AWD
Best street tires for drag racing. Not drag radials or cheater slicks. Real street tires. I have 245 50 16 nittos 555R and I'm afraid of breaking something with the wheel hop they cause. I want to hear what people are doing on street tires. I don't know what is better, a ultra high performance "sticky" summer tire or a high performance all season with a nice soft side wall. Please tell me some good tires available. Also looking at going down in diameter, looking for tires that are sized 225 50 16.

Summer tires. Are about the best your gonna get for street tires.

two words..... Snow....tires....

You want a tire with a more forgiving sidewall so an ultra high performance tire with a stiff sidewall made for cornering is not really what you need. I run these Yokahamas on my car now and I really like the way they work for drag racing and/or just cruising. Yokohama AVID V4S Tires for Sale Online - Vulcan Tire Sales
They have a nice soft sidewall for a little extra give when launching while providing great traction and treadwear numbers. They are discontinued, but you might be able to find them around somewhere. In the link I provided above it talks about them being replaced by these, so they must be similar. Yokohama Avid Envigor on Tire Rack

These are just some that I recently have had experience with and would recommend, but good luck with whatever you choose.

P.S. I've heard of people having good luck with snow tires too.

I had a set of 555R's for less than a week on my car. I absolutely hated them. For street tires, I have had my best luck on ice racing tires; specifically on Nokian Hakkapellitta RSi's and General Altimax Arctic's.

You want a soft sidewall and a soft tread compound to have the tire react well at the track under launching. By reducing your air pressures down to the 17-22psi range, you will be able to have it act like a DOT slick and the sidewall and tread will flex quite nicely. I don't know if you will get into the 1.4-second 60's, but I was doing 1.52's pretty easily with them.

Both of the models I stated above are sold in your specified size of 225/50/R16.

You can also upsize the sidewall to get a bit better 60-foot from them and give you a taller final drive ratio. Here are some specs on these tires:

Nokian Hakkapellitta R
225/50/R16 - 20.9# - 25.3" rolling diameter
225/55/R16 - 23.6# - 25.7" rolling diameter
225/60/R16 - 24.0# - 26.6" rolling diameter ($143.00 NEW @ www.discounttiredirect.com)

Nokian Hakkapellitta RSi
225/50/R16 - Not Available
225/55/R16 - 23.6# - 25.7" rolling diameter
225/60/R16 - 24.0# - 26.6" rolling diameter

General Altimax Arctic
225/50/R16 - Not Available
225/55/R16 - 22.3# - 25.7" rolling diameter ($105.00 NEW @ www.discounttiredirect.com, $97.00 NEW @ www.tirerack.com)
225/60/R16 - 23.3# - 26.6" rolling diameter ($96.00 NEW @ www.tirerack.com)
235/60/R16 - 24.2# - 27.1" rolling diameter (111.00 NEW @ www.tirerack.com)

The General Altimax Arctic tires are substantially cheaper than the Hakkapellitta's also.


Your Nitto 555R's are 25.7" rolling diameter. They are around $135 each new.

Check out www.tirefactory.net, www.discounttiredirect.com, www.tirerack.com, www.bigbeartire.com, and www.waukegantire.net for more info on the tires I posted above.

Thanks Tim for the quick response! How much do these tires your talking about usually cost? And are they able to handle dry and wet roads when fully aired up while street driving? Tire life? Btw if you didn't know I'm Chris from Douglas AutoWorks, I believe you've helped Yusef out with some trans parts.

I have Nitto NT05 they are street tires they are not the NT05R they are by far the best tires I have 500awhp and they stick pretty good even lauching with a pressure of about 26psi.

I always used all season tires for drag racing

Devilman said:

Thanks Tim for the quick response! How much do these tires your talking about usually cost? And are they able to handle dry and wet roads when fully aired up while street driving? Tire life? Btw if you didn't know I'm Chris from Douglas AutoWorks, I believe you've helped Yusef out with some trans parts.

Click to expand...

Hey Chris, yup, that was me who helped Yusuf with his Evo 2!

I updated my previous thread with links and prices for most of the tire options I gave.

I have used the Hakkapellitta Q, Hakkapellitta 2 and Hakkapellitta RSi on my Eclipse and GVR4 over the years in an AWD configuration with track time. The RSi's lasted the longest while the Q's were the softest. Either way, I got 2-3 COMPLETE year-round seasons of driving on these tires with alot of street driving and quite a bit of AWD burnouts/launches. They last pretty darn good.

