lordofwar

I read that running drag radials on the street is great for traction.my question is are they reliable with front stock tires?is it safe to run them all the time,how does it affect handling?input from guys who do this would be helpful.thinking of getting a set,don't track the car,but have fun with it in the summer.how are they on expressway at high speed.

Tray333

I am not an expert but, but I have ran Mickey Thompson ET streets on 18 inch reproduction on back, and tried toyo 888r's and nitto's invo on stock front 19 wheels on my 2018 a8 z06. I was told that running the stock run flats with drag radial may be sketchy. Something about the sidewall flex on drag radials was a lot more than run flats, which causes the car not to track in line properly, or corner. To be honest I never, pushed it hard in a corner to find out. I daily drive my car with this set up around town and I like it. I prefer to switch back to my cup 2's for triple digit driving ( On highway) or road track, for that razor sharp turns the cup 2 are know for, all other combos I have tried felt squashy and lose with drag radial. The front nitto's felt bouncy with 30 psi, at 25psi seemed to be their sweet spot. The toyo 888r in front is noisy but at triple digits seemed better and 32 psi.. Drag radial do not like rain!!! As far as going 1320 feet drag radials are the best for those street legal cars, of course I am bias because of my current rwhp is almost 4 digits., and nothing really hooks up for me on a dig on public streets without warming them up. I am in the process of the 15 inch conversion with a set of welds and MT radial pro's. and back to the toyo's 888r on stock rims on front for my "not raining" daily driver. Of course, you have to factor if you get a flat with non run flats, I just always carry cash for a wrecker if that happens. I hope others will pipe in to answer your question.

lordofwar

So you had no problems with drag radials on back and stock front tires for everyday driving and not hard cornering?thanks for your input.

0JUICED1

If you have the stones you can daily them. I've daily driven with Nitto NT05Rs and Micky Thompson ET Street R's and you won't notice them most of the time. At highway speeds the back end will float and it's not a very comfortable feeling. They don't handle very good in and out of turns. The sway doesn't really inspire confidence to hit a turn hard. Rain? Keep it under 40 or it gets dicey quick.
You could also go with a road race tire. The R888r is a nice tire. It'll handle the highway and turns fine. They'll still be a little sketchy in the rain and won't hook in a straight line like a drag radial but they are better suited for daily driving imo. Only real negative to me is they are loud...lot of street noise. But, there are also plenty of tires like this that might work for you.

Tray333

I never had the Michelin pilots or cups on fronts stock front wheels while running drag radials on back. I took others advice and never tried it. I have only tried the nitto's and toyos on the fronts stock wheel.

jstewart

I have and still do run the Nitto NT05 drag radials (345 X 19) with the stock front Michelin run flats on the street and 1/8th mile.I have not run the quarter with this combo but have run the car up to 160 from a 1st gear roll (A8) on the interstate with no handling problems. I also have a set of 18 X 12 rears with MT drag radials that I have not had on the car yet so I don't know if there will be a problem with them. Prudence is probably called for here and I think I will put a set of Continentals on the front when I run 1/4's with the MT's this spring.

123sugey

Smart idea

Dr.Ron

While I cannot speak to daily driving on DR's, when I used to drag race (my prior C5Z and my C6Z's) I drove to the track many times on drag radials with stock front tires. I never had a problem doing that OR on the track. Couldn't even tell there were DR's out back really. This was not pushing the car hard on turns and such mind you.
The drive to the track was the better part of an hour each way fyi.

Ron

Thomasmoto

I've driven my ZR1 with 325-30-19 MT's on the rear and regular PSS on the front many times with no issue. BUT, you have to keep the psi up around 30-34 and they don't feel good in the rain. On my Z06 I keep DR's on it probably 90-95% of the time. I have A/S3's on the front of it. And keep the psi up as well. And again not in the rain, but other than that I've had no issues doing this for years-42+ years with high-performance street cars. Now, I don't drive aggressively on the street I take it very easy. I'm sure that there will be many here that will tell you "not to miss match/mix" tires, but I've never had a problem doing so. Just FYI, but my family doctor has done so for many years as well. He has a C7 Z51 and keeps his drag radials on all the time. Before this he had a C6 Z51 and did the same thing with it.

Paul_Z06

So you don't drag race any more, boomer?