i need to dead hook if i ever want to run 9's, i am thinking 1.4's or better are needed. i have never used drag radials and dont really know what they are capable of.

my delema is should i try and get some 15's to fit under there and have a wide choice of tires to choose from. they have tires up to 30" tall and as wide as i would ever want.

or, just go with the easy route and run some 18's, nitto offers a 555r that is 28.8" tall. these would go right on the truck and 18" rims are even cheap.

i hear the biger rims hurt traction, would 4 305/45/18" nitto555r's dead hook for me. i will be able to warm up 2 of them. if DR's on 18's suck i dont want to even try it but if they hook prety good for most RWD guys then maybe i will give them a try.

 

That's a tough one. Hate to waste money on something if you don't know how it'll work

Maybe you should do some searching on one of the lightning boards. I'll bet they know how well those 18's work.

 

Drag radials are really just the same compound as common performance street tires but with very little tread depth. They're like maybe 60 thousandths, just enough to be legal. You could get the same effect from a worn and groomed set of spent performance (not truck) tires.

You could get a set of Hoosier 16" D.O.T. street legal drag racing tires made of sticky compound similar to pencil eraser. The problem with those is that you'll find most of them the diameter you would want require a 8" wide rim minimum. Usually settling for a smaller diameter to fit the rim spec is needed to use stock rims. The ideal scenario would be some 9x16" steel rims for them.

I think there are two factor saving the 10-bolt rear from detonating right now. First, and obviously, you run in 4WD mode. I think the most important factor though is the stock tires. Those tires will break traction before the torque on the differential can reach critical levels.

I guess the dilema is to run drag tires on all four or change the rear end out to something truly massive and able to handle the torque, and then run 2WD. I haven't broken the 10.5" 14-bolt in my truck and I've had the front wheels off the ground.

With the weight and torque of a truck, bead screws and inner tubes are the way to go.



EDIT:
Forgot one more important item...
Increasing traction in the front can break the tie rods. This is common with the Diesel guys.

 

I was thinking today about this.

What about steel 6 lug 15" wheels? They would need far less grinding I would think, due to the steel being thinner than the aluminum. Then you could run drag radials, or slicks maybe.

 

Parish, do you spin horribly bad in 4wd? I think that a full slicks on all 4 will be alot of meat. Thing that worries me is on the top end with the flex sidewall, your truck with most of the weight up front, and the possibility of it swaying side to side. Drag radials have a stiffer sidewall and Ive seen people hook decent with them in 2wd. I think that with Nittos or BFG/MT DR's on all four should be sufficient enough for traction and be more stable.

 

It's been done in the back. Don't know of anyone doing that up front though. Mismatching front to rear rules out 4WD.

My biggest concern would still be hooking up that much torque in first gear. The drivetrain WILL NOT survive it.

 

I would have to totally disagree with James B about the drag radials being the same compound as a normal performance radial. If drags were the same compound as a performance radial then your radials would also start picking up rocks and stuff after a short cruise on the highway in a parking lot. The tread wear on drags are signifigantly lower than a performance radial also. You are looking at 180 treadwear compared to 300-400 on a perf tire.

I can tell you from personal experience with my '00 procharged R/T that I cut a 1.6 60' on two 305 45 18's nitto drags. Damn those tires hooked!

I plan on running 18x9.5 in the rear with the same tires on my '68 6.0 LS1/T56 truck now also...

My thoughts are if you can't hook on those drags then nothing short of full slicks will help you. He is right about your rear end though, start saving for a new 12 bolt like I have

 

whoa, 1.6's on 18's are sweet. i am not worried about parts breakage, if it breaks i will make it better.

i dont want to run 4 slicks, that would be nuts up top i bet but i like what firstgen is saying about the 305 nittos.

i do spin prety good once i crank it up. with the stock tires and a 100shot on top of the boost i was pealing out like mad. with a built motor things will only get worse in the traction area.

 

Has anyone found out if the M&H Racemaster radial tires are available yet in the 275/55/16 size? I called them at the beginning of the year and they were supposed to be out in June or July I believe...

http://www.intercotire.com/html/radial_racing.htm

 

Well, I speak from my experience with BFG "Drag Radials." They were stiff-wall radial tires with shallow tread is all. I ended up not buying them because it was not the kind of compound I was looking for. At the time Mickey Thompson wasn't making 16" E/T Streets and M&H wasn't back in the game yet. Both of their D.O.T. Drag tires are made from sticky compound more similar to that used in a full wrinkle-wall slick, just like the Hoosier D.O.T. tires I already mentioned.