tire recommendations please?

[poisonsnake]

I am currently using 335.35.17 PS2's and get very little traction on my SPF. Light weight...3.42 gear and over 500 torque. Any recommendations? The car is street driven and may see some drag track time next season. Thanks in advance.

[RallySnake]

Poison,

Good question and one that I have been struggling with for a couple of months. Usually, I go to Tirerack.com to figure out the best tires for an application. But the tires they carry in our sizes are useless. The best place to look is the Summit catalog.

The problem is that Cobra's can be configured to do a lot of things. You are interested in drag racing. I like to run long distance rallies and Solo2 events. The Summit catalog carries Nitto, Mickey Thompson and Hoosier drag radials that will work for you. One person (on this forum) put the Mickey Thompson ET Street radials on all four wheels and had good results. They look great, too.

I have heard that drag radials do not go around curves very well. The flexible sidewalls make the rear end feel loose and that will reduce your confidence as speeds climb on back roads or the track. That may not matter to you. But, it means the world to me.

For rallies, I have pretty much decided on the Mickey Thompson Sportsman S/T Radial Tires. They are affordable, so I can keep burning up a set every year. People on this forum have given them positive reviews. Unfortunately, buying tires is like buying shoes because you just cannot know how they will feel until you try them on.

There are also the purpose made (for Cobra's) Avon tires which I would love to have and also the Goodyear "billboard" tires which are beautiful. However, the $400 each price for the Avon’s and the grabby race car handling of the Goodyear’s rules them out for me.

I have run over 12 sets of tires on my 24 year old Arntz Cobra and have learned the limitations of many types of tires and this is the best advice I can give you. I hope to hear from many more people here.

Rally

[dcdoug]

One thing to keep in mind for drag racing. If you switch to sticky drag radials they will hook a lot better and rather than break the tires loose, you will likely break a half-shaft. Just something to keep in mind. A little tire slippage isn't always a bad thing.....

[Tim Brewer]

Drag radials, period. I use Nitto 555R's. I was also concerned about going around corners as well. I called the tech guys at Nitto, and they said the sidewalls are plenty stiff for cornering. Certainly not for tracking, but great for hot rodding around town and going down the strip once in a while. I believe Nitto now has an even better tire that replaces the 555R. With 500 HP in a Cobra, any tire other than a drag radial is dangerous.

[jhv48]

Kumho ECSTA XS.

Not sure if they come in 335's. I have them in 315's.

[dont]

I have the Nitto NTO5 on the rear. Great traction and stiffer sidewalls for cornering. They are 315-35-17's. http://www.nittotire.com/index.html

[poisonsnake]

Thanks to all! I've had too many close calls with my PS2's and will change out the half-shafts and install real tires. Happy launching!!!!

[wrogers55]

I have had the same "street" tire question for about a year now. Like yours, mine is just plain dangerous in 2nd gear and takes the fun out of a spirited run up in 2nd because you just never know when it's going to let go.

After a lot of discussion, I'm about to put a set of Nitto NT01s on the car. The tech guys say the compound is the same as their best street offering and won't get hot enough to throw rocks, but will hook quickly if stressed. Discount Tire will do the first heat cycle on heated rollers for $20 a tire and that's a critical step to get the cross linking set right up front. No wet weather driving.....ever. Never rains in California, at least now when I plan on being out.

I want the same tire look front and rear and think I just got worn out looking and trying to decide.

Comments or experience are certainly welcome. Shoot, I guess that means I'm still considering.

Wayne

[dont]

Originally Posted by poisonsnake

Thanks to all! I've had too many close calls with my PS2's and will change out the half-shafts and install real tires. Happy launching!!!!

Your half shafts should be fine as long as you don't launch it from a stop. I've been running the Nitto's for over 10,000 miles with no problem. It is nice to be able to stick the gas with 454 RW torque and have the car go where it is pointed.

[Larry N Johnson]

If you want to drag race the car, get a set of tires for that purpose.
That way you are fast on the track, and safe on the street.

15" tires are nice if you want to get a set on Vintage Cobra wheels.


I run the Mickey Thompson Sportsman S/T tires for the last 2 seasons.
Can't rave evough about them for street tires.
Les Bayles (aka Kobrabytes) has a set on his high-hp Kirkham and raves as well.
He even went on the track at Miller Motorsports and went as fast in the corners as anyone.

Here they are on my car:




Terry Stapley has Vintage 15" rims and Mickey Thompson S/R tires and likes them on his 418 ci Shell Valley:


Choices, choices....

[BBfangs]

Here is another option. I did a lot of research and found tremendous amounts of responses for the Vredestein Sessanta Ultrac on other forums (G-35, Z06, etc.). They are not common but since I have had them on my car they have performed very well. I have never taken it down the drag track but they stick to the corners well. I have way to much torque and horsepower for my car and they will break loose if I don't feather it sometimes. I had the Goodyear GS-C and they were great also. If your interested here is some info; http://www.performanceplustire.com/ carries them. At least that is who I bought them from. Cost was $200 for the rears and $155 for the fronts. For the cost you can't beat them. I run 315/35/17 on rear and 245/40/17 on front.

[mkassab]

Avon's.... front and rear... have a very good tread compond and period correct tread patteren

My build site has more info: http://www.uniquecobra.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=68

Mark

[mdross1]

Tried a couple different compounds including DOT radials.The softer the compound the more sandblasting happens.So for the street it's old standby's BFG T/A's,when needing serious lateral traction go for the stickies.

[RICK LAKE]

wrogers55 Wayne I know rolling on and off the gas pedal is no fun but alot safer. The question I have, Is the alignment with rear toe and thrust angle setup right? I am going to assume that the weights of the car are setup with your weight in the drivers seat and you have a 50/50 front to rear and right to left side weight ratios. Tire pressure are another thing with causing cars to slide all over the road. Tire temps maybe cause the all over the road condition. They sell VHT that is used to soften tires and give better traction.
Going back to the alignment, Have rear toe pos about 1/8" in with your weight in the drivers seat and having the thrust angle at "0" the car should go in a straight line unless a suspension part has play or tires are at different pressures, temps, or road surface where you are running on an oil centered road. dirty or sandy roads give the same problem. I hear the Avons are good road tires. One of the guys ran them a couple of years ago and won the R&G street class. I have run pilots for 9 years and looking at a new tire from Nitto The 05N has a 200 wear and top ratings for the rest. A can also get them in a 315 rear tire. Price is also pretty good compared to pilots. The last thing is get a video of the car doing the 2nd gear dance and a start from a stop. You want the rearend to swat about 1-2" to get max weight transfer to the rear tires. this will also stop the rearend sliding around when hard accel is done. The rear shocks may have adjustment for compression and need to be lightened up to increase rearend transfer. I don't know how many settings you have but drop the setting by 2 clicks to start and see if there is a differents. Good luck. Rick L. Ps I am running a real soft setting and the rear tires go about 2" into the rear fenders and get good weight transfer. Almost get the l/s front tire off the ground on 1/4 mile runs. I switch back for autocross and road race. Rick L.