Hi all,
What do I need to do to get some type of traction from my car?
I figured Going with Drag radials 275/45/17 would tame things down a bit and get it under control. Even after a 5-10 second tire heat up.. The car just spins the wheels like they were made of slime . Brand new Nitto DR's My car is no Monster by any means.. Suspension is pretty much stock except for BBK Race springs, and Koni shocks. Set stiff in the back and fronts loose as they will go.5 speed with 3.27's . I cant launch at all.. Forget trying to launch at 2000 RPM.. I can be at a roll off idle and just hit the gas , no cluch slip at all and good bye to any home of making foward progress for the first 2 gears. ( this is not at a prepared strip, but on the street )
Traction bars and lowers just keep wheel hop down right and help with some weight transfer, right? I mean I am no expert but I dont get how some people can get a 5k launch on DR's . Now that I did a vortech v2 install I have just made things worse. Any ideas would be appreciated.. I have a friend and bro- in law ripping me about doing work to my 5.0 ( "it being a piece of crap" "waste of money" etc. ) I hope to at least beat the my friends c-5 vette , I dont think I have a snoballs chance in hell against my bro- in laws Viper rt 10 2003. But I would like to give em hell out of a dig.. IF I COULD EVER GET SOME TRACTION!
Thanks for letting me vent
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91 GT 5 speed: Pmas Velocity MAF, 65 MM TB, TFS Track heat upper and lower. TFS TW heads and stage 1 cam, Kirban fuel pressure regulator, Summit 42lb injectors, 255lph in tank, T-rex,Ford Motorsport Ceramic coated headers, Magnaflow 2 1/2 cat back, summit O/R H pipe. 3.27 gears, BBK Race springs , Koni Red shocks. JBA weld on Sub Frame connectors. Dugan Racing 4- point roll bar. Hurst short throw. Vortech V2 SQ @11lbs. and Nitto 555 255/45/17 front, and Nitto 275/45/17
first off a "short" sidewall tire like a "45" is not the best to get to hook...you need a tire wth some sidewall height to help plant the tires, are you running a front sway bar? also tighten-up the front shocks and soften-up the rears...now onething you can try is add some weight to the rear, just make-sure it's secure
I had Nittos drag radials and wasn't impressed. I bought some Mickey Thompson ET Street radials and those things really hook. (I have the 275 45 17's) When I first put them on, I thought something was wrong with my car because I was barely spinning em.
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K/B 6 lb non i/c,Tuneable induction CAI,BBK 70 MM T/B,Lightning 90 MM MAF,BBK shorty headers,Mac o/r Prochamber,Mac catback,Centerforce D/F,Tri-Ax shifter,FRPP 4:10 gears,H P Motorsport C/C plates,subframe connectors and Mega-Bite Jr. LCA's,Autometer boost/vac gauge,Cervini 95 Cobra R hood,Mach 1 chin spoiler and grill delete,smoked head lights,crystal clear driving lights.
330 rwhp
12.8@110
Thanks for the replies,
I will be keeping the front swaybar since I do like to hit a few turns , I will try the tight front, loose rear shock setup. ( I thought that was the opposite of what drag shocks normally do?) About the 45 aspect ratio I agree it is a short stiff sidewall, but I have seen some impressive launches with that same tire. on a stock rear setup. I will try to move some weight over the rear tires from over the nose.. batt.. etc. I am not sure I want to add any balast , since my 6'2 310 lb.. body seems to do too much of that already LOL.
I have def hear how the MT ET's are the way to go.. I will have to play with the pressure on the nitto DR's to see if I can get them to hook a little better.
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91 GT 5 speed: Pmas Velocity MAF, 65 MM TB, TFS Track heat upper and lower. TFS TW heads and stage 1 cam, Kirban fuel pressure regulator, Summit 42lb injectors, 255lph in tank, T-rex,Ford Motorsport Ceramic coated headers, Magnaflow 2 1/2 cat back, summit O/R H pipe. 3.27 gears, BBK Race springs , Koni Red shocks. JBA weld on Sub Frame connectors. Dugan Racing 4- point roll bar. Hurst short throw. Vortech V2 SQ @11lbs. and Nitto 555 255/45/17 front, and Nitto 275/45/17
I think it's jus the little sidewall, my dad has the same issue on his supercharged roush with the nitto dr 275/40-17's. I'm running the nitto dr but in the 275/60-15 size and my 60 ft.s are in the 1.8's consistently and that's feathering it out the hole, I would drop it but I'm afraid to break something lol. Jus keep messin with the pressure if it doesn't get better, than either get a rim/tire combo with more sidewall to it or go with the mickey t's. A word of caution though, they're horrible in the rain and they don't last very long at all. So if you drive your car alot I'd say the next step would be the bfg dr. They wear a bit more than the nittos but they hook a little better too. Let us know what you end up doin.
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Single Cam Hatch
VTEC - All the lag of a turbo............None of the boost
If its Fast and reliable, it ain't cheap.
If its Cheap and reliable, it ain't fast.
If its Fast and cheap, it ain't reliable.
You really have to go to a prepped track.
I had Nitto's. They hooked great at the track, but they spun like a street tire on the street.
I'd suggest going to the track to race.
My b I didn't notice the part of you saying that this was happening on the street, yeah you might want to take it to a track and see what it does the street is WAY to inconsistent. There are portions of street around here where my car grips awesome and than there are parts where I'll spin the tires on a 30 mph roll.
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Single Cam Hatch
VTEC - All the lag of a turbo............None of the boost
If its Fast and reliable, it ain't cheap.
If its Cheap and reliable, it ain't fast.
