lookin for A set of 10 inch wide slicks for the 57 chevy need some opionions. anyone having problems with recaps ,or should i just go and buy a new set? last thread i was reading was from almost a year a go .. im sure some things have chnaged since then ... tell me the good stories and bad .. how do they hook up ? thanks again tom
I ran M/T D.O.T. street slicks on my merc,and never had a problem.They hooked to the bone,but the ladder bar/coil over set up might have had something to do with that.They werent very "traditional" tho.....lol
Radir's cheater slick is a new tire, not a re-cap. Looks great. Hooks ok for a street tire. Pretty easy to overpower though. Even if you get em hot. Never run the Hurst re-cap but they look good too & probably perform about the same. I guess if you really want some decent 60 ft times, you gotta go w/ some wrinkle walls.
Bottom line... what do you want to do with the car... make it fast or make it look good? If you want fast put some good tires from M/T, Goodyear... if you want to look good go with a Radir or Hurst. I'm sure you could get the better looking tire to hook with some chassis tuning and playing with the pressure... it all depends on how much work and money you want to throw at it.
I like the Hurst 31x10 radial slicks I put on my Deuce. I'm running a 3.89 gear, 355" Chevy, 3000 stall, all in a 2500 lb car. They hook up good, look traditional, and are very street drivable. (unlike a wrinkle wall drag slick) I tried to run wrinkle walls on the street in my younger (more foolish) days. They are just plain dangerous on the street. See this thread for more info. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=129067&highlight=americruise The Hurst tires hook up 10x better than the 31x16 Hoosier "Pro Street" radials I have mounted on my other wheels. -Jim
Neither was the snorkel. But its a tough ride from where I sit. I know a lot of guys running the M/Ts and like 'em real well. I'm not aware of anyone makeing cheater slicks that are not recaps. But I've been known to be mistaken.
I know,I didnt like the snorkel either,but unlike alot of cars on the road,mine wasnt a mailbox....lol.Oh yea, another reason the car hooked so good might have been the tire size,31/16.50/15.That car was all go,I was goin for a Johnny Roka look. EVIL
i purchased a set firestone repos from speedway motors 10" by 30 cheater slicks, hook up great street or strip,brand new 230$ ,couldn't be happier
right now its not to fast high 13s just lookin for a little more hook.... once i throw more money into the motor i guess is when i start having to be serious about the tires... thanks for all the input now its a toss up between the firestones and the radirs!
I got a question about slicks I havent been able to find an answer for. How high is the speed rating on teh average slick? I never see it listed or advertised on any slicks I've seen. Obviosly it's a race tire, so you'd think it would be pretty high. But the recaps are made with older possibly non-rated cores. Can anyone answer that for me?
I have Radir slicks on my roadster I like em and for me it is just looks so I cannot tell you how well they hook up.
To clarify Porknbeaner's comment about cheater's all being recaps, Radirs are not. They are brand new tires. Not recaps. Do they hook? I'm running in the high to mid 11's & 118 -121 mph on Radirs on the rear & bias plys on the front. My 60 ft times are for shit so w/ modern slicks & an auto trans...Hmmm??? I guess they hook ok. IMHO, firestones don't look right.
Fastest Drag radial is now MT ET Drag Radial. They kick ass and get faster times than the MT Slick!!!! They are very sticky and wear out fast but they are the Cats Ass!!!!! Nothing better!! I had the BFG Drag radials and pulled 1.6 second 0-60 ft times and would spin on the street endlessly. I bought the ET Drag radials and can hardly even spin on the street. These hook. This is with my 1968 Firebird that is a mid 11 Street Car with very stiff suspension!!! Im talkin "Rolling Brick"!!