The General Altimax Arctic's are currently on my DD Subaru and work great with almost no wear with 14,000 street miles on them.

Both the Hakkapellitta RSi and Altimax Arctic tires are rated for 60,000 miles! They both stick like glue at the track also! Considering where you and I live, these are excellent options for kicking butt on a street tire.

I may have to look into these tires... Never thought of ice racing tires.

Awesome information contained in this thread!

Could you tell me the offset of your wheel? I am trying to get a 245/50/16 on my 2g. I believe the cars require similair offsets.

I live in the "valley of the sun" where summer temperatures can get into the 120s. I would not mind trying these two snow tires mentioned but I would prefer them in either a 17" or an 18". What do you fellahs believe would be the optimum and complete size for me? For example:

1. 205/50-17
2. 215/45-17
3. 215/50-17
4. 225/45-17
5. 215/40-18
6. 225/40-18

I would probably recommend NOT running them in a 17 or 18 unless you run a tall sidewall. As well, these will likely have higher wear patterns if you are driving them in regular 90+degree temps.

Boug, I would probably look into the Mickey Thompson drag radial instead for your tire temperatures, though I do not know how long they would last either.

You could always try a set of something like Blizzaks or Altimax Arctics and see how they do as they will be the cheaper ones out there to go with.

twicks69 said:

I would probably recommend NOT running them in a 17 or 18 unless you run a tall sidewall. As well, these will likely have higher wear patterns if you are driving them in regular 90+degree temps.

Boug, I would probably look into the Mickey Thompson drag radial instead for your tire temperatures, though I do not know how long they would last either.

You could always try a set of something like Blizzaks or Altimax Arctics and see how they do as they will be the cheaper ones out there to go with.

Click to expand...

My three choices, in order, are:
1. Nokian Hakkapellitta RSI
2. General Altimax Arctic
3. Yokohama Avid Envigor

I will track what I can mileage-wise for each set and report back to the base. I am fairly settled on at least a 17" wheel, so what diameter should I get?

offset of your previous wheels still a secret?

I live in the "valley of the sun" where summer temperatures can get into the 120s. I would not mind trying these two snow tires mentioned but I would prefer them in either a 17" or an 18". What do you fellahs believe would be the optimum and complete size for me?

Click to expand...

You really shouldnt run snow/ice tires in temps like that. If you were going to run them only at the track then they would work. Running snow tires on road temps greater than 140* is a BAD idea.

the 225-45-17 would be a really nice mix of width, sidewall softness and overall diameter.

offset of your previous wheels still a secret?

Click to expand...

theres a thread for that

http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/handling-tech/231004-tire-size-recommendation-request.html

+42 with i think 5mm spacers

cantgo2fast said:

You really shouldnt run snow/ice tires in temps like that. If you were going to run them only at the track then they would work. Running snow tires on road temps greater than 140* is a BAD idea. the 225-45-17 would be a really nice mix of width, sidewall softness and overall diameter.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the feedback.

I ended up buying the new Sumitomo HTR A/S P01s 225 50 16. First thing i noticed after putting them on the car was how much better the car drove on the street tires compared to the drag radials.

Took my car to the track this past weekend, Import Wars at GLD WI.
Left my car on 25psi spring pressure being i was racing in a bracket class.
Ended the day winning 3rd place and running a 11.24@126 with my best 60ft ever of 1.63.
Not bad for the first time ever drag racing the car on street tires.

Should go 10s all day with 5psi more boost, not bad for a 20G...

The car looked good at the track! Good job on the Super Quick 3rd place too! I was helping out Dale with the blue Evo and was over by Yusuf and Reichen when I had free time.

Those are decent 60's for street tires on that track prep, as I believe Yusuf was doing only 1.52-1.55 range with low 10's @ 150+ mph. Aren't those the same tires that Reichen and Yusuf use also on their Evo 2's?

Yusef is using the older HTR+s but they are no longer made, Reichen is on 17inch REO1Rs. For the money i think these are the new street tire for DSMs.

Man I miss the import wars at gld. Hopfully next time me and the wife are in chitown, we can make it to one.

im currently using 255/35/18 bfg g-force kdw's and have nothing bad to say about them. they do however look crazy on 18x7.5 rims.. .