just want to know how small you guys go on the front. its gunna be a street strip setup so yes they're gunna get som road miles. so rim and tire size is wat im lookin for. oh gunna be draglites

I drove alot on my 15x4's summit stars with Kumho Powerstart 165/80/15's i think they were. They are NOT a VW spare tire like alot of people think. rated to 112mph tho but I've been over 130 on them no problems. radial tire so street driving was fine. Does have a load limit of like 1000 lbs per tire so I had to run like 40psi pressure in them at all times just to keep them from flattening too much. Its a short tire too tho, 25.4" tall. Front end was slammed with that tire and led to lot of front end clearance issues with the road but no big deal.

They do make other good radial tires rated for more speed, like sportsmans. Either way a 4 to 4.5" rim with a good 26 inch front runner will be ok. Keep it radial all around if you wish to see alot of road miles.

I ran bias ply rears/radial fronts which is said to be a no-no but never had a problem, car handled really good surprisingly, but i had a good stiff suspension setup.

i run 3.5 weld pro stars, and they are a no go for the streets

Why not have skinneys for the track and use stock wheels on the street?

The idea is for those that drive to the track and do not want to swap rims out there. I've done that before and it was a major PITA at my track, so I just drove onthe ET streets and skinnies

That's what I meant. I don't see driving on skinneys to the track (considering it'll likely be a day with good weather and you probably won't be in a hurry). But I don't think I'd do it every day. But then again, people tend to call me crazy when I drive regularly...

I was on my skinnies and ET streets for about a month before i ordered my C6 wheels/tires. I even got the car inspected with those skinnies/et streets. Passed just fine. The car drove great. If you are not into handling and corner carving on the street you will do great with skinnies up front. I am into the handling aspect and like big rims on these cars with aggressive looking stances and tires. So I took the skinnies off. Two guys down the street from me run just skinnies/drag tires out back on their cars but they dont drive them often...one guy just drives to the track and the other just goes to car shows and random cruises only on the nicest days. They dont mind those tires up front.

I knew they would pass inspection. A friend of mine drove on skinnies in VA, and I think he still is. I was just saying that I don't think I would want to due to my driving style. I'd be hitting all kinds of things trying to turn lol.

The only thing that bothered me was the fact that my skinnies were shorter than my street tires so i lose a good bit of ground clearance. Advertised at 25.4" tall compared to 25.7" to the street tires, but the skinnies flexed alot more due to greater load on the tire, so the difference was more like an inch and on my car, inches count.

At times i forgot I had skinnies and moved into corners faster than i should have but the car remained stable. I was happy with them.

Surprised no one else has chimed in here... I guess not many run skinnies on a street car all the time?

Hello
In my opinion I like the skinny/fatty look. It gives the vehicle a whole new look! You just have to be careful going around corners and keep your eyes out pot holes. Just my opinion.
Have a good one guys!
Brad

yea im only planin on running them when i go to the track and maybe for slow cruising around town. for daily driving i want to go to the slp zr1 wheel. what i was worried about was being a full bodyed car on a little tire. cause driving to the track for me is a 60 mile drive.

same as above, 15/3.5 welds with the kumho 165/80/15s i have driven them on the street quite a few times over 30 miles eachway and no problems at all. just dont turn hard and dont try to make a panic stop, most of the stopping power is with the front tires so if you slam on the brakes they will lockup.

I have 195 70 14s in the front and 295 50 15s in the back if thats what you mean? skinny in front and big in the back.

Picture to show.


it shows its even b/c its on sidewalk. and reason its on my lawn its getting converted over to manual WC T-5

That's a little further than I'd recommend driving on an undersized tire, particularly if it's all or mostly all highway or highway speed driving. A small tire flexes more unless you run the pressure way up, so it'll run a bit hot anyway (much more so at the door sticker inflation pressures that are for the larger OE tires), and will be subject to impact damage if you choose excessive inflation.

Really, this is a good excuse to go buy an aluminum floor jack and a cordless impact tool. And a square of plywood if your pit area is unpaved or the track frowns on people leaving little divots in their pavement on a hot summer day.


I don't think I'd choose anything less than 185/75-14, and I'd run that at a few psi above door sticker number in order to make up the load capacity. I'm guessing that a 185/75-14 needs at least 6 psi more but probably not more than 10, so if the door sticker pressure is 32, somewhere between 38 and 42.


