Howdy Folks Building a street strip '56 Ford Fairlane and looking for a tall drag slick for it and have come up with the following options and would like to hear the Good, Bad and the Ugly about them from those that have used them. Does anyone have any experience with the below? Or can throw anything else into the mix? 1. Towel City Retreads Traditional checker slick - https://www.towelcityracingtires.com/Vintage/Traditional-Cheater-Slicks 2. Hoosiers Vintage Super Stock Tire - https://www.hoosiertire.com/news/ar..._add_New_7.0/29.0-15_Vintage_Super_Stock_Tire 3. M&H Racemaster Muscle Car Drag Tires - https://www.cokertire.com/m-and-h-muscle-car-drag-tires.html 4. M&H Racemaster Vintage Drag Slicks - https://www.cokertire.com/vintage-drag-slicks.html
I had not seen the Hoosier Super Stock tires before. They look a lot like the M&H vintage tires. I have the M&H vintage tires on my 57 and really like them but it is an original Jr. Stocker with an honest 220hp 283 from back in the 60’s. Others I know have used this tire also on both stick and automatic cars and run in the 12’s with no problem.
I was considering the M&H 8.50 x 14 or 9.00 x 15 for my car. I already talked with Coker and they maintain they are good to go without tubes in them.
I run the the M&H 9.00x15’s with out tubes but coat the insides with Dawn dish soap just to be sure. It has worked well on other slicks I have run tubeless as well.
Thanks guys, I don't have the room for a Pie Crust or square edge tire hence the street tire based choices. Car will have a trans brake and about 600hp at launch
towel city makes pie crusts and he lists them. They also seem to be the most highly recommended in the countless threads asking which ones are good and which ones are 900 pound truck tires
I don't know if any of those tires will take 600hp other than maybe the M&H muscle car tire. I did use them on an off topic car but they were not called that (muscle car tires that is)and had a chose of compounds. That was 25 years ago though.
the radirs will hold that kind of power. I know I have done it. run them tubeless to promote side wall flex. do a big burnout. treat the tires with tire softener the night before the race. regardless of the tires chosen none of them are going to work with out a properly set up suspension. as far as nostalgia correctness the pie crust was 65 and older. the smooth wall is 65 and newer.
Towel City has been building recap racing tires since most of the people reading this thread were still in diapers. They do make a pie crust. I like the look for their black wall smoothies personally for me they have more of a '60s vibe.
FYI, the Towel City slicks are built on radial carcass. If running bias front tires that might be a concern?
https://mickeythompsontires.com/drag-tires/et-street-r-bias https://www.amazon.com/Mickey-Thomp...eet+r+bias&qid=1575655883&s=automotive&sr=1-5
When I replaced the Towel City piecrust cheater slicks on a hot rod I bought, I found they were recapped on a heavy passenger/LT carcass that had a repair boot in it (wtf?). These had been down outlaw 1/8 tracks several times. While cool looking, the recap adds extra rotating weight and the sidewalls will be inflexible, not optimal choice for serious racing.
If your running an automatic I would looking into M/T 's line of drag radials. ET street R, Pro Bracket radial, ET street Radial Pro, all fantastic tires that really hook.
For a nominal fee they will use brand new tires not used carcasses. That is what I did on my pie crust slicks on my 34.
I've run the 9.00x15 M&H Racemaster slicks on my roadster and have been very happy with them. Have run in the high 11s. A friend has also run them on his '40 Ford Sedan and they hook up quite well.
I tried the repo pie crust tires. They hooked ok...but are heavy! If you are serious about drag racing. I would get some up to date tires. I guess I am kinda lucky. My buddy runs a stocker. I get tires from him with about 40 runs on them. Then I clean all the lettering paint off.
for the serious racer get a durometer. that way you can tell how hard or soft the tire is. I treat the tires to achieve a reading under 38. a brand new mh slick is 35-37. a new radir untreated is 45. wrapping the tires post treatment over night in plastic is a more aggressive way of dropping the reading. the tires will return to the as delivered hardness after a few passes. Your results may vary.
Kannapolis is my home town and Towel City has been there all my life and I'm 59, the piecrust they sell are not recaps, they use the orginal equipment they had back in the day, good people. BigO
My choice would be the Hoosier Super Stock tire as they are current fresh designs and used by all the Southeast Gasser "Super Stock cars". I mostly certain that Jim Forbes is running the M&H Slicks on his "Plan B" altered wheel base Chevy II which is a 427 Supercharged running high 9's . One of these 2 tires would be the right way to go.
