Quote:
Originally Posted by goatless
I was going to suggest a Goodyear Polyglas... but then I saw you wanted a radial. 
The M/T is the way to go for a street legal radial.
But those old school Polyglas hook better than any regular street radial.  |
They do...the old Kelly Supercharger Bias ply and Soft compound Pro-trac were better yet... for some reason both those tires worked best at 38-40 psi...go figure...
In 90's back before TA drag radial McCreary dirt track "DOT" worked as well as slicks... better than an L60 M+H wrinkle wall dot tire, way better than Pro-trac or M/T soft compound which were best they had then and M/T was just releasing their slicks in same time frame.
About time the TA radial came along the McCreary was available with a soft compound which was even better... I ran very consistant with them...1.52-1.54 60's at 3910 avg race weight, carrying the front tires 6+" 10-12ft out.... Saw plenty of race use... 2000-2500 street miles a year. Only needed/liked a light haze/clean at burnout and only slipped a tid on non track surface with no preheat.(if you did spin them doin a dry burnout they were the loudest damn shreik I'd ever heard from a tire) They were alot lower cost than anything else as well.
Tried to beat a storm home once... 75+ and what seemed a wall of water come down... couldnt see well at that speed so slowed to 50 or so... surprisingly the tires were no worse/ maybe better than drivin in light snow(which I had plenty of practice...I lived in upstate NY then) Keep in mind I originally tried these tires because I saw how well they hooked my friends BBC dirt track car on clay... tried his set in the parking lot and had him get me a set.
American Racer has the same tires McCreary is no more... I ran the 285/60-15 which worked better than the 305/60(borrowed and friend was reluctant to swap back) which had a slightly different tread and barely much difference in tread width. The soft compound was worth about .04 on my car both were consistant and did best on track at 13-14 psi...19-20 was most comfortable on the street/highway. A bit too much sway in corners at 13.5 range. Tires were lightweight and only 2-ply but never cut one... they werent built as wrinkle wall but indeed wrinkled. Needed rim screws but contact cement did fine just hard to get off. Also ran radials up front when the old bias got weather checked and unless you hit a serious ridge they were fine.
Never got crap from law enforcement including NY state police in a check-point (trap) inspection. They did look at the tires and one grumped about exhaust but other pointed out tailpipes to bumper and commented I was tryin to keep it reasonable.
My current project will need a M/T Sportsman-Pro or similar... or I'd be lookin at the American Racer... The smallest I could consider would be a 325/50-15 Goodyear drag radial and then use slicks at track... not what I'd like and the GY dont look much like a streetable tire if it got near moisture.
Guess it boils down to what YOU are comfortable with and what your willing to compromise on.