All of you hotrodders running the dirt track style tires, how do they ride? I am curious about the ride quality of the dirt track style tires. Are they similar to bias-plys, smoother, rougher? Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks
Race tires don't usually have DOT #'s on them and thus are illegal on the road. If you get a really anal-retentive cop lookin' your ride over, it could be a hassle. Just sayin'!
Thanks R Pope, but not really worried about that! Just curious about ride quality... C'mon guys what are your opinions?
I ran 500X16 dirt trackers on the front of my Roadster. I needed to run high air pressure or they would get extremly hot. I think 34 was were I settled at. Ride was acceptabe. Steering and direction control very good. Hitting pot holes in the road was an adventure. I just recently replaced them with 600X16 Deluxe Champions. WHAT A DIFFERENCE. The ride is way smoother and the bumps and jumps on the same roads are not hardly noticable. And I don't think they fixed the roads. The steering effort is a little higher, but not a problem. 30 psi and not getting too hot. The larger diameter is the reason the tires roll over the bumps better. I had tried all different pressures in the dirt tires and even as low as 16 lbs, and always had the shocking bump issue. Are you gonna drive the car, or look at it in the parking lot? For a driver go with a larger tire.
Hey gas pumper, this is exactly the type of info. I am looking for. I currently have 600x16 firestones on the front and 7.50x16 on the rear. I like the look but I want to get another set of wheels/tires to change up the look from time to time. Driveablity is HUGE! I drive this car and want to feel as comfortable as possible.
You are talking about genuine old dirt track tires? Like in wide with groves that run in little diamonds? or Coker replicas. There is a big difference. We used to run the hard compound dirt track tires because they were wide and wore well. Never ran any on a real light car mostly late '50s and early '60s cars. They road pretty rough but they worked as well as anything we could buy at the time. You may look at diamond back drag radials, they come in a dirt track tread as well as a cheater slick tread. I have talked with fellas that run then and really like them.
I ran them on my '27 for about a year. Best thing I ever did was take them OFF! The fronts grab all the grooves in the road and the rears chunk and don't run smooth. Run street tires.
I drove my 32 to LA Roadster show 2 years ago with dirt trackers in back and 6x16 bias in front.No issues what so ever,even thru the desert at 110 degrees.Ran about 22 lbs in the rear and 30 up front.My 32 is early hemi powered which at first i had concerns,but soon i forgot about it and like i said,no issues.
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