This may go in the other forum that includes autocross and suspension, but I figured I'd post here cause it's about drag racing suspension. With that said, what I'm wanting to know is what are the best mods to "hook" well on street tires? I love street racing. And as you can tell by my mods I don't hook for shizz. I don't have any suspension upgrades right now. I'm waiting for input before purchase.
Thanks for any advice!
BTW I run 17" cobra R's on some Z-rated tires 275-40-17
Well I ran Nitto NT 555R's in a 275-40-17, and they hooked pretty damn well, but that was before quite a few of my mods. (heads, injectors, 4.10's, and headers). I would have went back with those, but tire life was really low. I understand the trade-off of soft tires, and tire life, but there are bound to be suspension upgrades that help hookup. Like control control arms maybe, or drag springs, struts and shocks, etc. I'm just wondering what everyone else runs on the street. I don't want to kill driveability a whole lot more than I already have, but I'm willing to sacrafice some. For instance I don't want to run 90/10's up front and 50/50's in the rear. I might run 70/30's, but would like to talk to someone who has run them to see how much driveability they lost. I guess rather than driveability I mean streetability. I drive this car every single day.
BTW 86Cobra your the man! You have replied to almost every post that I have posted. I appreciate your help!
You should be able to get 15,000 miles out of Nitto DRs if you use them only on the street with no burnouts. That's not bad at all for the performance increase. I run BFG DRs myself, but it's not my daily driver so I don't care about the low mileage.
I have Lakewood 70/30s and 50/50s, no front sway bar, D&D 125# coilover front springs, stock rear springs, Southside liftbars, and Southside upper arms. I can't spin the tires (275/50-15 BFG DRs) from a second gear roll. And trust me, it's not from a lack of power. This thing flat out hooks.
It drives fine on the street. You just can't corner hard.
the first thinng i would do if you plan to race often, is to install some battle boxes or another brand that will strenghten your torque boxes....if your not going to race it too often dont worry about it.
id get good tires, then lower control arms, then upper
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1992 GT......
AOD to T-5 conversion, 3.73's, Zoom HD clutch, ported E7's, cut open and ported factory intake, ported stock throttle body, subframe connectors, 1.5" headers, o/r h-pipe, flowmaster cat back, MAC air tube, K&N conical filter, homemade heat sheild for filter, homemade cold air kit, MSD coil, 9mm plug wires, advanced base timing to 12 degrees, Chrome Pony rims, 235/55/r16 Cooper Cobras..... definately more to come!! ALL of this was done by myself....including the porting and gea
So the 90/10's aren't bad? I drive about 175 miles a week myself. I only live about 5 miles from my computer store so it's not that bad. What just sucks is I like to haul a$$ around some corners every once in awhile. But when some goober in an f-body pulls up next to me, revving and all, I want to be able to "squeeze" and wax his A$$. So I'm kinda stuck in a dilema I guess. Sacrafice's, sacrafices.
I'm currently using 50/50's, 90/10's, Eibach drag launch kit, no front sway bar, Southside upper and lowers and on a 26X10.5 et street with 165-15's up front, I have run a best of 1.60 60ft in a 3100 pound car and consistent 1.62, 1.63's. I find it fairly streetable, no hard cornering due to skinnies, but the handling is good
I think that the best way to hook up is to get some softer shocks, softer rear springs, and some great rear control arms, plus a great set of street tires are Bridgestone Protenza's
Originally posted by Twister I think that the best way to hook up is to get some softer shocks, softer rear springs, and some great rear control arms, plus a great set of street tires are Bridgestone Protenza's
No, you want stiffer shocks to plant the tires. Lakewood 50/50s are stiffer than stock. You also don't want softer rear springs. Stock GT rear springs are actually very good for drag racing.
Soft springs won't put more force on the rear tires. They won't "push down" as hard as a stiffer spring.
You do want a soft spring up front for weight transfer. A good budget drag setup is stock rear springs, 4 cylinder front springs, Lakewood 90/10s and 50/50s, and no front sway bar. Even with stock control arms, this setup will work fairly well.
I have a set of Factory Five upper and lower control arms and a set of air bags i both springs. i find it hard sometimes to get it to spin 2nd. If you push down on the rear spoiler the car moves less than an inch. it is really stiff back there. Cornering is fun sometimes. You get it in there and your goin good and the only thing gets in your way is a good set of tires. All i can hear sometimes is howeling and I just stop to think about when and where they will let go and send me around for a "Hell Ride". I have MacPhersins up front.
I appreciate all the info. I've noticed that there haven't been any SN95 cars giving their opinions. I don't know if the suspension geometry is very different from the fox to the SN95, but I'll probably go with some 70/30's, 50/50's, and maybe some 15" ET streets. How much difference did you see from removing your front sway bar?? And possibly the Eibach drag launch kit. How do you think my driveablilty will be? I will just run the 15" ET's on the weekends.
Drag suspension question. 
Hehehe, thanks man.
