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M & H Drag radials?

4K views 9 replies 5 participants last post by  Magnum Wheel Man 
#1 ·
I want to change the look of my truck. Right now, I have a set of 17 "Cragars with P225 60 R17 s on all four corners. The truck has been lowered about 3 inches using a DJM kit. I want to give the truck a traditional look with some rake as well as wide drag appearance on the rear. Coker has 16 X 10 traditional steel wheels that can handle the M & H Drag Radials. I'm wondering how realistic these would be for the street. This is strictly a go fast weekend toy. Will probably put less than 1000 mile a year on it. What else might you guys recommend.

PS, anyone know of a out of the box traction bar setup that will fit the 66-79 F-100s?
 
#2 ·
Tires and wheels

hp246 said:
I want to change the look of my truck. Right now, I have a set of 17 "Cragars with P225 60 R17 s on all four corners. The truck has been lowered about 3 inches using a DJM kit. I want to give the truck a traditional look with some rake as well as wide drag appearance on the rear. Coker has 16 X 10 traditional steel wheels that can handle the M & H Drag Radials. I'm wondering how realistic these would be for the street. This is strictly a go fast weekend toy. Will probably put less than 1000 mile a year on it. What else might you guys recommend.

QUOTE]There are 17" drag radials to fit the Cragars. Depending on what style they are, they might look OK. 17" drag radials w/any real width to them are =/< 45 aspect ratio; getting a tall sidewall on a 17" drag radial tire might not be possible (at least it wasn't a few years ago).

My opinion is you won't get much rake (low front/high rear) by using different sized tires with the same diameter wheel. And using radically different wheel diameters/tire aspect ratios to get rake can upset the front end geometry if taken to the extreme. Bettter to set up the suspension to give the "look", instead of doing it with wheel/tire sizes alone.

If "realistic for the street" means can you safely use drag radials (or any "drag" street tire) in all conditions, you need to know they will not have the wet weather manners of a normal street tire. The tread is designed for dry pavement traction, not pumping water to prevent hydroplaning. So using them on the street- in fair weather- will work. Once the skies open up, not so much. But as long as you are careful you should be OK.
 
#3 · (Edited)
hp246 said:
I want to change the look of my truck. Right now, I have a set of 17 "Cragars with P225 60 R17 s on all four corners. The truck has been lowered about 3 inches using a DJM kit. I want to give the truck a traditional look with some rake as well as wide drag appearance on the rear. Coker has 16 X 10 traditional steel wheels that can handle the M & H Drag Radials. I'm wondering how realistic these would be for the street. This is strictly a go fast weekend toy. Will probably put less than 1000 mile a year on it. What else might you guys recommend.
There are 17" drag radials to fit the Cragars. Depending on what style they are, they might look OK. 17" drag radials w/any real width to them are =/< 45 aspect ratio; getting a tall sidewall on a 17" drag radial tire might not be possible (at least it wasn't a few years ago).

My opinion is you won't get much rake (low front/high rear I'm guessing, but years ago drag cars used a 'nose up' stance to help weight distrubution/traction because the tires were so poor) by using different sized tires with the same diameter wheel. And using radically different wheel diameters/tire aspect ratios to get rake can upset the front end geometry if taken to the extreme, anyway. Better to set up the suspension to give the "look", instead of doing it with wheel/tire sizes alone.

If "realistic for the street" means can you safely use drag radials (or any "drag" street tire) in all conditions, you need to know they will not have the wet weather manners of a normal street tire. The tread is designed for dry pavement traction, not pumping water to prevent hydroplaning. So using them on the street- in fair weather- will work. Once the skies open up, not so much. But as long as you are careful you should be OK.
 
#4 ·
Besides the hydroplaning (and from experience - once - they will if the road is even moist), these are not DOT tires and if in any accident, you might be liable regardless if the other guy really caused the problem. Too many good, wide, tall tires available to use these on the street. The rears on my roadster are ----- ~30" tall and are on 17" wheels which are about as tall as you will find with a conventional tread
 
#5 ·
Actually, they are DOT certified (according to their web site), but I think you have to use tubes in them on the street. I was more wondering how they would hold up being driven on the street say a thousand miles per year.

I really want to change the look of the truck from bright and shiny to kinda nostalgic, so I want new wheels anyway. Was thinking steel 16s, either from Wheel Vintique or Coker.

Ireland's child, I'm looking for a 12-14 inch footprint. What are you using?
 
#8 ·
If they need tube to ride on the street they are strictly a race tire. you said yourself they are not dot certed. A drag tire usually gets changed after 3-4 passes depending on the time and length of burn out on the street you would be lucky to get more than 1-200 miles out of them. However if you run drag radials that are steel belted which there are quite a few companys that are making them now M&H, Hoosier , B.F.Goodrich , Nitto , etc. most are dot legal and you can get 1000-2000 miles out of them depending on how heavy your foot is. If you nail them at every light they don't last on the street because they are soft compound an do exactly what they are designed to do which is BITE!!!
 
#9 ·
The "necessity" of running a tube is often because the sidewalls are thin, so there's more pressure loss than a standard passenger car tire. So long as the pressures are monitored and corrected as needed, tubes can often be omitted. Also, the type of wheel used can make a tube necessary regardless of whether the tire is race or street.

I believe you will find that drag slicks and drag tires in general get a lot more than 3-4 passes. Even Top Fuel cars get 4-8 runs.

Most if not all tires carry an info panel on them. Besides the DOT cert. and size, etc., below is what was on my McCreary Road Stars. The treadwear number will give an idea as to what to expect for tread life. I drove them sans tubes on the street. Tread life wasn't that good but they DID hook!

 
#10 ·
I'm after about the same thing...

I have a set of 15 X 10 Gennies & am waiting delivery of a set of Goodyear Eagle SS DOT drag tires... size 325-50-15's... Goodyear say's these are a DOT drag race tire only, & don't recommend them for street use... but they are going on a roadster, so I won't be looking for wet conditions... I'm hoping I can get 2-3 years out of them, at a couple 1000 miles a year
 
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