Thanks to everyone for sharing their experiences and opinions, much appreciated. Without surgery I have room for a tyre with maybe 10.50 - 10.75 section width so limited to the vintage style designs. I’m leaning to Hoosier Super Stock or the M&H muscle car tyres, as AHotRod mentioned, the Super Stock as it’s a new design, but the M&H as it’s 8” tread. I’ll email the manufacturers for comment and report back on their comments. Re Towel City, I’ve used their pie crust slicks for the last 4 years on out little race car below with a best ‘60 of 1.41. Big fan of them
Bill Moxley Cheater Slicks Hello, First of all, drag slicks for the street are not a good idea in good weather as the street surfaces eat away at your slicks faster than normal bias or radial tire treads. Then there are the stopping distances using those smooth slicks in any traffic or emergency conditions. Your car will only have 50% stopping power in an emergency. Now, if you happen to drive in the early morning/late at night, the dew/fog/mist makes the surface extra slick and your drag slicks have no recourse than to skid all over the place. With all that in mind, if the drag slicks are only used at the drags or a car show, then you are leaving out one of the earliest drag slick that came on the market when we were little kids. The Bruce Tire Company slicks. Better known as the Bruce Slicks. Jnaki When we were toning down our involvement in drag racing, we used the Bruce Slicks on the street. But, only if we knew the Impala was going to some other places for “hot cruising” and hanging out. We no longer needed them for the drags. Also, they started out on our Impala under the rear wheel openings and stayed with the Impala until sold. They were the only ones that actually fit inside of the rear wheel well without any modifications. Then months later, Bill Moxley came up with some “cheater slicks” that also fit under the rear wheel well opening. But, they were no match for the Bruce Slicks. We sold the cheater slicks to a friend for his street use hot rod. We could not use them in the class racing, anyway, just for the time trials. Bruce Slicks Advantages: better traction than any cheater slicks of any size… Disadvantages: very little stopping/braking power in the late night misty environment. Moxley Cheater Slicks p.s. Any vintage drag racing slicks you find should be scrutinized for wear and tear as rubber ages and does strange things. They may not be safe for usage, but good for show displays. So, for dual usage a "new" version from reputable companies may work for you. M&H came on the scene in 1959-60, also.
I run Radir 15x10. Also soften them like Racer x stated. They work very good. I also run a set of modern, M&H dragmasters when I want the best hook.
I run a M/T street r tires. They require a little burn out to get sticky. I launch at 4000 rpm's, in a 2800# truck and it bogs down, but i also have to set up the suspension better. I do like the way they hook. I believe that they are about 28" tall. They have 8.8 tread width and I believe a 10.25 cross section. Tony
I have probably more experience with Towel City tires than most. As they developed a tire for our specific use at the Federal Law enforcement training center. We would buy a 100 tires at a time. In the 4 years of use we never had a recap related failure. I have been to their facility and watched their process. They build a great tire, but for what you are needing, I would have to go with the spec tire that Hoosier developed for the Southeast Gasser Super Stock class if the drag strip is the only place that tires will be used. Any street strip tire is either a good street tire or a good strip tire. I would have a set of wheels and tires for the track and a set for cruising. With 600 hp available and a transbrake . Suspension set up is going to be critical. I raced an O/T Chevelle with a 700 hp. big block and a transbrake and a 9x 30 inch Hoosier tire and did very well with it. I got a full season out of the tires, about 45 weekends of class and bracket racing. They still had enough left to put on a friends footbrake car. You won't need a big burnout with the Hoosiers.
I was the tire tester for radir. My 65 dodge went into the 8s with their first edition tire that was untreated and very hard. This was the small 10 inch tire. Garrllits also ran radirs on his exhibition dragster were he went 200 mph. Radirs all new non recapped tires are the best and fastest on the market period for a pie crust. Mh has the fastest smooth wall tire. They have gone 260 mph plus on vre legal dragsters
Very true. This is exactly what I do, street tires and wheels, strip tires and wheels. Cheap? NO! And what Brian- (racer x) said could not be more true. Ask me how I know.
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