Bias-Ply streets vs. Radial streets

[Luke]

I've been using the P275/50R15 26" tall MT ET street radial. I'm almost running out 3rd, trapping at 117mph. My best 60' was 1.73 while pedaling a 4psi launch. I've decided to move up to a 28" tall tire. Other posts I've been looking at say that the 28" P275/60R15 MT ET street radial is the best chioce for the street and a good 60' time. Is this really a better choice than the Hoosier QTP 28.00 x 11.50-15 bias-ply. Sofar the ET Street radial seems to be the better choice. What do you guys think? If anybody's tried both, I'd really like to hear your opinion. Thanks

 

[DR BOOST]

the radial has much better street manners and hooks just as well if not better. i was able to get a 1.55 on the drag radial and 1.46 on slicks.
bias ply street slicks are becoming obsolete.


surej

 

[Luke]

What diameter?

the radial has much better street manners and hooks just as well if not better. i was able to get a 1.55 on the drag radial and 1.46 on slicks.
bias ply street slicks are becoming obsolete.


surej

What size were your ET Street Radials? Do you think it's harder to get a good 60' out of the 26" vs. the 28?"

 

[DR BOOST]

i was using 275/60-15.....i dont know which would 60 ft better.

this year , ill be running a 325/50-15...ill let u know how it works

 

[Westside500]

I've been using the P275/50R15 26" tall MT ET street radial. I'm almost running out 3rd, trapping at 117mph. My best 60' was 1.73 while pedaling a 4psi launch. I've decided to move up to a 28" tall tire. Other posts I've been looking at say that the 28" P275/60R15 MT ET street radial is the best chioce for the street and a good 60' time. Is this really a better choice than the Hoosier QTP 28.00 x 11.50-15 bias-ply. Sofar the ET Street radial seems to be the better choice. What do you guys think? If anybody's tried both, I'd really like to hear your opinion. Thanks

Drag radials suck..period.. I bias ply will stick better. Why? its called a wrinkle wall. If you are making power.. a drag radial will NOT yield good short times.. not talking 1.6, 1.5' if you want to go fast.. its all in the 60' If your 60 is ****ty.. so will your 330' and so on.. Get some slicks or anything with a "wrinkle wall" go to the track and let if fly. Bias ply can be driven on the street everyday.. did for years on the many cars I have owned. Do yourself a favor and buy some Et streets or Quick Times and leave the "fag radials" in the store

 

[turbojimmy]

Drag radials suck..period.. I bias ply will stick better. Why? its called a wrinkle wall. If you are making power.. a drag radial will NOT yield good short times.. not talking 1.6, 1.5' if you want to go fast.. its all in the 60' If your 60 is ****ty.. so will your 330' and so on.. Get some slicks or anything with a "wrinkle wall" go to the track and let if fly. Bias ply can be driven on the street everyday.. did for years on the many cars I have owned. Do yourself a favor and buy some Et streets or Quick Times and leave the "fag radials" in the store

Drag Radials wrinkle up, too. At least I assume what that pattern in the dust on the side of my MT radials is. I actually wrinkled them up at a stoplight once. I've gotten a best 60' time of 1.53 on 28" tall (275-60) MT ET streets with 20 PSI in them and an easy foot-brake launch. There are guys that have gotten 1.4s out of them. I could barely get 1.6xx times out of my Hoosier bias-ply DOTs (yes, they did wrinkle too). The bias-ply tires feel unstable cornering and changing lanes at highway speeds. Not saying that they ARE unstable, but the experience on radials is a night and day difference. Bias-ply tire days are numbered.

Jim

 

[Westside500]

Drag Radials wrinkle up, too. At least I assume what that pattern in the dust on the side of my MT radials is. I actually wrinkled them up at a stoplight once. I've gotten a best 60' time of 1.53 on 28" tall (275-60) MT ET streets with 20 PSI in them and an easy foot-brake launch. There are guys that have gotten 1.4s out of them. I could barely get 1.6xx times out of my Hoosier bias-ply DOTs (yes, they did wrinkle too). The bias-ply tires feel unstable cornering and changing lanes at highway speeds. Not saying that they ARE unstable, but the experience on radials is a night and day difference. Bias-ply tire days are numbered.

