Tire size and brand?

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MoparMcK

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I have 10" wide wheels to throw on my Demon. What width range am I able to run for tires? Right now I have a 28/11.5. I would like to try and get down to a 26" tall tire if possible. To utilize more of my 3.91 gears at the track.

What brand Drag radial and Slick do you all prefer?
 
It sounds like you're running a 285/60/15 which would be ~11.2" wide and 28.5" tall.
If so, a 285/50/15 would keep almost exactly the same width but drop you down to ~26.2" diameter. Keep in mind that even though you're keeping the same width, you're still losing contact patch.

As for brands? No idea what's better than what. :D
 
Be nice if someone actually made a 285/50-15 drag radial. Closest you'll find is a Hoosier DOT Drag Radial or M&H Racemaster Drag Radial or a Nitto NT 555 tire in 275/50-15 which is 25.7" diameter.
 
Thanks to both of you for the comments. After racing yesterday, I need to make a decision on what to get. My DRs are too low on tread to run again. Probably a good thing I went out first round. LOL.
 
Do they have to be radials?

Hoosier and m&h make slicks in a 26x11.50-15

There are also
26x12.00-15 m&h slicks
26x12.00R15 mickey thompson drag radials available
 
Do they have to be radials?

Hoosier and m&h make slicks in a 26x11.50-15

There are also
26x12.00-15 m&h slicks
26x12.00R15 mickey thompson drag radials available


At the moment I am going to stick with radials. I think I have decided to go with the standard 275/60 in the Nitto brand radial. This winter I plan to do a spring relocate, SS springs, subframe connectors, and mini tub. Then I will be running a 15x12 convo pro. At that point I will purchase the according tire size.

Thanks for the shared info!!
 
At the moment I am going to stick with radials. I think I have decided to go with the standard 275/60 in the Nitto brand radial. This winter I plan to do a spring relocate, SS springs, subframe connectors, and mini tub. Then I will be running a 15x12 convo pro. At that point I will purchase the according tire size.

Thanks for the shared info!!
I would never recommend any M/H tire to anyone ! But that is me ----------
 
It sounds like you're running a 285/60/15 which would be ~11.2" wide and 28.5" tall.
If so, a 285/50/15 would keep almost exactly the same width but drop you down to ~26.2" diameter. Keep in mind that even though you're keeping the same width, you're still losing contact patch.
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@JeffisOld

What did I get wrong? The numbers came from a tire size calculator.
 
It sounds like you're running a 285/60/15 which would be ~11.2" wide and 28.5" tall.
If so, a 285/50/15 would keep almost exactly the same width but drop you down to ~26.2" diameter. Keep in mind that even though you're keeping the same width, you're still losing contact patch.

As for brands? No idea what's better than what. :D

Why try to calculate his tire with a fake size when he already said he was running a 28x11.50-15

Same width but lose contact patch?

Assuming you were to run the same width wheel a 285/60R15 and a 285/50R15 in the same brand and pressure will have the same contact patch. The only time you will lose contact patch as far as the tire is concerned (ignoring alignment or other vehicle variables) is if the rim width, tire pressure or brands change. A larger sidewall will produce more roll of the tire sidewall but for all practical purposes will not affect contact patch. You do know that both sizes you listed dont even exist right?

@JeffisOld

What did I get wrong? The numbers came from a tire size calculator.

A 285/60R15 and a 285/50R15 are fantasy sizes. Just because a tire size calculator will compute the dimensions in a theoretical sense doesnt mean the tires are available. The op cant get any metric 15” thats going to give him enough width that he wants in a drag radial thats 26” tall. He will have to go with the u.s. sizes mentioned in my post.

As mentioned above a 275/50R15 is going to be the closest in height that he wants in a metric size. To gain the width of 11-12 inches and height of 26” he would have to go with a u.s. size

Go ahead disagree with this too, just because i disagree with your misguided and irrelevant information you have to go and disagree with my posts that actually point the op in the right direction. You deff should not be giving tire advice by simply using a tire size calculator especially when the sizes you calculated dont exist
 
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...

Go ahead disagree with this too, just because i disagree with your misguided and irrelevant information you have to go and disagree with my posts that actually point the op in the right direction. ...

Done.

I see where you disagree. You call these "fantasy tire sizes" because I translated the numbers that he gave into the industry standard and they're not always precise across brands...is that right? I guess I was overthinking it.

He asked which brand we preferred and you didn't have anything to offer on that? Hmm.. so I DISAGREE with you there. :D

In any case, the thing of value that I tried to offer was the often forgotten consideration of the contact patch area. Going to a shorter or taller tire, even at a the same claimed width, will have an affect on this.

50 series tire of a given width/ID offers a patch with a given length
60 series tire of the same width/ID provides patch with a greater length and therefore greater contact patch area.

