First off I autoxed for the first time last week and it was awsome. But my car makes way to much power for my tires. So I was woundering if I could use my g-force drag radials or is the sidewall to weak? I cant buy new tires right now and I have the dr's laying arround, has anyone had any experience or any comments about them?
Patrick
96 GS
13.54 @ 106.94 mph on 15psi 21 May.04
HRC kit, S20G, FMIC, Howell bottom end 8.6 pistons, S-FMU, Blitz BOV, P&P head, SS valves, lots more little goodies

drag radials have crap for sidewalls, you want something stiff like a ZR tire for auto x

Nitto drag radials work very very well for autocrossing. Just put in 40psi and they should work well enough once you get some temperature into them. BFGoodrich Radials might work as well, Popular Hot Rodding magazine was using them to run huge muscle cars, Chevelles and Camaros, on a road cross with good results. They also used around 40-45psi. They were all 18" tires with very small side walls though, in smaller wheel diameters with more sidewall they might not work so well.

yeah I was planning on putting in alot of air arround the 40psi mark.m Unfortunately the wheels are 15's so the side walls are big. Oh well I will give them a try and see what happens. Besides you have almost an hour between runs if I need to switch back.
Patrick
96 GS
13.54 @ 106.94 mph on 15psi 21 May.04
HRC kit, S20G, FMIC, Howell bottom end 8.6 pistons, S-FMU, Blitz BOV, P&P head, SS valves, lots more little goodies

Originally posted by mitsudsr
Unfortunately the wheels are 15's so the side walls are big.

thats a bust, you're gunna be folding the tire over the rim...

the weight of the car is going to want to lean over the rim and tire when you're on it real hard. the crappy side walls wont support it and the sticky base of the dr will want to stick...

do you have bushings? a good way to keep the tires from tucking like this is a little negative camber, beefy sidewalls, sway bars and bushings. tires are the cherry on the top but then again they also determine how hard you can actually rail it

bottom line its going to suck with those drag radials on there

I have been autoxing for years now, and have been through quite a few tires to get this right.

Fist off, ZR rated tires are pretty much useless in auto X. I have NEVER been over 161mph. In fact most auto x events you don't get over 60mph.

Second don't waste your money on anything but a competion tire. I am running kuhmo escta v700's http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Kumho&tireModel=ECSTA+V700 and am quite happy with them. I have a couple of friends using the kuhmo victoracer http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Kumho&tireModel=VictoRacer+V700 as well with good success. Hooiser make a tire called the autocrosser http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Hoosier&tireModel=Autocrosser and is also a good pick although quite a bit more money.

If you want to WIN at autox you will need a competion tire. The next closest thing to a competion tire is going to be very expensive.
Goodyear F1 eagle series
BFG G force t/a KD
and the list goes on.

With any competion tire you will not have any traction problems like you do with a street tire. My V700' rarely slip at auto x (11-13 psi).
Also my buddy with an 02 cobra never has any slip problem with his victoracers.
Its hard to describe the traction ablities of an competiton tire. The only down side is they only last about 20 events.

Your drag radials will probly fold over if you use them. Invest in some good tires man, you will not regret it.

azenis track tires, i get those when i really want to see what my car can do. they EAT UP tread real fast but they're hands down the stickiest, stiffest sidewall tire ive ever driven on. amazing tires, find some reviews and try them out....

streets of willow 9/17 ownage

I would agree with ^^ about the azentus. There are a couple of guys at autox that are using them on lighter cars. (caviler, civic hb sized vehicle) and they seem to do well. It is also a cheap tire. about 100$/tire last time i looked.

you could always use ultra-high-performance summer tires too. BFGoodrich G-Force TAs come to mind, and Goodyear Eagle F1s got top reviews from "evo" magazine (huge in Europe), since they praised their handling in dry and wet, the feel of them, and so on so forth.