Jim

Okay so you got a 1.53 short time.. have you tried using a slick and make a comparison? Do you have a trans brake?

"Bias ply days are numbered" so you saying slicks will be replaced by radials? People who are going fast will always be on a BIAS PLY tire.

 

[turbojimmy]

Okay so you got a 1.53 short time.. have you tried using a slick and make a comparison? Do you have a trans brake?

"Bias ply days are numbered" so you saying slicks will be replaced by radials? People who are going fast will always be on a BIAS PLY tire.

The question is about bias-ply street tires. I didn't think I needed to clarify that. Bias-ply street tire days are numbered. They are dinosaurs and have no practical use. Obviously slicks will probably continue to be bias-ply unless some new whiz-bang technology improves upon the design. MT actually makes a radial slick for some reason - not sure what the advantage is.

I don't have a trans brake. I have used a slick and frankly didn't do as well as I have with the drag radials, but it was only a 26" slick and it was before I had much time behind the wheel of the car. I don't disagree that 'real' fast cars do it on slicks, but the original question was about a street tire. The drag radials offer very little compromise for a street car. I drive my car to and from the track and don't want to bother changing tires once I get there.

Jim

 

[Westside500]

The question is about bias-ply street tires. I didn't think I needed to clarify that. Bias-ply street tire days are numbered. They are dinosaurs and have no practical use. Obviously slicks will probably continue to be bias-ply unless some new whiz-bang technology improves upon the design. MT actually makes a radial slick for some reason - not sure what the advantage is.

I don't have a trans brake. I have used a slick and frankly didn't do as well as I have with the drag radials, but it was only a 26" slick and it was before I had much time behind the wheel of the car. I don't disagree that 'real' fast cars do it on slicks, but the original question was about a street tire. The drag radials offer very little compromise for a street car. I drive my car to and from the track and don't want to bother changing tires once I get there.

Jim

Fair enough.... no hard feelings my friend..
Warren

 

[turbojimmy]

Fair enough.... no hard feelings my friend..
Warren

Definitely not. You can't take this interweb thing too seriously.

Jim

 

[Luke]

Drag radials suck..period.. I bias ply will stick better. Why? its called a wrinkle wall. If you are making power.. a drag radial will NOT yield good short times.. not talking 1.6, 1.5' if you want to go fast.. its all in the 60' If your 60 is ****ty.. so will your 330' and so on.. Get some slicks or anything with a "wrinkle wall" go to the track and let if fly. Bias ply can be driven on the street everyday.. did for years on the many cars I have owned. Do yourself a favor and buy some Et streets or Quick Times and leave the "fag radials" in the store

I've already decided on a set of MT ET Drags For the track. But I'm looking for the best rubber that won't get me pulled over on the weekends. The police in my area seem to be pretty good at spotting that... I see mustang guys pulled over for trying to pull off slicks on the street almost every other week. That's why this thread was started. I know that 60' is important which is why I want tires that can handle a good launch. I haven't come across anybody who can get a 1.50 60' on Bias-ply ET Streets or Hoosier Quicktime Pros... All the praise in the magazine articles and threads seem to be for the MT ET Street Radial (The one everyone likes to call "Drag Radial").

What I really want to know is why, according to what I've found on this message board, the 26" radial with 10" of tread width doesn't seem to yield any better than a 1.70 60' and the 28" radial 9.2" of tread width seems to be good for 1.50s? Can anyone shed any light on this?

 

[turbojimmy]

What I really want to know is why, according to what I've found on this message board, the 26" radial with 10" of tread width doesn't seem to yield any better than a 1.70 60' and the 28" radial 9.2" of tread width seems to be good for 1.50s? Can anyone shed any light on this?