No, the "traction benefit" is not going to have a linear correlation between contact patch area and friction but area is relevant.


https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=10
 
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Why try to calculate his tire with a fake size when he already said he was running a 28x11.50-15

Same width but lose contact patch?

Assuming you were to run the same width wheel a 285/60R15 and a 285/50R15 in the same brand and pressure will have the same contact patch. The only time you will lose contact patch as far as the tire is concerned (ignoring alignment or other vehicle variables) is if the rim width, tire pressure or brands change. A larger sidewall will produce more roll of the tire sidewall but for all practical purposes will not affect contact patch. You do know that both sizes you listed dont even exist right?



A 285/60R15 and a 285/50R15 are fantasy sizes. Just because a tire size calculator will compute the dimensions in a theoretical sense doesnt mean the tires are available. The op cant get any metric 15” thats going to give him enough width that he wants in a drag radial thats 26” tall. He will have to go with the u.s. sizes mentioned in my post.

As mentioned above a 275/50R15 is going to be the closest in height that he wants in a metric size. To gain the width of 11-12 inches and height of 26” he would have to go with a u.s. size

Go ahead disagree with this too, just because i disagree with your misguided and irrelevant information you have to go and disagree with my posts that actually point the op in the right direction. You deff should not be giving tire advice by simply using a tire size calculator especially when the sizes you calculated dont exist

Not so, my fine feathered friend ! A taller tire especially a slick, at the right pressure "will" have a longer, therefor a larger footprint !
 
@JeffisOld

What did I get wrong? The numbers came from a tire size calculator.
Not so, my fine feathered friend ! A taller tire especially a slick, at the right pressure "will" have a longer, therefor a larger footprint !

I completely understand that but a tire that is only 1” taller all the way around (2” oveeall) isnt going to make much of a difference. Maybe if you start getting into 2-3” difference towards the ground i could see it. I think i worded it wrong but i meant that a tire in the same brand at the same width and close to the same height (1-2” overall difference) at the same pressure will have virtually the same contact patch. But i think for all practical purposes on what the op is trying to gain it wont change the et much. You could simply lower the pressure of the shorter tire. I was reffering as a general stand point. Especially in a drag radial where the sidewall will forgive less it is almost irrelevant, in a bias slick i could see where it would make a difference. But there has to be a point where depending on air pressure both tires could have the same contact patch.
 
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Done.

I see where you disagree. You call these "fantasy tire sizes" because I translated the numbers that he gave into the industry standard and they're not always precise across brands...is that right? I guess I was overthinking it.

He asked which brand we preferred and you didn't have anything to offer on that? Hmm.. so I DISAGREE with you there. :D

In any case, the thing of value that I tried to offer was the often forgotten consideration of the contact patch area. Going to a shorter or taller tire, even at a the same claimed width, will have an affect on this.

50 series tire of a given width/ID offers a patch with a given length
60 series tire of the same width/ID provides patch with a greater length and therefore greater contact patch area.

No, the "traction benefit" is not going to have a linear correlation between contact patch area and friction but area is relevant.


https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=10


Not enough to make a difference regarding the op.

So i guess i googled 26x11.5 slick huh? Well your wrong there again. I spent a good 10-15 minutes on summitracing searching through the 15” tire options with the parameters the op was looking for and posted the results. He was looking for which brand, i listed his options to clerify which brands he should look for and then maybe someone else would of chimmed in with experience on one of the brands listed.

You accuse me of google searching a 26x11.5 slick yet you looked on a caculator and backwards calculated a u.s. size into a metric size that doesnt exist. The industry standard used to be u.s. before metric sizes came along. There is no benefit of posting the metric sizes you listed as there is no beneficial information there.
 
Not enough to make a difference regarding the op.

So i guess i googled 26x11.5 slick huh? Well your wrong there again. I spent a good 10-15 minutes on summitracing searching through the 15” tire options with the parameters the op was looking for and posted the results. He was looking for which brand, i listed his options to clerify which brands he should look for and then maybe someone else would of chimmed in with experience on one of the brands listed.

You accuse me of google searching a 26x11.5 slick yet you looked on a caculator and backwards calculated a u.s. size into a metric size that doesnt exist. The industry standard used to be u.s. before metric sizes came along. There is no benefit of posting the metric sizes you listed as there is no beneficial information there.

It's unfortunate that my point about just googling for the tire size that he was asking about was the one that got your attention...I actually edited that out of my post before I saw your reply because I didn't want to sound like that much of a jerk. I suppose that ship has sailed. :)

Internet forums so often devolve into pissing contests and it's beyond tiresome. We both at least tried to offer something to help which is a good thing.
I don't think any one person here is going to offer the complete picture on a question with a lot of variables such as this one.
 
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