Evilone lets here More about the Merc with some more pics. That Fucker looks cool!! How fast is it and what powers it? FEDER
firestones do have that odd looking side wall...i guess its gonna be the radirs (looks played a big role also) we shall see how they work out next ... i just dont trust a recap doin 100 and sumthing miles per hour and havin a cap blow off
Just bought M/T ET Streets for my 57,haven't ran them yet though. 28x11.50-15LT fit the wheelwell perfectly on mine but that is with the leaf springs being moved in under the frame(an easy mod) and a 57 Olds rear axle(stock width). Wheel is the American Racing Ansen type aluminum slots 15x8 with 0 offset and 5x5(olds) bolt pattern. Can't wait to abuse them... Previously have run larger ET streets (13"?) down to the low 10's and 130+ mph behind a 383 sbc in a monte carlo. Way back when the 57 chevy axle didn't like slicks and a stick trans and broke 2 axles and the spring perches before I swapped the Olds axle in...
See told ya. But it was a good way to get an answer. As far as the recap speed rateing I probably wouldn't run a recap above 85 or so for an extended length of time. They have a tendency to get hot and shed their skin. The thing that scares me about the recap cheaters is that a lot of the time they are on a radial core. Radials are bad to be wear out before the tread, especially if they are run soft because the folks that owned 'em didn't think to check the tire pressure once in awhile. OH Evilone that wasn't a dig just an observation. I wouldn't bad mouth someone's car unless it was just a total abortion and they had their head so far up there it echoed when they talked. You and your merc don't fall into either of those catagories. besides i like fast and usually don't spend a lot of time worying about the package it comes wrapped in.
Howdy!!! Average speed rating on my recaps is 120 mph. That would be the "S" rating on the tire that you see after the tire size. Our product has been around since 1961. That is a long time to be in buisness.And for the most part Ron Hurst had not even been pushing the Drag Slicks for the last 15-20 years. Hurst had been mostly involved in Circle Track racing, Dirt and Asphalt. I have not heard a single time from anyone of a cap FLYING OFF!!! I have a local racer that runs my caps all the way around on a VINTAGE TRANS AM 1965 SHELBY, car has run this whole summer on my slicks and has finished in top 5 in every race.Tire is a GOODYEAR BLUE STREAK SPECIAL WITH HURST CAP 26.5x8.0x15 The Shelby's top speed down the back stretch is 140 MPH. Everyone needs to remember that proper tire installation "correct rim width" and proper tire inflation is crucial to any tire.I can blow anything up, and I have due to improper use,TIRES,MOTORS,TRANNYS,PUSSY!!!!! Everyone can speculate but I am commited to this product "HURST" for the rest of my natural born life.Anyone ever has problem with anything you can contact myself or DAD "the 2 guy's that actually made it" and get anything resolved.
My Hursts have seen 100+ and also been driven a ccouple hundred miles in 100 degree heat. They have held up through dozens of smokefests. I am happy with them. Now Cody, can we get some stickier rubber?
We can go with sticky'er rubber for you guy's but it will double the cost of the rubber. Right now the rubber we are using is Durometer reading cold of 65 hot it will go to a 51.Price per pound is around $1.50. Minimum order of a special rubber is 500 pounds. Softer rubber will be double that price. So anyways $3.00 pound for Softer Rubber. Now can anyone tell me why or why not I need to offer softer rubber. Ron Hurst spent 44 years on this, and many other questions.And when we first sat down and proceded to make this purchase that was a question that I brought up many times.Ron felt this compound was best. I have tested my tires with a heat guage and durometer guage. They will go 50 when a Hot Dry burnout is applied. That is dam soft and with a stiff sidewall I believe softer would not accomodate a stiff sidewall on a steel belted tire. Now wrinkle wall tires can have soft tread but that is a whole different animal.
