What is your drag wheel set up?
 

Hey guys,

I know there are a few of us that like to take our Z to the drag strip. I was curious as to what size rim and what tires your running? What have you found that works best for our car?

Some views but no replies. I know some of you guys take your car out to the drag strip. I am wanting to know your setup.

You're going to wait a long time:)

I've been drag racing for over 3 years in the very populated N. east. Not often, perhaps 6/7 times a year.

At the 2 top racetracks around here, Atco & Raceway park, I saw very few Z's at the drag strip. That's over 3 years of drag racing. With a some exceptions, almost all of them couldn't even break 14 seconds.

Of course those people stopped going back to the track & they end up posting that drag racing is stupid & they are not into it:)

Those people are the FIRST to check the H.P , 60' times & 1/4 mile times of Z's & other cars published in the auto magazines:)

To be fair, it's not easy to answer your post without knowing what gears/mods/H.P. you're working with & how far you want to take this (slicks)?

If it's pretty much a stock car, I would just get Nitto or M/T drag radials, something like 275/17" tire size.

At the moment I have F.I. LTH and CBE, stillen g3, jwt clutch and flywheel, nst pulley on the way, zex kit upgrading to 150 shot. I have 18inch rims with drag radials which I think if I get a smaller size that might help my traction. I got the whiteline diff bushings. I'm thinking of getting a rear sway bar undecided on that as well as on the 3.9 gears with quaife diff.

That's terrible on the 14 sec times but it takes practice for guys to get it right.

I can't believe this is real
 

You claim to have a very heavily modified car, yet you don't understand the simple basics.???

"smaller size tires" help my traction??? Same as narrower tires help traction. As you reduce the amount of rubber on the ground, you reduce the traction. Doesn't matter how you reduce it.

ALL heavily modified cars like yours use stock gears. I won't tell you why because you SHOULD know that! Going from 3:70 to 3:90 gears just doesn't make much sense anyway. High h.p. cars can only run the 1/4 with slicks. ALL slicks & most if not all drag radials are between 15" & some to 17". Most slick cars run 15"-16" wheels as long as they clear the breaks & of course the tires most likely be smaller in circumference than stock. That would bring your "ratio" to around 3:90 anyway. I'm sure you don't understand that either .

I DON'T tell you this as a put down, I tell you this because I find it hard to believe your posts & I'm not going to continue with them.

Oh, don't all Z's come with sway bars? Now I'm not sure about the rear? Anyway sway bars help when cornering not drag racing.

Most drag set ups will not need a rear sway bar but I quote from a member who commented on one of my posts " However, street cars without a cage can and will benefit from sway bars. My buddy put a rather large rear sway bar on his 10 second camaro street car and it had a positive affect on launching a car. But, that car also makes 500 wheel torque and twists the whole chassis off the line. Our cars will probably not net the same results. " I was just looking for anything that could help with my launching.

In the end I was just looking for some help/advice and experience in this area, so if you don't want to help or as you say "I find it hard to believe your posts & I'm not going to continue with them." then that is fine as well I would rather have that then the reply you just posted about everything I SHOULD KNOW or DON'T UNDERSTAND and no explanation. This forum is about getting help from people who share the same interest i.e. the 370z in every aspect whether it be body kits or sound systems. It's okay to be wrong but to be judged for not having the information or being poorly informed is just down right ugly of you.

I also apologize to the Moderators if I have violated any rules with my reply as I know posting is a privilege not a right.

perhaps I was a bit rude
 

There are so many posts about modding cars yet as you can see no one responds to posts on actually using those mods for what they were intended for.
Once I saw an import car with it's hood open exposing/showing a ton of pipes/modifications/turbo. I was impressed so I walked over to the owner and asked how quick his car was? He looked down at me & said "I don't race it". Soon it started to rain, yet the hood stayed open for a long time. I scratched my head and realized that some people spend many thousands building cars just to open the hood:icon17:

You're one of the few into drag racing. That's refreshing & I'm just not used to it. I'll just say two things then stop my past type of talking. GT-r's are all wheel drive automatics:) Yes N/A cars NEED 4:08 gears, but your car is/will be far from N/A. Now I'm done:)

Not to waist your high H.P car you have to use slicks & drag racing wheels. I believe mine are on 15" wheels. Anyway wheels come & should be 15" or 16" to match slicks that are produced. Reason for that is that slicks have thin side walls and much rubber, as apposed to being thin. That's because the more rubber = more rubber taking the brunt of the take off, as apposed to spinning the tires or putting that pressure on the chassis.