It's because of the height. That extra 2" gives you more sidewall to flex. The added height also gives you a mechanical advantage by effectively making your gear ratio taller (numerically decreasing).

Jim

 

[johnplogii]

I can speak for the et street bias ply tires & they sucked on my car. Best 60ft was 1.59 & averaged 1.65. I don't know about the hoosier qtp's but I switched to hoosier slicks & average 1.50 60ft now with a best of 1.48. It will go faster as soon as I replace the stock slipping limited slip with a spool. I have never ran drag radials but know a guy at the local track running the mt radials on a malibu wagon that runs 1.45 60's on the back tires & 1.35 if he doesn't wheelie accross the 60 ft mark. HTH

 

[evil666]

What I really want to know is why, according to what I've found on this message board, the 26" radial with 10" of tread width doesn't seem to yield any better than a 1.70 60' and the 28" radial 9.2" of tread width seems to be good for 1.50s? Can anyone shed any light on this?[/QUOTE]

I disagree, my best 60ft was a 1.52 on 275/50/15 MT Drag radial.

Marco.

86 Grand National t-top (60780km)
stock long block, stock suspension, 12 inch red stripe convertor (2800stall), te44, smc alk injection (95 % etanol), 25.5lbs boost, 94 octane, hooker cat back with dyno max ultra flow muffers, 42 ½ lbs 009 injectors, turbotweak alky chip, thdp, mease 24 row IC, Ron Custom max boost brake module, MT drag radials (275/50/15) 3835lbs race weight with driver. (Torque convertor locked only after car shifted in third), rjc power plate, rjc boost controller, zeitronix wideband, HR motor mounts, comp cam 980 valve springs.
BEST E/T
60FT=1.55
1/8= 7.34
1/4= 11.59
MPH=118
BEST 60FT=1.52

 

[ijames]

What I really want to know is why, according to what I've found on this message board, the 26" radial with 10" of tread width doesn't seem to yield any better than a 1.70 60' and the 28" radial 9.2" of tread width seems to be good for 1.50s? Can anyone shed any light on this?

The taller tire has a longer contact patch sitting still, about 10% or so, which makes up for the narrower tread. Then, at launch when the sidewall wrinkles up the contact patch gets even longer but the taller tire has taller sidewalls so can wrinkle more.

 

[Luke]

I disagree, my best 60ft was a 1.52 on 275/50/15 MT Drag radial.

Marco.

86 Grand National t-top (60780km)
stock long block, stock suspension, 12 inch red stripe convertor (2800stall), te44, smc alk injection (95 % etanol), 25.5lbs boost, 94 octane, hooker cat back with dyno max ultra flow muffers, 42 ½ lbs 009 injectors, turbotweak alky chip, thdp, mease 24 row IC, Ron Custom max boost brake module, MT drag radials (275/50/15) 3835lbs race weight with driver. (Torque convertor locked only after car shifted in third), rjc power plate, rjc boost controller, zeitronix wideband, HR motor mounts, comp cam 980 valve springs.
BEST E/T
60FT=1.55
1/8= 7.34
1/4= 11.59
MPH=118
BEST 60FT=1.52

How are you launching your car?

 

[evil666]

How are you launching your car?

On foot brake at about 9 lbs of boost and 16 psi of air in the tires.

Marco.

86 Grand National t-top (60780km)
stock long block, stock suspension, 12 inch red stripe convertor (2800stall), te44, smc alk injection (95 % etanol), 25.5lbs boost, 94 octane, hooker cat back with dyno max ultra flow muffers, 42 ½ lbs 009 injectors, turbotweak alky chip, thdp, mease 24 row IC, Ron Custom max boost brake module, MT drag radials (275/50/15) 3835lbs race weight with driver. (Torque convertor locked only after car shifted in third), rjc power plate, rjc boost controller, zeitronix wideband, HR motor mounts, comp cam 980 valve springs.
BEST E/T
60FT=1.55
1/8= 7.34
1/4= 11.59
MPH=118
BEST 60FT=1.52