some serious math.......

[4g63mightymax]

I have a question that I am hoping somebody here can answer. I put a 4g63 turbo engine into a 90 mightymax pickup truck. Needless to say I have zero traction. I am wondering if anybody knows the formula to find out what the biggest tire is that I can put on my truck without hurting performance from being too wide or too tall. For example, if I had perfectly clean pavement, 220 hp lets say....and my truck weighs 3500lbs.....what is the formula to find out how much tire I need on the road for best traction in a straight line?
There has to be a way to do this besides guess and check...
Thanks for the help
jeremy

 

[GalantVR41062]

what size tires do you have now? some 245/somthing(45ish)/R16.

 

[4g63mightymax]

at the moment i have stock tires and rims.....they are way too small and i know this. i would guess they are like 205/65/15's?????
maybe???
im not too sure, whatever stock tires are i guess.....
thanks
jeremy

 

[rdrkt]

Those types of calculations are most important if you are building a 1/4 mile vechicle. I think the most important thing is how wide a tire your truck can accommodate. If you can fit a 275 back there do it. Otherwise 245 should be sufficient.

 

[Tevenor]

Since this thread seems devoid of any thing resembling 'math', thread moved.

 

[4g63mightymax]

I would like to know the math involved in getting the right tire to horsepower ratio. I have full intentions of narrowing the frame, so it doesnt matter what tires CAN fit on there. I will make whatever tires fit on there that I need. any thoughts???
thanks again
jeremy

 

[4g63mightymax]

I do agree that I havent seen any math yet to answer my question, but I do think its a extreme tuners question and shouldnt have been moved..........how many newbies can answer what tire size matches there horsepower/weight ratio?? I think we all could definitely learn a lot from this if sombody has the answer....
On another note....
I do plan on drag racing this truck, so that is precisely why I am so interested in tire size. I want to get everything right on paper before I go beat the snot out of it at the track....I have built a lot of custom truck frames and have full intentions of narrowing this one and keeping its stock appearance more or less..... So tire size is what I need to know at this point because there is no point in overdoing it.
thanks again and I appreciate all opinions good or bad.....
jeremy

 

[JET]

The main thing on the track is to get the shift points right. To get the biggest contact patch you want to go as wide as you can go and also get the biggest circumference. Unfortunately going with a bigger circumference adds weight farther away from the wheel, which in turn is harder to turn (takes more power). Therefore, do like the others said and go with the widest tires you can fit and also the stickiest. The Falken Azenis' are great, but only last 5-7k miles.

 

[LightningGSX]

You start losing power on any wheel/tire combo over 12 inches in diameter

 

[4g63mightymax]

Well if wider is better, how wide is too wide? Do I put on some 345/35/15's......ofcourse not, that would obviously be overkill and therefore slowing me down...... now back to the question.....anybody have the math to figure this out? or could u give me some direction on where to find it?
(I dont mean to sound like a dick even though it sounds that way)
thanks again for all the responses, I really appreciate it
jeremy

 

[Got Grip]

The answer to your question is that there is no math to figure this out properly. The reason there is no math for this is because every suspension set up requires a different amount of rubber and also, different tires have different compounds and side wall flex. All of these affect the traction, its not as simple as power to weight. There are cars in the 10.5" slick class that can almost hook on a 10.5" wide slick with a 4-link rear suspension running mid 8's. There are also cars runing 14" wide slicks and a ladder bar suspension that dont hook running 11's. It all depends on the suspension.

 

[NOSNUSE]

try www.smokemup.com they have automath there to figure tire size.

 

[hose101772]

im sorry,i know this is'nt exactly the topic.i have to ask.how did the install go?was it a 2.0 block from the get go or did you install an entire engine?the reason i ask,i want one.i've got a starion i don't like and would really like to stuff the drivetrain into a D50.again,sorry for the hijack.

 

[4g63mightymax]

www.members.aol.com/bagged1964/mightymax.html
hope that helps.......i will update it more in the very near future.... trust me u will want to see the latest....
-jeremy