To do that you can't use bigger, heavier, after market brake discs & calipers. First the wheels have to fit, second heavy after market discs are build for road racing or of course for showing to friends:) but heavier/bigger discs, just like heavy wheels rob car's H.P.
Good luck with your venture.

The guy you walked over and asked about his car was it at the track or a car show? I'm all about some bling if it serves a purpose for the most part yes maybe my billet aluminum battery brace with a z emblem on it is overkill but it does have a purpose lol. I guess it's all in how you justify it. I was looking into just upgrading the pads and getting some better rotors. Are you running skinny's? Drag racing for this car is def. an up hill battle and not many people have experience in it with this particular car. I hear what your saying there are so many factors I have to look at and honestly it sucks. The Driveshaft Shop | NISSAN 2009- 370Z / G37 1200HP Pro-Level Axles - 370Z / G37 - Nissan - Import Axles
This is what I am currently looking into but this is overkill. I am waiting on my sisters bf to tell me if the rim itself is bent as there was some wobble when I had the car up on jacks letting it spin freely. Thank you for the reply:tup:

Just wanted to point out from a practical standpoint, wider tires aren't always beneficial, especially on a drag strip. Assuming the strip is prepped and cleaned properly, you can reduce the width of the tire if you have enough traction to clock better ET's.

Think of a wider tire having more of a "chance" for each millimeter strip of rubber having traction, at the expense of ultimate grip per millimeter of tire.

For 3 years I raced with completely stock rear with 3:90 gears. The last 2 years of that was with Hoosier slicks & skinnies in the front but the car was N/A & mostly stock. It took me many months to learn how to use/take advantage of the slicks. Considering that I used stock intakes & even the muffler/exhaust, I did extremely good times.
A few months ago I bought from this site a whole STOCK 4:08 set up. It was available close to my house, good price & my rpm at the finish line showed me that I needed them. The result was that my 1/4 mile times gained a tenth & quicker 60' times. Out of the last apx. 15 run(3 times at track) apx. 12 were in the 12.4's with 12.419 best. All those 12.4's were with 1.6 60' times. That was with ALL factory stock rear parts & O breakage, nothing. However I had to use the water & brake lock to spin/heat up the tires. My thoughts are, why change things if everything works fine. Also modding may never end, so I started racing/getting experience & having fun before I did all the mods(which were a few:).
So you can add everything then race, or race after doing some mods & see the results & have fun & get experience. Make sense?

I'm sorry but I don't get it.

Wider tire does not equal better times or traction always in drag racing.
You must find a balance with the car, power, and track to achieve your fastest time. It is one reason you see guys with bone stock mustangs throw on only DR and not slicks because slicks are worthless until you get into a higher power range for them.

The quickest Mustangs at the track were automatics. As far as my car, I couldn't get traction no matter how much I ruined the clutch. When I called M/T tires & asked why, they said that they were not for manual trans. cars. I know many people doing well, even your record holding n/a Z ran stock street radial, I just couldn't.

I believe in using as much tire as possible as long as they fit & don't bog/stall the car.

^^^^^^^^
Is your car turbo? "zex kit UPGRADING to 150 shot. Does that mean you have some nitro already?

No turbo, currently I have a 100wet shot. Upgrading to a 150 shot. Working on getting the GTR manifold to bolt on to my car and hopefully will get someone to make it were it is direct port.

http://www.racestarindustries.com/fitmentguide.html

I hear their rims are pretty good.

Race Star Wheel Installation Instructions

I hear their rims are pretty good.

