.
We all know that these tires are not used anymore for a particluar reason. If the worked so well then why aren't they still around. And I agree with Littleman....suspension is more than half the game when drag racing. I love hot rods, but I also drag race as well. I have taken stockers faster down the track than turboed or blown cars with just suspension and trans/rear work.
Tire technology has changed a HUGE degree since the sixties (i know everyone knows these tires are for looks and not serious racing) they are WAY to stiff at the sidewall and across the face not to mention the chemical compound is more a street tire than anything else. my advice is buy a true drag slick (or possibly a DOT tire for racing) it's nearly impossible to get those things to perform for real drag racing unless you have a limited horsepower engine. jus my 2 cents.....good luck
Since the basic wrinkle wall concept modern slicks are based off of was released in 1966, most people get the idea rather well that a set of reproduction piecrust will not match the traction of current racing grade tires. Just the same as a solid axle 60's Altered just doesn't cut it compared to latest 4 link design on the market. The idea is to find a correct appearing tire that can perform as well as possible.
tried a pair of 9.00 x 15 hurst's last year on my 62 cat. boy they looked great but couldn't get them to hook. mounted on 7" rim tried low pressure and high, lots of smoke and just a wisp, but wouldn't hook even if i rolled off the line then hit it. went back to the hoosier radials at 25psi and a different world. but those hurst launches got exciting.
I fully agree, I was hoping to find an impartial opinion on which tire hooks and holds up the best to horsepower considering what they are, and not just a ''these look good and my buddy sells them'' deal. Basically, even though it wouldn't compare to a normal drag tire I'm looking for a pair that perform similar to what early 60's slicks did then. I'm not sure if any such thing is out there but they should be, why couldn't they simply by capped with a softer compound so they'd actually work?
I'm glad to see you tried folks suggestions but in the end also tried a set of true slicks and found your better 60ft. I run 1.38 on ET Drags but have gone 1.35 on MT 325 drag radials.
I am currently looking for another pair of 15x8's or 15x10's w/ a 5 on 5 bolt pattern with a 5'' to 6'' backspacing to mount some real drag slicks on..........and compare them when I go to the track soon with my Radir 10'' slicks........My Truck will have more power this time around. Before the engine switch my Radirs performed great...but I think my power to weight ratio worked well with them, now you offset the two and introduce more power and not change the weight too much....whats going to happen?...Thats what I intend to find out....But I am not having too much luck finding some rims....Its going to be a fun summer...Littleman.....I just wanted to add that the slicks are just one part of the equation, their are alot of factors in play when striving for that killer launch off the line...
bringing back the dead....anybody got anything to add here? Ive picked up some 10" radirs w/ plans to mount on 10" wheels, reading this thread makes me want rethink that....I always wondered why Steve Magnante used 10" radirs mounted on 7" wheels on the Wilshire Shaker....
The only thing I can add is to ask; have you called and talked to Radir? I called them last year inquiring about their slicks, and was told they're actually made by M/T, of modern compound rubber. In short, they are made to perform. Hurst are recaps, and very high quality, but heavy. More for show. So with no practical experience other than reading this thread and having talked to Radir about their tire, all I can add is that it has a different profile, so it should be expected that it will have different characteristic's than a mdern profile tire. So some simple experimentation with set up would appear to be the logical course of action before spending money on other parts. Racing is always about the combination, not the parts...
Makes sense, keeps them from cupping when you air them down. Same deal as trying to go fast on aired down real world (not dot) radials. FWIW, this is also what the FX guys did in '64-'65 when running the pie-crusts aired down back in the day.
YEP!!! I run the 10 inch hurst on a 6 inch wheel and 28 lbs anyless and I get cuppage but I run a 10.5 et drag on the strip the hurst are just for the street
For sure, a set of M/T ET streets or any other good current dot tire are gonna walk all over these, no matter WHAT rim you run them on.
My friends and I found that ET Streets hooked a wee bit less than ET Drags or MT drag radials.... We got my buddy's OT car going 1.31 on 28x10.5 ET Drags, and I've got a friend going 1.25 on 29x10.5's. If these Radirs won't go better than a high 1.6 they are mostly for looks then I'm thinking.
I ran a set of ET streets back to back with Hoosier slicks of the same size on a heavy, big horsepower street car, difference was maybe 3-5 hundredths, actually hard to measure, accounting for track conditions. REALLY close. Havent run the radials, havent played for a few years.
et streets are great , I like them.....but for this build I have 10" radir cheater slicks and 8" and 10" wheels on hand, looks like they are getting mounted on 8" wheels....
To my way of thinking, the whole thing is kind of like running a sheet-metal tunnel ram and a pair of double-pumpers on an early cad. Sure it will make more power, but it kind of defeats the purpose. When I look back at the few street rods that DID run pie-crusts back in the day, they were trying to emulate the look of the dragsters of the time, so they ran them on 8-10" wheels. Running them on a 6-7" rim might make them work better, but if its not gonna look period anyway, why not just step up to a modern tire?
yes they are made by M/T, not sure of the compound but they hardly compare to a modern slick, I'm sure these are not intended for competition use, but might as well get them to hook the best they can...so that means set your chassis up to do so...
First of all these are not the best tries to run on a dragster. Cheaters slicks were made for street cars that the rules said most have some tread and couldn't be a complete flat slick with no tread. The tire you should be using is a some compound no tread slcik for the best bite. Second if you have a dragster with a solid mounted rear end, a lock up clutch, are coming off the line at full throttle and the motor has more horsepower then the tire can hold something has to slip or you will break an axle, rear end, drive shaft, clutch or motor. In your case it is the tires. If you look at pictures of dragsters in the 50's and most of the 60's everyone smoked the tires, that was the slipage. Near the end of the 60's saw the intro of the double disk slipper clutch. That clutch slipped coming off the line and allowed the tires to bite and not smoke. The clutch slowly lock up as you went down the track, In those days that lock up was done with weighs and springs. Today it is much more high tech, with 5and 6 disks, more clutch arms, weighs and air controlled lock ups. So you can go to a slipper clutch or keep trying wider or taller tires until they bite some much until it drags down the motor. Then either you can add more air pressure or go to the next size smaller tire and play with the air pressure until you reach the right combination. It is a matter of trial and error. Hope that helps,rj
passed emaols with M/T between the holidays, asked them about the Radirs Heres the reply from M/T: Hi, I love the HAMB forum. We build the Radir tire for Radir. Its a 4 ply DOT tire. Their primary purpose is for the look of the good ole days. Its heavy and does not perform like a wrinkle wall tire> We use our S/S compound in it, wich does get stickier when heated up. It is a good compound and we still use it in our Sportsman Pro tire wich is a DOT wrinkle wall. They work best with heavy burnout,but not so much that the rubber starts to shred. Weight transfer is the key to the best performance, but will neverwork as good as our ET Drag, ET Street, or ET Street Radial tires. The best wheel width would be the same as the tread width. The use of narrower rims is only applicable to 2 ply wrinkle wall ties. It wont work on these tires. I hope this helps. Have fun. Jerry Francis VP Sales Mickey Thompson Tires & wheels (THE END)^^^^^^ just thought I would pass this along, fwiw....Jerry also said after the holidays , he would have his tech people sign up on the HAMB.
Makes sense, I had a set of the I pattern sportsman tires back in the day, harder rubber, more like street rubber. I was just talking a friend, he went 1.26 on his 28x10.5 ET Drags two months ago. 10.5 door car.
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