If its Fast and cheap, it ain't reliable.
thanks guys for the replies, I haven't had a chance to to any more testing due to a head gasket, but since I am cracking into the engine again I picked up a TFS H\C\I so once that is done I will mess around with the pressure , maybe a more agressive MT tire ( although I hear they are kinda scary at speed , not sure how accurate that is )..
D1, Do you mean like a Tourqe arm or something else like diffrent Lower control arms etc? Sorry i have been out of the scene for some time Not sure what you are talking about anti roll bar
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91 GT 5 speed: Pmas Velocity MAF, 65 MM TB, TFS Track heat upper and lower. TFS TW heads and stage 1 cam, Kirban fuel pressure regulator, Summit 42lb injectors, 255lph in tank, T-rex,Ford Motorsport Ceramic coated headers, Magnaflow 2 1/2 cat back, summit O/R H pipe. 3.27 gears, BBK Race springs , Koni Red shocks. JBA weld on Sub Frame connectors. Dugan Racing 4- point roll bar. Hurst short throw. Vortech V2 SQ @11lbs. and Nitto 555 255/45/17 front, and Nitto 275/45/17
thanks guys for the replies, I haven't had a chance to to any more testing due to a head gasket, but since I am cracking into the engine again I picked up a TFS H\C\I so once that is done I will mess around with the pressure , maybe a more agressive MT tire ( although I hear they are kinda scary at speed , not sure how accurate that is )..
D1, Do you mean like a Tourqe arm or something else like diffrent Lower control arms etc? Sorry i have been out of the scene for some time Not sure what you are talking about anti roll bar
Hope this helps..... It works! UPR makes one but I dont buy any of their products. All of my suspension parts are from Them!
So it is an actual swaybar that will improve traction? I guess it prevents one wheel from getting loaded heavier than the other.
On a diffrent topic.. Is there anything wrong with UPR products? I was looking at their boost power pipe. I have a hard time paying over 200 dollars for a simple tube made out of steel or whatever .. I could see if it was GOLD or something LOL.. but even at 99 dollars it is a rip off, but sure beats $200. I should just make it myself.. and save myself the 192 dollars .
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91 GT 5 speed: Pmas Velocity MAF, 65 MM TB, TFS Track heat upper and lower. TFS TW heads and stage 1 cam, Kirban fuel pressure regulator, Summit 42lb injectors, 255lph in tank, T-rex,Ford Motorsport Ceramic coated headers, Magnaflow 2 1/2 cat back, summit O/R H pipe. 3.27 gears, BBK Race springs , Koni Red shocks. JBA weld on Sub Frame connectors. Dugan Racing 4- point roll bar. Hurst short throw. Vortech V2 SQ @11lbs. and Nitto 555 255/45/17 front, and Nitto 275/45/17
On a diffrent topic.. Is there anything wrong with UPR products? I was looking at their boost power pipe.
Call it personal..... They copy everyone else, and their **** is junk. i would tell you to buy a AFM Power Pipe for your setup or if your handy enough make your owne.
If I didn't miss something I think I read in your post that you have stock upper and lower control arms? If so some new ones would help a ton, the stock ones are horrible :P
The torque arm/ph bar combo is an even hotter setup, way better traction, but comes with a fair price tag.
Also I have ran the MT ET streets on the street a bit on a car I used to have...they were 15" and they had so much sidewall flex that street drivability did suck. They hooked up like crazy even on the street but they handle really poorly. If you just use them for your racing purposes whether it be on the street or at the track they work great but don't expect to road race around on em, cornering does suffer, mine flexed in turns enough to hit the shocks in the corners
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86' Mustang GT
-155k miles bone stock still purrs
88' Mustang GT T-Top
-Frame off'd. Built 347, tremec tko road race 5-speed, stripped interior, no stereo, caged, race seats, Maximum Motorsports susp incl. PH bar & Torque arm, Bilstien shocks, H&R springs, 5-lug conversion, big 4-wheel disc's, American Racing Torq Thrust M 17x9's, 3.73 gears, TOYO RA1 tires, Cervini Cobra/stalker body kit, 2.5" cowl hood, painted flat black
I will have to agree with fellow members that a 45 series tire is not ideal for launching your stang. I have done both road racing as well as drag racing, and the short wide tire is great for corning, but sacrifices launching the vehicle, and vis versa. I used Hotchkis performance suspension, which has adjustable upper control arms and progressive rate springs, with 275/60-15 TA radials. Of course the 80/20 front shocks helps by causing the nose of the car to pitch upward, but this isn't idea for road racing applications. You can get adjustable shocks that allow you to switch settings between drag and road racing. Another important point with drag radials, or at least with the T/A drag radial is that their traction performance will worsen with long burn-outs.
Another trick you can use is to slip or feather the clutch until the tires hook. This will get the car moving fast enough, so that when you hit second gear, the wheel speed will not be excessive.
I think I've stated this in a previous thread, but just in case I didn't, I have launched my stang at 5000 rpm, "on the street" and pulled the front wheels a couple of feet off the ground in 1st and 2nd gear with 4.86's. Of course my car is setup strictly for drag racing, but you can get a decent compromise for both, if you have already changed the stock upper and lower control arms. If you haven't then all bets are off. I hope this helps.
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‘88 LX Hatchback: 351 stroked to 408 w/4 bolt mains & steel crank, 12.5 :1 forged pistons, Cartech “Bread Box” upper/Edelbrock lower(ported and polished), BBK 75 mm Mass Air w/120 lb injectors, Dart II ported, polished O-ringed 2.02/1.60 heads, Custom Competition Cam hydraulic roller w/Roads lifters, Hypertech custom chip, 1100 hp Aeromotive Competition fuel kit, 9” w/ 4.86’s, Tremec T56 six speed, , Hotchkis performance suspension, 400 shot of nitrous. Passes emissions running E85.
Cannot get traction 1991 Mustang GT 
