Got caught out one night in a sudden rain shower while cruising around in a '67 Mustang with slicks. The 427 medium riser w/2-4s and 4-speed would not go up a ramp to get on the Expressway. The car spent the night in a friends garage. If you make any kind of power with your car, do not run slicks on the street. They will spin trying to take off on a wet street. If you do get going, be ready to spin around in circles with no control at any moment.
We ought to invent some sort of rain galoshes that mount like tire chains over the slicks. When you encounter the wet stuff you strap on your rain treads and keep on truckin. Warning: I am on pain meds today so please read posts with caution.
This doesn't pertain to those slicks, but from personal experience I have run Phoenix F/X slicks on my cars with no problems on the street. But then again I never drove in the rain, but Ive driven with them in all weather 30 to 100 degrees as long as its not raining I'm out and about.
This thread reminds me of a morning many decades ago when my pal and I were heading out of L.A. in a '50 Olds with slicks. About 4:30 A.M. dropping down off the north end of the grapevine, it started to snow. Fast forward a couple minutes after we did a few 360's taking up all lanes and we found ourselves in the ditch in the median. Luckily traffic was nil and some old geezer came by in a '46 Chevy and gave us a ride to a guy with a tow truck. Lesson learned.
I'm going to run Towel City's piecrust on mine. Don't have wipers so I don't need to be out in the rain.
i'm interested in the towel city cheaters. they are done on radial casings. would they be ok to run out back with lets say 6.00x16 firestone deluxe champion bias plys up front? only run the slicks locally and not risk getting stranded hours from home because of a drizzle. or is running mix-matched tires akin to running slicks in the rain?
The odd time I will get a little wobble out back when I pass over the steel expansion joints on bridges, and thats when it's dry out. I use M/T drag radials and there is no way in hell I would drive my car in rain or even damp road conditions.
I run Towel City 28 x 10 cheaters with 2 grooves around the tire on my 27T roadster with a spool in the quickchange for years. I watch the weather pretty close, but have been caught in the rain. Slow way down and drive with some sense and get to cover.
Friend of mine bought a 30 Ford coupe, it had bias ply all around and that thing handled like crap. He put radials on it and it drives a lot better. I like the look but I like something that handles good too.
Check with your favorite tire shop. I bought 29 in=8 tires with as soft a compound as they could get! Works well but have to let air out to hook
I have an OT Lightning and am running Nittos street slicks. They are a little harder than Mickey Thompson's but they last a little longer. I believe the Mickey Thompson's would hook up better because they are a little softer. Both brands have grooves cut in them. In the rain they are both useless as tits on a stud duck. If I can't see the street in winter, the truck stays in the garage. My $.02.
I won't even run wide street tires much less slicks. Very few guys ever plan on getting caught in the rain with less than favorable tires on their car. But it does happen. I'm a big believer in form follows function.
Drove my Willys to the March Meet this year and it rained pretty good that morning. I spun a really impressive brody turning onto Famoso road from HWY65 with these light truck tires which have lots of aggressive tread. Luckily it grabbed a bit of traction just before ramming into a 16-wheeler parked at the intersection. No matter how safe you think you will be or how much precaution you think you are taking, Murphy pops up and puts you into a compromising position on the road. I wouldn't run slicks on the highway. Running on borrowed time.
If you are going to run them, make certain there is a D.O.T. number on the side. Otherwise, avoid all traffic checks. Embarrassing to have to call a roll-back because the Highway Patrol won't let you drive home, even with the much lighter wallet! Jon.
Why would anyone run slicks on the street? For Posing? Everyone knows slicks and pro street tires are worthless in the rain. Coming home from a rod run in the rain saw a pro street car in front of me wind up in a ditch. Gary
Plenty of posts about problems in rain. I had a surprisingly different experience. Was at a car show as a passenger in my buddy's T bucket. He has Raider cheater slicks with grooves . On the way home we went through a horrific down pour thunderstorm .He never slowed down at interstate speed. I was sure we were going to die that night. The thing acted like it wasn't affected at all for 77 miles.
No kidding. If this question was asked 15 years ago it would be 6 pages of "Yea, I run slicks on my car all the time"
As a brilliant 18 year old in San Diego many many years ago, I had a '63 Galaxie 390/4 speed with worn rear tires. I wanted to run slicks but was advised against it because of net weather problems. Smart guy that I was decided to use cheater slicks because they had 2, count 'em, 2 treads per tire. Over to Hurst tire on Washington for a pair cheaters for me! Things went well and I could make some great burn out with them. All was well until a month or so later and I get stuck in s mild rain storm on the freeway at about 65 just cruising along. I suddenly found myself trying to control a drunken 2 ton Olympic ide skater! White knuckling and fighting the fish tailing, I managed to get to an off ramp and literally creep home. A kid pumping gas a the local Texaco station coveted my slicks so we traded. He learned how to slip and slide his Comet all over the road and I enjoyed his regular tread tires! What an education that was. Just one of many dumb things I did that stick surprise me that I have made it to official old fartdome.
"Gud" is another word for good. Sorry for the confusion! I think I got it from a Cartoons mag. I just like it...…….
Got caught in a downpour Thursday night, driving home from The Melt Down Drags. As mentioned in my previous post, I had Hurst 15 x 9" two groove Cheaters for about 6 years, then this year bought a new pair of 15 x 8" Towel City two groove Cheaters. Admittedly, it's only a 15 mile drive home, back and forth from the track, but I had absolutely no problems. With 4:88 gears, I generally run only about 50 - 55 MPH on the highway, whether it's dry or wet. On a different subject, it drives fine on streets and highways with the 90 / 10 front shocks, too. For what it's worth, my 55 is a low - mid 14 second car in the 1/4 mile, with a best E.T. of 13:79
That's one of the big problems. Hydroplaning doesn't always happen. I have gone endo twice in my Willys, once as a stupid teen while attending Fresno State circa 1970 and running farm implement tires on the rear 'cause they looks cool'. The last time was almost 50 years later, this year going to the March Meet as described in a post above. Between those events the car has been rock solid and handled great with my light truck 10x15 tires. Because the breaking loose doesn't happen all the time we get a false sense of security. Light rear ends with wide tires, even with good tread, is a guaranteed recipe for hydroplaning. Been there, done that twice and survived so happy to share the insight to maybe help someone avoid a fate worse than mine.
Not a poser, I just like the look. And obviously, a topless car is no good in the rain anyway. But these ride great on the (dry) street, no problems at all. I run them with a little less air, maybe 22 pounds.
The Jalopy Journal
