ET Streets: Still Good or Not?
 

I have a pair of 26x10.5-16 MT ET Streets that I've had for years. Probably 8 years old although there aren't a lot of passes on them. At least I don't think that 50-75 is a lot.

How am I supposed to tell if these things have any grip left in them?

My 60’ times have gone out the window. My personal best (on a more or less stock street suspension) was a 1.71 (2011). Then that faded away to the mid 1.8s. (2012).
Yesterday’s first outing at the track and the best I could manage was a 2.0. The traction isn’t totally lost as the engine doesn’t flare to the redline but I can feel the car slide out of the groove.
Since I live close to the track (I put my slicks on at home) and it’s nothing but rural highway, I took the opportunity to do a few burnouts to see if I was laying down any rubber. The result was hardly any.

Is this a reasonable indicator of the tire loosing it’s sticky goodness?

This isn’t about traction advice. There’s nothing I intend to do to take away from the car being what it is and that’s basically a daily driver/crosscountry cruiser. I’m just wondering if it’s time to move on to another set of tires.

Re: ET Streets: Still Good or Not?
 

Yup, junk for anything other than burnouts

Re: ET Streets: Still Good or Not?
 

Is that based on the tire not leaving rubber on the road?
I know the Mickey Thompson website says tires should be replaced when the 60 and 330 foot times start going away. But the rubber on the road indicator seems like a reasonable way to assess them too.

Re: ET Streets: Still Good or Not?
 

If they aren't hooking, they aren't doing what they were designed to do. Need new ones. They have a shelf life and wear life. Were they stored deflated and covered ?

Re: ET Streets: Still Good or Not?
 

True enough.
Always stored indoors although at racing pressure most of the time. They are old though....

Re: ET Streets: Still Good or Not?
 

They dry out and get hard over time. Sounds like yours is gone. Being they are already gone but still has rubber left you can try an old trick I use to use.

Back when I was a broke kid, I had to make things work and picked up a few tricks from paved oval racers and budget drag racers.

Here's a couple of things that I used way back when to soften the tires back up and get them to stick...

Spray the tires down in traction compound (VHT) , put the tire in a big dark colored thick plastic bag, and place that out in the partly sunny area for a day.

Mix granular tide bleach detergent and water in a 5 gal bucket, wash the entire tire tread and sidewalls with a stiff bristle brush then rinse with water.

5 parts Xylene
1 part Acetone
Put it on with a paint brush about every hour for three hours.

I used all 3 methods on tires over the years and all 3 seemed to work pretty good

Re: ET Streets: Still Good or Not?
 

I've thought about the VHT approach. I may go that route.

Re: ET Streets: Still Good or Not?
 

Xylene and toulene are fairly similar with toulene having a slightly faster evaporation rate. Most professional lacquer thinner has toulene and acetone in a proportion very similar to what you suggest. If you try this method purchase the good lacquer thinner so you have a purpose for it later on.