Got my new tires mounted today. 285/30/19's. Nitto invos. These tires are supposed to be great and have gotten great reviews. I, however had horrible results. I couldnt better my 60 ft time and much less my 1/8 time. In general cars were running abnormally slow.this still doesnt explain my compelete lack of traction. 2.2 was the best i could muster. Ran the car about 12 times. Used all types of techniques. And car kept short shifting since the ecu picked up on the tire slip. Awful night. Im embarassed of my times. Ive read about breaking in tires. Is this true??????? Please tell me it is. Im about to burn these nittos. I drive an srt6 btw. I ran several 8.8's tonight.

 

Alright i was just able to pull off 2 8.7's and one 8.6. Back to back to back. Tires are getting broken in it seems. Got 2.1 sixty foots. I was close to . 2.0 until track closed. Must have ran it like 13 times. Feel a little better. Trick to is is launch hard and then ease onto the throttle afterwards Im still shifting early on D. Wrecked a stock 135i. switched it up to manual and thats when i got my best times today. hmm.

 

I liked to Nitto but will be upgrading when the time comes!

 

Tires "bleed" the chemicals used to keep them from sticking in the mold for a few hundred miles so yes, they should get better. I've never found the trick to getting a good 60' and I've never seen redline at the track in first or second for the same reason as yours. Part of my problem is my negative camber. If all I did was drag race, I would put the rear tires straight up and that would help a lot.

Les

 

where did u go ,homestead or countyline,, let us (randy and I know) we will go too,, also there are no street tires that will work with this car once you do two or more modes to it ,so buy my rims ,,get some DR's and get your 1.84 60' I am running between 1.76on a good track and 1.85 on a bad track day ,jim

 

racing tires need to be heat cycled. this can be done on a machine or done on the car by driving in a certain pattern and speeds.
as for your times its still way to hot to be expecting fast times. from fl. to indiana the temps are just to hot. try waiting unttil late oct early nov when the da is low and the car is fast

 

I really thought i could get a 8.5 with wider and better tires. I guess ill drive them a few more hundred miles and go back when i install my pulley. Maybe in oct or so. I was only expecting better times because i thought i could get my sixty foot down(figured 1.9) and i thought the car would now def be able to shift at redline. Everyone has mentioned to leave on "D". When i do it manualy it holds it a bit longer to about 5800-5900, instead of 5700 on "D".

 

esp off manual in 1st gear. it will shift at redline in each gear no need to hold the shifter.

 

so no need to tap the shifter to change gears? So i guess keeping it in "D" when drag racing is only good if running drag radials. I just want to make sure i have this right.... Put it in manual. Launch at desired rpm. And dont tap the shifter and it will shift at 6k automatically?

 

Correct. The transmission changes at redline when in manual unless you have too much tire slippage which will cause an early shift.

Les

 

something else to consider. with your 19" tires you have a very small sidewall which in nature has little flex. so high rpm launches cause wheel spin.
the reason many of us use the 16" drag radial is we now have a 255/50 sidewall which allows a much lower tire pressure( i run between 18 and 22 lbs) which in turn allows more sidewall flex allowing a higher rpm launch without wheelspin. i can launch my 32 at almost 2000 rpm without spinning on my goodyears. downside is i crunched my rear diff!!
240srtm3 also showed us with his 60 ft times that wider isnt always better. he had massive 305 tires and his 60's werent any better than with his 255 dr's
all this said its really better to run good street tires on the street and dr's on the track. there is no 1 tire that is great for both (mt et streets are the closest but suck in the rain and are the heaviest of the dr's)
weigh your nittos and rims. clk rims in 16" with my goodyears weigh in at 39 lbs. stickey and lightweight

 

It's way too hot out there for drag racing. I've been avoiding the track most of this summer. And of course I use drag radials which I heat up pretty good before launching. I don't think any street tire would work in this kind of heat. I would be disappointed too if I were using the Invo's.

 

I used 285/35 Nitto NT555(streets not the R compond) I could normally get 1.78-1.82 60fts. I used manual mode. Burn em just enough in the pit to get a little smoke off both tires. Then brake stall it up to about 1,200-1,400 rpms and roll into the full throttle in about .3 tenths of a second. THe trick is resisting the urge to just instantly smashing the throttle full when the light goes green . I know its hard haha but just roll into it. go half throttle almost instantly then get that last half over the coarse of 2-3 tenths of a second.

THe first time just stall it till 1,100 and roll into the throttle over half a second that alone will get you low 1.9's and jsut work up from there.

 

I wa able to get 1.8's from my Toyo street tires. They are 285's and are pretty soft, so they eat up fast but are pretty decent on either street or strip. It is absolutely a science to get a good launch without spinning it out of the hole.

 

I was able to get 1.7 60' with the Kumho Ecsta SPT's on a well prepped track with a good heat up first... 12.2secs......

 

Ok im going to go ahead and ask this. Whats the best way to heat up street tires? Go to the water pit, brake torque at 1,500-1,700 and just release and go full throttle??? I have never done this and DONT WANT TO BREAK ANYTHING. Yes i know, im a rookie.

 

With street tires I was going around the water, hold the brake down and get the rear wheels spinning for a couple of seconds and let it out for a little squeal/peel.. some tires like more heat than others...usually the harder ones...

 

Mikes reply is sound advice. Anytime you drive through the water to do a burnout, remember that you are drying up the rears during the burnout. The problem is with the deep tread the fronts have, they still have water in them. So driving around the water is important. Now you have a choice to reverse into the water and the pull up to do your burnout or do a dry burnout.

The key thing to avoid is a dry hopping. This when your rear tires grab then lose grip then grab again very quickly. It causes a jerking or hopping action. This is when damage is done to the rear end. So be careful.

 

yea ive seen how people do it. My question is, how to do it from inside the car The higher the rpm the better? Then release the brake and go full throttle? Do it for a few secs until i reach redline and then get off the gas?

 

you'll never get off the line clean trying to footbrake and redline. You want to stay under 2200 rpm or just before the SC engages. That's with real drag radials like hoosiers or mickey thompsons. If your using any of the others then keep it under 1500 rpm. You want a more controlled roll launch. With very good tires and your foot on the brake pushing as hard as you can hold it, once you raise the rpms to engage the SC it will push you through the beams dragging the front tires with it. So either way it's useless to redline. Just find the perfect rpm to launch with your current setup. Also try different air pressures in the rear. Lower to grip better. Just don't go to low or you will have some sway from the tail end going down the track.