Any fwd's with 26" tall slicks?

[daren_p]

I will be picking up a set of drag radials (Hoosier) or slicks (Hoosier Quick Time Pro) to help my horrible traction issues at the track. I'm leaning towards the drag radials because I've heard some say the 26" tall slicks are hard on stock drivetrain parts. Now on the other hand I don't want to get the radials to find out I still have wheel hop with them (which I guess can be just as hard on the drivetrain). So guys running 26" tall slicks in fwds, what kind of experiences are you having with stock drivetrain components? Should I worry about running these or stick to the drag radial?

 

[turbotwin77]

Well first of all how much power are you putting down, because if you dont have atleast 400+ whp then i would lean toward drag radials and you should be fine. You will have to slip the clutch alittle just so you will not have the wheel hop and it should get you of the line in a good 60 foot. Slicks will kill you if you dont have the power.

 

[daren_p]

Thanks for the input so far, actually, glad you bring that up as that was another issue I have heard. As for power was putting down 350+ whp at the track this past year. Haven't ran the car on the dyno but based on my buddies gst that has & when you compare our logs, airflow, track mph, etc. I would guestimate I'm probably right around the 370 whp mark. Next year this will probably increase abit so will probably be right around the 400 whp mark but more then likely will not be a whole lot over the 400whp mark in the next few years as I'm still on the stock 7 bolt bottom end & try not to push it too much. Seems I'll be right on the line as far as power goes. Guess I need more input on this part of the desicion as well.

 

[Zex4g63]

Radials are harder on the drivetrain than QTP's. I had QTP's on the car but I am currently running ET street radials. I havn't broken anything yet other than the rear motor mount. You want to be sure to preload the driveline or it will break. You will need a small spacer in the front because the 26's will rub the spindle ever so slightly. For what it's worth, on the 8500 rev limiter it will go thru the traps at 123-125 mph.

 

[rhamlinii]

Radials are harder on the drivetrain than QTP's. I had QTP's on the car but I am currently running ET street radials. I havn't broken anything yet other than the rear motor mount. You want to be sure to preload the driveline or it will break. You will need a small spacer in the front because the 26's will rub the spindle ever so slightly. For what it's worth, on the 8500 rev limiter it will go thru the traps at 123-125 mph.

I'm not trying to be funny or a jerk, but your talking about in thrid gear?

 

[Zex4g63]

I'm not trying to be funny or a jerk, but your talking about in thrid gear?

Yes. Sorry I should hae clarified that.

 

[rhamlinii]

Yes. Sorry I should hae clarified that.

Well why would you not want to use 4th gear?

 

[biglady112]

I am not sure if you can fit 26" slicks on a 2G. Maybe that is just the rear though. But I am certain that 24.5" tires will fit.

Go with the slicks. You will thank yourself in the end. All of the local CSM guys went with drag radials to cheap out. Now they all are making much more power and had no choice to go with slicks. Now they wonder why they ever had the others.

I used 24.5" slicks on my mirage. I can say I was cutting 1.7 sixty footers on a BLOWN stock suspension with the two step in dsmlink alone. Felt like AWD all over again.

Steven

 

[daren_p]

I am not sure if you can fit 26" slicks on a 2G. Maybe that is just the rear though. But I am certain that 24.5" tires will fit.

Go with the slicks. You will thank yourself in the end. All of the local CSM guys went with drag radials to cheap out. Now they all are making much more power and had no choice to go with slicks. Now they wonder why they ever had the others.

I used 24.5" slicks on my mirage. I can say I was cutting 1.7 sixty footers on a BLOWN stock suspension with the two step in dsmlink alone. Felt like AWD all over again.

Steven

As I had mentioned, a 24.5" tall slick would be my personal preference but with my brakes it isn't an option for me as no companies make a 24.5" tall slick for a 16" rim. This is the smallest rim I can run & there's noway I'm swapping brake setups just so I can run 15"s at the track. The 26" tall Hoosier QTP's will fit on the 2g's but its a very tight fit & probably have some slight rubbing on the steering knuckle but a spacer will take care of that. Read a thread somewhere with a guy running a similar setup to me, powerwise & he mentioned that he had to launch at like 6000+ rpms to prevent the car from bogging out with the QTP setup.

 

[Zex4g63]

Well why would you not want to use 4th gear?

You will loose some mph shifting it. I mentioned that because I have seen his ET's and on a 26' tire he won't need to shift to fourth. As far as myself, I hit the rev limiter at the 1000ft mark so yes I do shift.

 

[DamionGST]

If I where you I'd go with the slicks, for 1 drag radials on a fwd will never hook as good as a slick. Second drag radials usually = more broken parts than slicks, because drag radial side walls are stiff and have no give. But the slicks will give a little and help save drivetran parts.

 

[daren_p]

Hmmm, so what about my power level with the 26" QTP's? With only ~370-400whp, will this be enough to get them out of the hole properly? I don't want to have to rev to the moon just to get them not to bog. I currently launch at 4000 & would like to stay in the 4000-4500 range to minimize the breaking things potential.

Currently I trap at 113 mph & with my street tires I spend some time in fourth when I shift from 3rd at 7200. I don't bring it to 7500 because of my cams/2g intake mani but even if I did, I still would need some of fourth to cross the line. The car should easily be able to pick up a few more mph on the current tune as I only use about 35% throttle in first (breaking lose) & only run about 18 psi in second & have to feather the throttle & sometimes still break lose.