Norm

Have driven My 92 Z28 with weld 15x3.5 front wheels for over 10 years.
(the car has been stored for the last 7 years)

i have ran p155's and p165's over the years.. and have made 2hr road trips on the open Hiway at 80mph+ (130 a few time's) for 2 or 3 min shots
i also run with 50psi in the fronts.. Have Had No probs at all..
they do not run hot..(or what ever) it's a myth and remember the speed rating is for over 1 to 2 Hrs..at the speed the tire it rated at..IF YOUR not running lamanz (spelling)
it's no prob.. never have ran them down..the 1st set the 2nd set sun cracked and i would swap out to new tires... always check your gear.. it keeps you alive..
(Sorry 22years U.S.M.C.) old habit...and at $36 to 40 bucks a tire its beer money..

i Just had the wheels off the other day to Buff and check them out..
the last time i looked at them was 2003.and
thay are like the day i put them on back in 93/94. this is the 2nd set of 165's i have had on the welds drag lites..

this is a street car that has ran into the 10's and run's in the 11's all day long.. (not in the last 7 years..lol)
tire is a bit low from sitting for 7 years (jack is just slid under the car was raining)
jack is new..lol

no you dont wana go sliding into a corner at 45mph. this wheel and tire set up is drive it nice on corners..and STAND ON IT to the nexed Light!!..sorta thing..works Fantastic!
so yes you can drive them on the street. and enjoy it...Just take care of the wheels..
and keep an eye on them..do they look 17 years old...(take care of them) and they never will..


this is how it just sits as you would drive it..REMEMBER NO DUKES OF HAZZARD STUFF!

Ummm, not quite on calling heat generation a myth. In your specific case, you've built up the load capacity of a small tire by adding inflation pressure, which also added some tire stiffness (that reduces the amount of tire carcass flex that happens). Within some limits, this is a perfectly acceptable approach.

The big problem comes when somebody runs the same small tire at the door sticker inflation pressure because he has no idea what that number is based on. In that case, the tire will be in a state of "overdeflection", which is probably closer to what the tire load ratings are based on anyway.

Overdeflection means that every carcass cord and rubbery element is undergoing more flex as it passes through its closest point to the ground, which certainly does create more heat.

About the 1 or 2 hour rating - that's the speed rating of that tire with respect to its rated load, not some unknown overload condition. For example, an 'S'-rated tire may downgrade to be only be as good as an unrated tire (85 mph, IIRC) if it's overloaded badly enough.


arctic - you are absolutely correct to advise against cornering this sort of arrangement any way except gently, and to keep a check on the tires' condition. Remember that when you run with an equipment combination that has not been proven by controlled testing, you simply can't just go drive the car like it was just another OE option.

Basically, that part of the car is now your design (not GM's or the wheel or tire company's), you don't know where the limits are, and you're the test driver . . .

Restrict the hard driving to straight lines only, no autocrossing, drifting, or dirt-tracking (50 seconds of autocross on a hot day can easily increase tire temperature to where you won't keep your bare hand on it). I sincerely hope that anybody reading through this pays attention to that, though I remain concerned. Poo happens unexpectedly, sometimes.


Norm

sorry gess what i was trying to say is.. Iv been doing it on this car for the last 17 years and a few other cars years before that.. But

yes if you run a tire low it will heat up.. thats not a myth.

if you just bolt on that size of Tire and 35psi it will look like a low tire.
(load rate say 1200lbs ea)on a 3300+lb car.
and it will heat up from flex.. and brake down inside lets not forget that also.. a tire that is run low. for a long time.(a week). will be full of rubber powder. from the inside side wall braking down..Not Good.

but is it Ok to drive with skinnys up front on the street..yes..yes it is.
just do it right..

I think we're about as close as a dragstrip guy and a corner-carver are ever going to get on this particular item, so I'll say "fair enough". Just because I wouldn't ever run them because of the way my driving naturally tends to be, doesn't mean that I can't see situations where you could reasonably do so. But like you said, ya gotta do it right.

I'd like to think that everybody running skinnies put as much thought into it as you have, but I'll settle for pointing out the tech and emphasizing the cautions from time to time. It's the best I can do, in fact it's probably the only thing I can do.


Norm

on a side note:
i will say my car has never been driven in the rain.. or. even a wet street.
it's never even seen a dirt road..

no ricky racer stuff on the street..well not alot of it anyway...lol
lots of fri sat day and night stuff.. dont think the OD is over 35.000 yet
but that agen is Just Me.. after all she's only 17 years old..