hey whats up guys,
i plan to take my car to the drag strip and i have a question. should i bother to do a burnout with my street tires or should i just go for it with cold tires?

 

A little heat won't hurt, but not help like for soft compound slicks or soft compound "street" tires..

Burnouts for street tires, is more about cleaning them & dislodging any gravel in the tread.

 

you can do a burnout it wont help BUT stay out of the water box. street tires sling alot of water around during a burnout and youll soak the inner fender well then when you stage the water will come down on, in front and behind your tires!!
just think what could happen next.

 

thanks,
the water on my tires would be very bad. that would turn into a wall smashing fender crunching night.
this will be my first time down the track so i'll be a little nervous but excited too. the track is 1/8 mile so i'm expecting mid 9's

 

just spin them enough to shake off the gravel and definitely avoid the water box.. what tires are you using. my first time out i cut a 2.03 60 ft on some kumhos (all stock) my r/t was horrible lol.

 

i think they maybe goodyear eagles gta. it's been awhile since i purchased them. my car is peg-leg so i'm just hoping for some traction!
i assume once i run it a few times they will give me a time slip, right? i want to post it. then i want to change my intake and my drive shaft and see what kind of difference that will make when i run it again.

 

You will pick up your time slip on the way back to the pits after every run.

 

Avoid melting the tires...just a couple turns to clean them off. No water or traction aids.
An open diff will want to spin the right rear, but will go straight for the most part. Your 60ft times will suck so try to roll out without mashing the gas, just roll it on and keep the tires from going crazy. Set the psi just below normal street pressure...like 26-28 or so or the tread will try to squirm around.

If they are GY Eagles...well, sorry but they are totally worthless. I have the GTIIs and get no traction. Firestones or BFG Drag Radials will be much better. Pop for some skins if you want to get any hook.


What intake are you running now and what do you plan to change to??

 

A dry hop to clean them is all that's required. Street tires are designed not to heat up so trying to get them hot doesn't make them sticky like a real slick.

Whenever possible, go around the waterbox to the inside. They sweep the dirt and rubber to the outside so you don't want to drive through that.

My burnouts are required because I want my slicks hot and sticky.

 

It's kind of funny, a couple of years ago in National DRAGSTER Quaker State had a little question & answer column with Tony Pedregon. That same question was asked, and his response was you really need to heat up street tires. Drag tires, on the other hand, don't need to be heated up because the traction is in the compound. The big burn-out the big boys do is to get heat into the drivetrain (he didn't say it, but I suspect it has something to do with being a crowd pleaser - maybe more to do with being a crowd pleaser).

When I got my BFG DR's several years ago, I wrote them asking about burn-out procedure. Their response was don't do a big smokey burn-out, just to do a clean-off spin of the tires - the traction was in the compound.

About 4 years ago I got my first set of Hoosier Quicktime Pro DOT's and wrote to ask them about their recommended burn-out procedure. Their response was don't do a big smokey burn-out, just do a clean-off spin of the tires - the traction is in the compound.

A couple of years ago John Force (the all-time burn-out king) goofed up his burnout during eliminations and didn't even get a wisp of smoke out of his tires. He staged anyway, had a clean run, and won the round.

The last time I ran street tires on the track I did a pretty nice burn-out (235-60x14's). I had been running the Hoosiers (26-9.50x14) before that. 60' was just slightly off, a little chirp and then it hooked. This was just after putting in the LCA RB's, and for the rest of the season I only ran the slicks.

So, take it for what it's worth, but that's what I've gathered over the years.

 

That right there does alot of convincing for me. All the same, has anyone with a pretty consistant car done it both ways? I'd be interested to see if there is any difference on a street tire or drag radial.

 

I've had the best runs by just spinning them enough to clean them off... big smokey burnouts never seemed to improve anything for me.

 

I don't do the long smokey burnouts. I do a high gear burnout to quickly get wheel speed. When I see the smoke coming off the tires I get out of the water box. I'm doing about 5000 rpm in high gear during a burnout. I'd guess and say it's at least 100 mph wheel speed for about 5 seconds.

http://videos.streetfire.net/video/C...ing_180345.htm

 

Well thats enough proof for me then, I'll keep my huge smoky burnouts for when I'm goofing around with the guys. Stephen, that car sounds absolutely incredible.

 

Trying to do big smokey burnouts on the street looks impressive but all it does is wears the tires down.

The mufflers really help. I can't stand running open headers. I'd need ear plugs then can't hear anything else.