I'm looking for a tire that's better than the Firehawk sz50's. Something on the lower end of a race tire. I would expect them to be summer only, and likely a pretty soft compound.

Anyone have any suggestions? I want to keep the car handling well in the corners too.

 

SZ50 are nowhere near soft. Note the Z rating. These tires are designed not to heat up. They are designed for high speed use. You don't want a tire heating up at 100 mph on the highway. Drag tires have soft rubber and sticky oils in them. When you heat them up in the water box, you are releasing the oils and making the rubber sticky. You need to decide what you want the tires for. Street or strip. A comprimize between the two isn't a good choice for a tire. Buy some street tires and buy some drag slicks.

The closest street tire that can be considered sticky for race use is a winter tire called Blizzacks. They have very soft rubber designed to grip ice. For the cost of these tires you might as well buy real slicks. Nittos and BFG drag radials are too expensive for daily street use. You wear the rubber off too quickly. These tires are more designed for drag racing classes that demand a DOT or radial tire.

Buy some MT ET streets or ET drags. Also try Goodyear Eagle drag tires.

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Stephen's racing page

87 IROC-Z Pro ET Bracket Race Car and knocking on the SuperPro ET class
383 stroker (carbed) with double hump cast iron heads and pump gas
LS6 Big Block buildup now in progress

Best results before the engine blew up
Best ET on a time slip: 11.857
Best corrected ET: 11.163
Best MPH on a time slip: 117.87
Best corrected MPH: 126.10
Best 60 foot: 1.662

Racing at 3500 feet elevation but most race days it's over 5000 feet density altitude!

Member of the Calgary Drag Racing Association

 

You could get some used slicks from John Berget 262 740 0180, maybe some GSCS racing tires about 50 ea for 80 % rubber left on them. The 255x50x16 will fit nicely under the rear of a camaro. I would NOT, however, recommend you use them on the street, just the strip. Treadwear rating of 20. The NEW firestone sz50 EP compound raised the treadwear rating to 320, about 40% of its grip went out the window. The original sz50 was a 220, but most of the time measured out to 180.

 

Kuhmo V700 sized 265/45/16 is a good road racing tire treadwear of 0 - the tire rack has them for 130. I'm happy with mine wet and dry traction