I dont have any more pics of it scaned right now(Im new to this whole PC thing).I will try and dig up mor pics for ya soon.The car WAS a 1949 Merc.It was a drag car when I bought it.When I bought it it was allready back halfed,and had a camaro fron clip with 2 x 4 tube connecting the whole thing.Came with the cage,and all the fiberglass parts.The car was metalic green with silver flames that looked like shit when I bought it.I took the motor and trans that was in the car out,and installed this wicked small block chevy that I had settin on a stand,and a power glide with a trans break.I put a 250 hp NOS kit on it,got the suspension straightned back out from where the bumbass before me had it,welded a few more bars in it,and went racin.And of chorse,I got rid of those go to hell silver flames and oped for the flat black....lol EVIL
Oh yea,I raced the car on the street for money,so I cant tell ya what it ran,bacause I never made a full pass at the track.(didnt want everyone to see what it ran),but I figure it would run 6.50s or better on NOS,in a 1/8 mile track.The best part is it would run just as good on the street as it would at the track. EVIL
If you're buying slicks for your car, first you need to decide between wrinkle-walls and pie-crusts. Up until around 1968, drag racers used pie-crusts, some of which were made from scratch, some of which were recaps, and all of which were very heavy. When Marvin at M&H developed the wrinkle-wall slick, it was a drag racing milestone. Marvin told me that the new design got rid of about 35 pounds per tire. That's 70 pounds of rotating mass. Wrinkle-walls alowed serious drag cars to hook up and jump off the line like they do today. I wouldn't use pie-crusts unless they were going on a pre-'68-themed car, and I wouldn't use retreads on anything. Watch out for Cooper tires. Read this page and watch all four of the videos on it to see why. http://www.abc15.com/news/investigators/index_story.asp?did=26817 Dave http://www.roadsters.com/
[i went with a set from radir... guys couldnt be more friendly and helpful we will see how the tires are when they get here wednesday the real test will be the nostaglia drags on the 23 of sept... about this merc there was one floatin around in ohio earlier in august at the choppers party had a blown 502 big block but from the out side (minus the air scoop) the car was a full kustom had a big chop fender skirts the whole nice yards but under that was a full race chassis crazy car i cant remember the numbers he gave for the car(damn booze) but i remember it being quiiiite fast once again thanks for all the input
Got my slicks from Cody at HURST and had them on my 63 Fairlane daily driver for about a year. I am selling the Fairlane so I took off the slicks and replaced the rears with the same brand and size tire that the slick casings are on. I gotta tell ya, I liked driving the car way better with the slicks, believe it or not the slicks felt way smoother and better than the treaded street versions. I have M/T ET Streets (wrinkle walls) on my 69 Cougar and it's a little spooky driving it on the street as it wigles alot, but boy do they hook up, not verry street friendly though.
Yes, the wrinkle-walls have sidewalls that are designed to flex. Too bad nobody's posted any drag strip times with results from testing both recapped bias-ply slicks and modern wrinkle-wall slicks. Dave http://www.roadsters.com/
We jumped on top of the new 6.5" X 15" slick that Cody came out with. I think we got the first pair he maid. I didn't want the white wall so I asked Cody to buff both sides smooth. Then I just paint flat black on to make them all black walls. I have done burn outs with the new tires and the car is very smooth and no vibration during a run. Cody said that the tire would go 120 MPH no problem. We don't intend to take this car past 120 aneway as we dont want to brake more parts. we roll out then Stand on it , The 60 foot sucks but were not racing, just having a ball with the car. thanks Cody, dwrfab, Don Ross
I made some passes with a set of original Bruce slicks that were in great shape, and then switched to some Hoosier DOT slicks. Ran .4 quicker with the Hoosiers. The difference was in the 60ft/eighth mile times. The wrinkle walls hook up much better. The Bruce slicks weighed 65lbs mounted on steel rims. These are the Bruce slicks on the car. I used to find fingerprints on the treads from guys touching them to see if they were soft.......like the guy in the picture(They were). Burnouts were a waste of time with the old tires. Mutt
Point taken. Most of the time they dont get warmed up enough on the street. I am just nit picking. They seem to wear like Iron however, I dont think a bit softer would hurt them.
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