Slicks...Help?

[SergntMac]

It's my early prediction, that by the time the weather is right for it, I'm going to need some slicks to get my best 1/4m times. Not that I expect to go that much quicker, but I am having traction problems now, and that works against my "bang for the buck" rule on the mods.

I haven't even seen a slick since 1970, my last buy was M&H RaceMasters, 13.5 wide by 15." I've done some light web searches, and all I'm finding are sizes for the FWD/Ricer crowd. I'm going need your help in catching up on this, how about a little brainstorming for tire size, wheel size, compound, brand, cheater or not, and so on...

Your advice gentlemen?

[RF Overlord]

Here ya go, Sarge...

Drag Slicks (http://www.hoosiertire.com/faqdrag.htm)

[jgc61sr2002]

They sure do. The last time I used slicks was in the 60's. I think we called them M&H cheeter slicks. I used to put them on my 1961 Pontiac every weekend and race at Westhampton Drag Strip. The car was a Bonneville Conv. with the high performance engine and a 3:90 posi rear. To the best of my recolection it turned approximately 15.3 in the 1/4. The post brought back a lot of memories. Thanks John:D

[RF Overlord]

Try this one, too...

more drag slicks (http://www.mickeythompsontires.com/strip.html)

[vaderv]

Hey I had a slick on my schwinn banana peel... off topic, maybe but waxin nostalgic must count a little. ; )

[BODYMAN]

Sarge, one of my very good friends owns a tire store I can talk to him and see what would be the best size slick for you. also I'am sure I can get them at cost or very close to. youre car is not lowered is it? send me a pm and I'll see what I can do on monday!!!!

Todd

[Billatpro]

Mac, what ever you do, stay away from anything to do with "cheater" they were at the time a cheap fix for running slicks on the street and strip. Some stock eliminator guy's used them to skirt the rules until NHRA wrote them into the rule book. The fact is they were a bad compromise on the track and down right "dangerous" on the street.

The two links posted should give you every thing you need.

[cyclone03]

You may want to look at the street legal type race tires too.
BFG drag radials and the Nitto's too.
I've heard they both work well on automatic equiped cars.
Pick up a MuscleMustangs and Fast Fords magazine and check out the adds.
Because of the small rear brakes on the rear you could also use a 15-16" rim so size wise that will give you a lot of options.
I'm not talking running shorter tires,the 15"wheel with a taller sidewall will give the tire more cushion and bite.Tire will wrapp up more.

[tetsu]

Sarge, I don't think you'll need slicks. You might try some drag radials
though.

The Nittos are way cheap too.

Johnny

[B-26]

Check it out. www.jegs.com has M&H and I think they have 18 inchers. Good luck.

[Wags]

SergntMac,

I would suggest you try some drag radials. The only one who might need slicks on our cars right now is mensrea. I run Hooser slicks on my Chevelle. They make a good tire for alot less than MT or some of the others. If you run pure slicks, you cannot run them on the street. (which means you have to lug them to the track, and change them there) That is a real pain. What I have are what you guys are calling the "cheaters". They have two very small grooves running around the tire, and you can drive them to the track, let a little air out, run all day, and just drive home on them. keep in mind that I live pretty close to Joliet. They are NOT ment to be driven on like regular tires, and should not be. To get the most benefit from slicks, you really have to heat them up to get them sticky. I think that it would be very difficult to do with our cars with just gears and chip swaps.

Wags

Also, remember, if you are running slicks, you HAVE to have a driveshaft loop no matter what times you run.

[russ in VA]

Sarge,

Check out info on BFG's drag radial at tirerack.com:
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=BFGoodrich&tireModel=Comp+T%2FA+Drag+Radi al

They make a couple of sizes that would work well on the MM.
The stock 245/55/18's are 28.61 inches in diameter.
Find this using the following calculation:
245 (the width of the tire in mm's) times .55 = height of tire sidewall
divide by 25.4 to convert milimeter's to inches
mulitiply by 2 (sidewall figures into diameter twice of course)
and add the wheel diameter of 18"
gets you to 28.61"

Just FYI the front 235/50/18's are 27.25", or 4.75% shorter than the rears.

So drag radial sizes that are close are:
275/60/15 at 27.99" (or only 2.16% shorter than stock rear's)
255/60/16 at 26.04" (or 9.0% shorter)

Personally I'd go for the 255/60/16's since we know they will fit without hitting (only 10mm wider than stock and a fair amount shorter so clearance should not be an issue) AND being 9% shorter makes your 4.10's work like 4.47's!

There are similar tires available made by Nitto and sold by discounttiredirect.com. I've heard good things about them too, but somehow the BFG's seem more appropriate on the MM.

When you buy the wheels for the back, you can get some superfly "skinny's" for the front to decrease aero drag and rolling resistance. I'd put a shorter tire on the front to lower the car. The lower the car is, the smaller the hole you have to punch in the air and the less drag there will be. To calculate drag you measure the frontal silhouette of the vehicle including all the area below the front of the car so by making it lower, you also make it smaller ... therefore less drag.

Hope this is useful (and I don't put LML to sleep).

Russ

[UncleLar]

We saw Sarge's car in action today,I think he'll be able to warm up drag radials or slicks with no problems.:burnout:

[CRUZTAKER]

Someday, someone, should get digital video of one of his blasts. Just a short 40 second AVI would be nice for some who will never see it.

[merc406]

Sarge, always had my best runs with Goodyears.

[LincMercLover]

LOL, nice Russ!

Sarge,

Call it bias, but when it comes to slicks, I've always went with M/T's. They have a REALLY nice street legal (if you call 3 slices in a tire street legal) slick out that should be what you're looking for...

http://www.mickeythompsontires.com/strip.html

[SergntMac]

Thanks to everyone for the input, and a tip of the hat to Wags and Russ for going the extra mile. I talked this out with Wags yesterday (as much as we could talk in freezing gusts of wind) and after a dozen launches with a half dozen drivers, I could pretty much see where I was going to have problems.

Fortunately, B.F. Goodrich has come out with a new drag radial, with an aggressive "snake" like design. I like the way these look

http://www.bfgoodrichtires.com/bfgapp/catalog/tires/gforcetadragradial.jsp

This tire looks good, and is available in our stock MM sizes. That means I can get sneaky, slip these puppies on for the summer, and surprise 'em all. The tires come with the usual disclaimers about air pressure and so on, and the life expectancy is brief, but that's okay with me, a fresh set every spring is cool. I'll be trying them out, and at our next meet, y'all can see if the rubber can meet the road, and stick to it too.

Funny how I spent so much time and money trying to get my tires to spin, and now I don't want them to spin anymore...Go figure.

Thanks again for the advice.

[tetsu]

Sarge,

You may want to rethink daily driving on drag radials unless you never
plan to drive in ANY rain. :)

I'd get a set of extra rear rims to pop the DRs on.

Johnny