So I got a reply from the mentioned link above and wanted to know if the information he gave me would work with my car? I do have the factory Nissan sports package brakes. Below is his response:

We have a 17"x 9.5" for the rear of your car that I believe will work. It has a 7" backspace on the wheel. The clearance across the inside of the wheel at the front mounting plate is 16". We also have a 17"x 7" wheel for the front. It has a 4.25 backspace on the wheel. The clearance across the inside of the wheel at the front mounting plate is 16". If you are wanting to drag race this car we have a 15"x 10" with a 7" backspace for the rear. The clearance across the inside of the wheel at the front mounting plate is 14". I hope this helps answers some of your questions.

Unfortunately if u have the sports brakes you can not run anything smaller than an 18 inch rim in order to clear the calipers/brakes....

Othets are right...there is a small bunch whom drag race their 370Z's....The drag radials I hear give a lot of wheel hop.

Im not sure if the 19" MT Drag Radials II are any better...here is a past thread discussion about it.

http://www.the370z.com/wheels-tires/...-wheels-2.html

i use the sport spare tire rims > 18 x4 with MT 18 x 6 x 26 (radials) sportsmen tires on the front
and 18 x 10.5 + 12 volk T 37s with MT 305 35 18 drag radials. with racing brake 2 piece brake roters. (8 lbs lighter that stock but same size.)
saves losts of weight ./
I have 4.08 gears with a 7 AT.
soon to be SC'd with a GTM 4.2 stroker>

Anybody know what our backspacing is?

http://www.racestarindustries.com/catalog.html

How is it that the new 5.0 mustangs have a big brake package and can fit 15's in the back and we can't?

On the new GTs with the Brembo package the rear brake rotors remain at 11.8" and are not changed. The GT500 runs 13.8" rear rotors - but will clear 15 x 10 rear wheels with a swaybar relocation bracket. Up front most are running 17" skinnies up front with low backspacing to clear.

On mine up front I ran 15x4 Prostars with 26 x 7.5 MT Sportman skinnies and 1" spacers to clear my Cobra brakes and in the rear 15x10 Prostars with 295 55 15 MT ET Streets (28") in the rear. Cleared the Cobra brakes in the back.

Hi all...
Very interested in this topic ... and have been learning alot as I go along.

I've been upping the performance on my 2009 Z (sport) and now have to deal with traction issues.

Stillen SC'r
PPI long tube headers (cat delete)
HKS Ti exhaust
Custom tune - in the neighorhood of 500 hp

I'm not a full fledged racer 'yet', but I can see myself becoming one.


I want to take it to the drag strip to do some 1/4 mile passes but it just doesn't want to hook up with Michelin PSII sport 285's on the stock 19" wheels.
I do have the 20mm HR spacers (the ones with the long bolts - not easily removable)
I do have the stock Nissan sport brakes that came with the car.

My next logical step would be the proper tire/wheel set up.

Please point me in the right direction ... I need an education ... and have made a concerted effort to find out from the local racers here in NJ. (not too many Z's race the 1/4 so limited input so far)

I need to consider the convenience of not having to replace the 20mm spacers.

Can I keep the 19" wheels and go with the drag radials?
What size?

If not the 19's then what tire/wheel combination would work for me just for the track.

Thanks,

Bob

Z&I...you will be able to use your stock 19" Sports wheels if you run the Mickey Thompson ET Drag Radials II Tires...Here's the link to them.

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/MTT-3723R/

Thanks BOLIO ... appreciate the leg work you did for me on this one.
The Mickey Thompsons seem to be the only game in town for 19"
Will probably end up ordering them later today ... the only concern is the fitment with the 20mm spacers.

I'm not locked in to the 19" wheels tho' - and am open to other options.

Tracked it yesterday and sho'nuff ... cold weather (in the 40's) the Michelins didn't hook up at all.
Ran a pair of 13.0's and a 13.1 @ 115/116
Got aggressive on one run and spun'em real good - had to back off and ran a 13.5

Thanks again,
Bob