Technical Hurst recap slicks

Does anyone out there have any experience with the Hurst recapped slicks?

I'm wondering how they actually hold up. My buddy has a '65 Chevelle with a 400 stroker (434ci), around 500hp, high 10s/low 11s in the quarter. It is a street car that sometimes sees track time. His worry is that he doesn't want them unravelling as he's going down the track at 100+mph.

I'm assuming they are a pretty hard compound in order to be used regularly on the street.

Any input is welcomed.....

Thanks!

 

They are good tires, I've had a set for 4 years and used them on two different cars.

 

Do a search, many of us have run them in the last 10 years

 

I have the Hust slicks on my Hemi Powered 55 Thunderbird. I put 200=300 miles on them per week ( weather permitting) Not so sure they are the best for traction, but they look right and seem to hook pretty good. The car wanders a bit, but nothing like it did with bia tires. The seem safe, I have run up over 100 mph, many times and no seperations noticed.

 

They are a harder compound, and wear like iron! I've had numerous pre stage and launch burnouts on mine, and still have the mold lines on the surface! I know friends who've had them on for years, and still look like new.

 

They look great but are VERY heavy, and I seriously doubt at that weight they would be good for racing applications.

 

I have about 6 or 7 pair running around Phoenix on customer hot rods at any given time, and most are raced at nostalgia drag days as well. This place would be the torture test for recap technology 'cause of how damn hot it gets in the summer time, and most of these cars are daily drivers. Run them, you'll dig them.

The problem is that right now Cody and Steve are down for a bit because of relocation issues. Hopefully they will be back up and running again soon, 'cause I need two more pairs!

 

check out the videos of the tires coming apart. this topic is not new. radir makes a all new tire. no recap. on a set of the 10 inch wides i ran a 8.9 sec pass. in the 65 dodge with them. yes that is a quarter mile pass and i have it on video. i have run thousands of miles on the street with them also. i have yet to put a durometer on a set of towel city tires. my radirs were at 55 same as my kids nito drag radials. the radirs hook hard. actually very hard. hard enough to bend the 1/2 inch studs on my car. you get what you pay for. i mount my radirs without a tube. it cuts down on rotating weight and allows the side wall to flex more. track tire pressure is 15 lbs. street is 20-22lbs.

 

They aren't like semi tire recaps where a band is bonded to a carcass with a butt seam.
Built on used carcasses yes, but totally different process

 

If the other posts are right about how heavy they are I don't think I would bother using a durometer on them as they sound like they are as hard as a rock.

We used to soften slicks all the time with heat and simply remove the balls of rubber but from the other posts about the wight issue maybe it would be safer to only use them on certain drag cars running above 12 seconds or something like that rather then take a chance running them on anything quicker.

Jimbo



Jimbo

 

All the talk of recaps being heavy is sort of silly. All pie crust slicks are heavy, regardless of whether they're recaps or new tires. And slicks built today by companies like Hurst and Towell City use the ribbon rubber method, so the casing is ground down to a specific size and then extruded rubber ribbon is wrapped in multiple layers to get to the diameter and amount of rubber needed. Then the whole tire is dropped into a mold and heated to a certain temperature which bonds the rubber and cures it. When the tire is done it's one piece, and so close in structure to a new tire that if it came apart in a situation, then most likely a new tire would come apart also.
Speaking of new tires coming apart. I've lost tread, or had sidewalls delaminate on brand new tires also. So should we avoid new tires because they have a history of occasionally having issues?

 

Really appreciate all the feedback so far! Look forward to more input from others.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

x2!

 

I've only heard of one video and sounds like it may have not been because of a faulty tire. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=540094 Would prefer to use an all new Radir but have known many who ran Hurst and Towel City recaps without problems and you can't beat the price. Just make sure you buy them when you are actually ready to use them. Letting them sit, especially out in the weather for years on end without use and they will degrade faster than a new radial. I have owned a one piece Firestone and Radir that started to have some funky splits in the sidewalls too after a couple or so years of just sitting outside on project cars.

 

THIS!! The Hursts are fine for the "look". But, if you're really gonna use em on a 10 second car as the OP mentions (120+MPH) or this Racer-X 8.90 car, have a bible in one hand and some Rosary Beads, or get the new M/T Radirs as Racer suggests

 

fly united is this from personal experience that you have had problems over 120mph. without facts its only an opinion. i go over 120 on every pass with the radirs. my car is built right and safe. it handles just like it should. the tires have no ill effects on the car. and by the way radir gave garlitts a set of tires as a promo deal. he threw them on a swamp rat and went over 200mph. when someones recap can do that i will believe they are good tires. so the challenge is out there recap dealers. put your money where your mouth is and go 200. if those recaps are really that good aren't you just dying to prove their worth and safety. all pie crusts are heavy that is true. not all of them are hard as a rock. the the modern day slicks on the fuel dragster i work on read about 35-40 on the durometer. as mentioned before the drag radials come in around 55 same as the radirs. so this means the radirs are fairly soft yet streetable. my neighbor has some towel city tires i think i need to pay him a visit with my durometer in hand.

 

WOW!! I think you grossly mis-read my words!!!!!! I was in agreement with what you said earlier

 

I had bad luck with them ,1,000 miles and were they seamed the tire togrther started cracking ,then they would not hold air I called them a few times but THEY DO NOT STAND BEHIND THEIR PRODUCT.....he just cried that it was not his fult. so now I ride on Firestone tires that I am very happy with.

 

sorry if you were miss understood after i read it i was not sure were you stood. i have since read it again and see i grossly errored. five window coupe what tires came apart for you.

 

I've had a set for 4 years and used them on two different cars.

 

According to their website the 30x10's are made on a Goodyear 31x10.50x15 carcass. The highest speed rating I could find for any Goodyear of that size was 106 MPH (Q) some were 99MPH (R). The Goodyear weighs in at least 5 pounds lighter than the cheater slicks which are about 48 pounds each. Again they look great, and for a street tire I like the look of them the best I think. But a 50 pound tire regardless of the compound is not going to be a very good tire for racing. Not knocking their product, I put a set on a car and loved the look of them, but I don't think they are intended for real racing. But they sure are cool on the street.

 

Hurst's web site says their durometer reading is 65 cold and 50 hot. I have M&H drag radials on one of my gassers, and my scientific fingernail test tells me they feel much softer than my Hurst. My wear on the M&H after a couple years, and 6,000-7,000 miles tells me they're much softer too!

 

Towel City is still making circle track recaps with the same process as the Pie Crust cheaters. No problems in many years. Tires themselves are balanced inside and run pretty trouble free. I use the bead balance from the 18 wheelers, no lead weights. 28.5x9x15 radial with two grooves were $380 delivered to Chicago area in less than a week.

 

I tire tested my radirs to 168 mph. They passed.

 

OK....

Let's change the course of the discussion a bit....

Since these Hurst recaps are built on Goodyear radial cases, would it follow then that we'd have to use radials up front? It's always been said you don't want to mix bias ply and radials. So if a guy is going for that period correct look and uses the pie crust Hursts in back, what options are there for a correct looking front tire?

 

I ran their Super Cushion radial fronts too. They were pricey though.

 

i have coker repo firestones bias ply

 

On a street /strip car? Race car? How do they handle?

 

all the above. they work just fine. there are the usual bias ply issues but nothing that cant be over come.