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Best tire for street / drag

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jakk220

10+ Year Contributor
1,319
312
Nov 13, 2010
Akron, Ohio
Long story short I am currently on Sumitomo HTRZ III which are the older / better models. I have been fighting AWD wheel hop and just recently upgraded my motor mounts and am now looking for a stickier tire. The wheel hop was bad enough that I just snapped a tooth off a 4 Spyder gear. I will also be doing poly control arm bushings as well.

I want something I can drive / launch on the street and the drag strip. Not a drag specific tire. I would prefer something that will corner decent too as I may attend the occasional track day. But I have to do something about this wheel hop on the launch. I can't afford to keep replacing diffs.

I'm currently looking at the Re71R and the Firehawk Indy 500 but wanted to see what everyone else reccommends.
 
Long story short I am currently on Sumitomo HTRZ III which are the older / better models. I have been fighting AWD wheel hop and just recently upgraded my motor mounts and am now looking for a stickier tire. The wheel hop was bad enough that I just snapped a tooth off a 4 Spyder gear. I will also be doing poly control arm bushings as well.

I want something I can drive / launch on the street and the drag strip. Not a drag specific tire. I would prefer something that will corner decent too as I may attend the occasional track day. But I have to do something about this wheel hop on the launch. I can't afford to keep replacing diffs.

I'm currently looking at the Re71R and the Firehawk Indy 500 but wanted to see what everyone else reccommends.

The RE71r is a fantastic tire. I run them myself. But being used as a drag tire is definitely not it's intended use case. It has stiff sidewalls for cornering not soft sidewalls for drag racing type applications. If you want your car to take a corner and drive to the track on the same tire, that is the one you want. For drag racing, I'd look elsewhere if it were me.
 
The RE71r is a fantastic tire. I run them myself. But being used as a drag tire is definitely not it's intended use case. It has stiff sidewalls for cornering not soft sidewalls for drag racing type applications. If you want your car to take a corner and drive to the track on the same tire, that is the one you want. For drag racing, I'd look elsewhere if it were me.[/QUOTE

Well the thing is that I do more street driving than anything. But when I do go to the dragstrip (maybe 5 times a year or so) I don't want to be wheel hopping and shattering differentials. So I'm looking for that in-between.
 
Gotcha. I have never noticed wheel hop with them. They typically just grab and go but they will spin before they hop. Maybe a suspension issue in your case? Also, the RE71Rs are excellent on the street but prepared to get a new set with more frequency than most other tires. Bridgestone calls them a 200 treadwear. After about 10 autocross events and 2k miles of street driving they are about done.
 
I've been running the Hankook Ventus V12 evo 2 tires which handle great on the street and put down 1.5 60 fts at the drag strip. I even got them when tire rack was doing the $100 rebate on them so got all four tires for $340!

Your wheel hop kind of sounds like you have a suspension problem going on or something isn't right in your drivetrain.
 
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I've been running the Hankook Ventus V12 evo 2 tires which handle great on the street and put down 1.5 60 fts at the drag strip. I even got them when tire rack was doing the $100 rebate on them so got all four tires for $340!

Your wheel hop kind of sounds like you have a suspension problem going on or something isn't right in your drivetrain.

Yeah I was beginning to think that myself. I just thought maybe it was the sumitomo tires. It seems to be worse on the track than then street.

I'm going to be doing all poly bushings in the suspension while I'm waiting on the transmission to get back and going over everything I can think of. Could it be something with the driveshaft causing wheel hop? I'm going to try running the coilovers at full stiff all the way around too.
 
I've been running the Hankook Ventus V12 evo 2 tires which handle great on the street and put down 1.5 60 fts at the drag strip. I even got them when tire rack was doing the $100 rebate on them so got all four tires for $340!