 

[1qkfwd]

First off if you are worried about breaking drivetrain stuff don't buy the slicks and just stick with the drag radials. The slicks will give you beter traction than the radials. With you setup it looks like you probably going to need slicks over the radials. 26" seem a little tall though. I don't know exactly the differances between the 1G & 2G front brakes but on my 1G I had to run a weld 15X8 wheel with a 3.5" backspace and to get it to clear the caliper I used a 7/16" spacer. It was enough to push the wheel away from the caliper instead of going over it. You might want to try and going to a local tire place and have them try on differant styles of 15" wheels. Just cause one doesn't fit don't mean that all won't fit. Just for a good comparison I run an AWD transmission and just because of the final drive differance I have to run a 26"X 8.5"X15" slick. The worsed part is to get a street tire that works I have to run a 275-50-15" Drag radial, and thats on a 15"X9" weld wheel. Its pushing it for clearance but it fits.

 

[danl]

I've never broken an axle on slicks. Every time I've broken an axle it was on my street radials. YouTube - eclipse 2006

 

[Zex4g63]

Slicks are definitely more forgiving. Even in the rwd world, radials are refered to as drivtran killers.

 

[daren_p]

Thanks for more input guys, I haven't made up my mind but I think I may be leaning more towards the 26" QTP's now. Do you think I'll have enough power to run these? For guys that are running these tires, what kind of launch rpms have you tried & what seems to work best? Do you heat them up much or just basically enough to clean them off? Also what kind of tires pressure are you running? The guy at Hoosier recommended around 16-20psi for their drag radials, I would think with the QTP's you may run less. With all the other info, also what kind of 60's are you seeing & do they break lose at all or?

I currently don't dump the clutch, I release it slowly to minimize wheel spin with the street tries. Do you think launching the car with this same method at the 4000-4500 range will work or will I have to rev it up more then that?

As for the question about 15" rims, yes I know different rims fit differently but I don't have a stock setup for brakes I have the Wilwood kit & for caliper clearance I need like 14" diameter on the inside of the rim. For this setup some 16's will clear while others won't & the ones that do clear aren't by much maybe .25", so I really doubt there are any 15" rims that will work.

Oh & danl, nice video!

 

[bullettdsm]

Here is a vid of a 2gnt'er (w/turbo) on the dyno. He dynoed (and ran a 12.2 with a 1.8 launch ) with 26x10's (I believe they are 15's. Contact crab1092 on this board to be sure). He bought these off the Hahn RS race car. He is in the same power range that you are talking about.

YouTube - Dyno Day @ CPT 10.27.07

My opinion on slicks vs radials are go with the slicks. You can always take away traction with the slicks (i.e. add air) but it's a lot harder to add traction with radials. I run a 24.5 X 15 X 8 on my NT. My power level is in my sig. I cut low 1.9's with them. I believe I'm at a power to weight ratio impasse right now.

MB

 

[kiggly]

Go for the 26" QTP's, or possibly even real 26" slicks. Drag radials are way, way harder on axles while providing less traction. They don't have the sidewall wrap you need to take the edge off the hit to the driveline.

The fastest FWD car I've heard of on drag radials is a VERY high 10. So far in SFWD trim on 24.5" slicks (no wheelie bars and 2400lbs), one Honda has gone 9.27 and several better than 9.50's.

Kevin

 

[Zex4g63]

One thing I will tell you Daren is when I put my QTP's on originally the car had Eibachs in it and they would rub the fenders on bump. You don't want to dump the clutch. You need to to preload the car if you want the axles to live. A linelock really comes in handy here. I'm running a full T4 and I leave at 5500 slipping the clutch with some wheel spin. At the same track as Danl which doesn't have access to the water box and prep is not the greatest my best 60' is 1.91 which I promptly missed 2nd gear on.

 

[daren_p]

So I guess I need to make sure I can even squeeze a 26" tall tire in with my current suspension, which is the Tokico ILK kit. They list the drop as a 1.5" I believe but it's probably more like 1.7". Looks like most running these are at/close too a stock ride height.

As for preloading the car, can you just do this with the ebrake or does the brakeing have to be done at the front end?

 

[bullettdsm]

So I guess I need to make sure I can even squeeze a 26" tall tire in with my current suspension, which is the Tokico ILK kit. They list the drop as a 1.5" I believe but it's probably more like 1.7". Looks like most running these are at/close too a stock ride height.

As for preloading the car, can you just do this with the ebrake or does the brakeing have to be done at the front end?

I preload with my e-brake. You will also need the e-brake for the burnout in the pit.

I ran 26's on my car once and didn't have a problem, BUT, they were drag radials (26x15x8) and that was on Tiens with AGX's (about a 1 1/2 " drop). I just ran my Daily with the 24.5x15x8 slicks and I had AGX's with Megan springs (2" drop). Visually it looks like I have room for more.

IDK if that helps any

MB

 

[Zex4g63]

This is mine with Eibach Pro kits. Looks cool but doesn't fly on the streets.

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[danl]

As for preloading the car, can you just do this with the ebrake or does the brakeing have to be done at the front end?

This works well for me:

YouTube - Incar FWD DSM vs Evo

Bad launch I know but you get the idea.

 

[daren_p]

Thanks for all the input (& video's ) guys. I'm now wondering about my drop with a 26" tall tire, when looksing as Zex4g63 pics. My drop should be more then the Pro kits & from the pics, the wheel gap looks very minimal to start with. I will only be running these at the track, so will have to measure things up when I get my car back.

 

[shortydtp]

check my pics