ITS STOCK

Hello everyone! I have just switched from a 305/35/18 M/T Street radial II to a 26x11.50x17 M/T ET Street.* I have heard the ET Streets are more consistent and will hook better than the radial tires, but how will it affect my ET and mph at the quarter?*From what I have heard the Bias plys tend to eat up some horsepower from there soft sidewalls, but how much mph will it steal from me?*The radials were on heavy stock repro wheels with stock c6 fronts*where the et streets are on a much lighter weld RTS wheels with front skinnies.*Right now I'm trapping 131-132mph n/a do you think I will lose some mph, stay the same, or gain some mph?

C5 Pete

While typically you might lose some MPH going from Radial to Bias - all else staying the same, You will likely pick up a little bit because of the weight you are removing by using the lighter drag pack and skinnies.

The Bias ply tire will reccover quicker from a spin.

ITS STOCK

Yea thats what I figured gain some from the skinnies in the front and lightweight rear wheels, but loose some from the softer sidewall.* I just hope I didn't spend $2k on a drag setup*to be at the same ET and MPH as I was on the heavy repros.
*
Does anyone have any real world experience switching from a radial to a bias ply all else being the same including diameter?*How much of a lose in mph did you experience if any?

Dennis50njJR

usually you can leave harder on Bias plys with less worry they absorb alot of the shock of the launch. they are alot lighter than a radial so you should pick up some et yet lose a little MPH. Good luck

LS1LT1

Yes, lighter than a M/T radial at least.

Eric Fischer

Stick cars don't like drag radials too much so your biggest gain in going to the bias ply tires will be due to better traction and thus better 60 foot times. Your MPH will stay about the same.

ITS STOCK

If mph stays the same with all else being equal or even loose 1-2 mph it won't be a big deal because the light wheels and skinnies should gain that mph back for me. I just don't want to lose 5+ mph from them. I might go to Atco this Sunday and see how they work out for me.

Ksths2

maybe i missed the detail, but when i ran the bias-ply rears i hope your running the same for the front, I used to run them with the stock front street radials and on the top end i could feel it wanting to wander around..... SCARY!
So now i'm still running the Hoosier QTPs with front skinnies & its stable & straight down the strip

ITS STOCK

Yes I'm running m&h bias ply front skinnies as well.

LS1LT1

I don't think you'll lose even that much. When people talk about losing some trap speed when using bias plies over radials it isn't necessarily going to be the same exact amount of loss for every type of car/power combo.
And depending on just how much traction was lost early on in the pass while on a drag radial that wasn't hooking, one can even gain trap speed when going to a bias ply.
But overall on late model NA Corvettes, I've seen many experience probably less than a 1mph loss in trap speeds when switching to bias plies from radials.

ITS STOCK

I can live with a 1 mph loss and should gain that back plus more with the lightweight weld wheels. To tell you the truth I never had a problem hooking with the radials. I have already cut 1.5's with them but it was just such a heavy combo, but by the end of last season they were getting worn so I needed a new set of tires so I bought my buddies old setup that he never used for a killer price. I had to get rid of at least 100lbs of rotating weight with this drag setup.*

skull

i run stock front rims on 275 and 11.50/18 bias ply in the rear and i dont know what rear end swaying your talking about lmao ive been stuck driving on them due to needing new street tires and ddrove threw a construction zone and the road was half tore up and i caught one of those cracks and tore up patches. OMG i think i loss 3 years off my life and deffinatly would of give ken block a run for his money

htown81vette

On my 98 Firebird (w/ LS1) I went from 10.90 to 10.66 by going from 29.0x15 Bias Ply Hoosiers to 27.7" Hoosier drag radials. But I also changed out to a bigger air lid so I'm not sure if the drag radial was responsible for all of the gain. But I'm going back to 28.0" bias ply Hoosiers because I did not like the inconsistency. Plus, the shock that it was putting on my car during launches made me cringe. I broke a transmission bellhousing first time out with the radials.

In addition, the Hoosier drag radials did not last very long...

LS1LT1

True. I've seen a set of Hoosier drag radials wear out in only 30-35 passes though I don't think that's too common.

htown81vette

mine didn't even last that long

LS1LT1

Wow.

ITS STOCK

I think some of the lose in ET was due to the gear change from the different size tires.