Your wheel hop kind of sounds like you have a suspension problem going on or something isn't right in your drivetrain.
MeToo with Ventus Z214s!!! 84/each or something like that.
Treadware rating...40...
And who has the "Tire Rack Too???:cool: :shhh: :)

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MeToo with Ventus Z214s!!! 84/each or something like that.
Treadware rating...40...
And who has the "Tire Rack Too???:cool: :shhh: :)

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

You show me where to get them at 84 a piece and I'll daily them with a 40 treadwear. Haha. You're missing a digit I believe. But while I do want a set of slicks some day, a tire that can do both is a little more in the budget at the moment.
 
You show me where to get them at 84 a piece and I'll daily them with a 40 treadwear. Haha. You're missing a digit I believe. But while I do want a set of slicks some day, a tire that can do both is a little more in the budget at the moment.
I bought them on Tire Rack, under 90 each on close out. That was 2 years ago and they were moving out old stock and replacing them with fresh. I found the rack in a box at a mechanics sale and snagged it for $20. I have had them stored in my bedroom on that rack until this years car comes out, at which time I think I will mount them up and see how they work. Just like others say about keeping them out of cold weather, I stored them inside. Honest to god, under 90 each. Was a killer deal and my son bought 2 for his Spyder, they hooked good but wore quick.
 
I bought them on Tire Rack, under 90 each on close out. That was 2 years ago and they were moving out old stock and replacing them with fresh. I found the rack in a box at a mechanics sale and snagged it for $20. I have had them stored in my bedroom on that rack until this years car comes out, at which time I think I will mount them up and see how they work. Just like others say about keeping them out of cold weather, I stored them inside. Honest to god, under 90 each. Was a killer deal and my son bought 2 for his Spyder, they hooked good but wore quick.

Wow that is a steal. Like 400 off for the set kind of a steal. I wish I would have seen a deal like that.

Hoosier Qtp's. Have a ton of street miles on them. Including interstate, rain, and mountain driving. They are great for keeping the drivetrain alive and great 60fts.

Yeah they would make for great 60ft times. But if I were going to get something like that I would just get slicks and then have a street tire for normal driving.

Really I'm not looking for a street tire to start knocking out 1.3 60fts. I just want something that will give me enough grip to not wheel hop at the track / street and still have some cornering ability.
 
Hoosier Qtp's. Have a ton of street miles on them. Including interstate, rain, and mountain driving. They are great for keeping the drivetrain alive and great 60fts.

I have a set of Hoosier QTP's for my track setup but I wouldn't run them on the street, those will wear quickly at $200 a tire.

@jakk220 - Tire Rack has the Hankook Ventus V12 evo 2's for the 97 GSX (215/50ZR17) for $118 each and are currently offering a $60 rebate through 7/14/19. So you could get them for just over $400 plus mounting fees.

Like I said earlier, I was cutting 1.5 60' running mid 10's and never had an issue with them spinning.

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tire...12+evo2&cameFrom=selectOE&partnum=15WR7K120XL
 
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I have a set of Hoosier QTP's for my track setup but I wouldn't run them on the street, those will wear quickly at $200 a tire.

@jakk220 - Tire Rack has the Hankook Ventus V12 evo 2's for the 97 GSX (215/50ZR17) for $118 each and are currently offering a $60 rebate through 7/14/19. So you could get them for just over $400 plus mounting fees.

Like I said earlier, I was cutting 1.5 60' running mid 10's and never had an issue with them spinning.

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tire...12+evo2&cameFrom=selectOE&partnum=15WR7K120XL

Awesome thanks. I will look into giving them a shot! Im skeptical on the v12s because I had the original ones and I absolutely hated them on the road course / drag strip. Street driving they weren't bad though. If you say the new ones are improved I would be willing to give them another shot at that price point.
 
Awesome thanks. I will look into giving them a shot! Im skeptical on the v12s because I had the original ones and I absolutely hated them on the road course / drag strip. Street driving they weren't bad though. If you say the new ones are improved I would be willing to give them another shot at that price point.

I've had a great experience so I hope it wasn't just a good batch haha
 
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