Front skinny tire question

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early A Bob

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Ok you guys gave me some good advice on my last question. Thank you for that. So I have another. On my 64 Barracuda Drag Car im rescuing. Is it ok to run a VW Beetle Tire. It’s the right height & width & a lot cheaper that drag skinny’s. Anything bigger will rub as seen in the pic. $50 ea for the VW tire vs $140 ea. for drag skinny’s. I ran VW tires on my last car but it was a lot slower.
 
I destroyed both of my fender's and cut the tires on my 64, they fit good but I was backing up and turned the wheel hit a dip and the tires caught the fender and that was the end.
 
VW tires have a load rating of about 800 lbs and a speed rating of ~55 mph.....check both. I went from a Nanking VW to a Michelin XZX due to load rating. For a driver you can get away with the lower speed rating but watch the load rating.
 
I have run VW fronts since ~2001 (165-R15's). Hundreds of passes at 125mph (a couple of hits at 130+ screwing around). They have treated me well.
 
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If you need more room look for 155 80r15 instead of 165 80r15.
Pic is bfgoodrich radial TA 155 80r15 on
1965 dart gt
 
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I ran the VW tires on my '65 Valiant bracket racer. I believe the speed rating on tires is more related to cruising at high speeds taking into consideration heat build-up. My trap speed was 108 mph, which I only held for one or two seconds. That does not stress the tire much.

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I ran the VW tires on my '65 Valiant bracket racer. I believe the speed rating on tires is more related to cruising at high speeds taking into consideration heat build-up. My trap speed was 108 mph, which I only held for one or two seconds. That does not stress the tire much.

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I had a 65 Valiant with 340 that ran 12.0s at 108 with VW fronts also. Mine was blue
 
I dont understand why folks would go cheep on frontrunners.


To be honest I was surprised at the cost of skinny tires but dam if I'm gonna run some half *** tire after all the cash I already spent and my *** sitting behind said tire.

All it takes is one failure.
 
I guess I don't understand why you'd chintz out on front tires? You spend thousands of dollars to go fast but don't want to spend a couple hundred bucks on safe front tires...
 
I guess I don't understand why you'd chintz out on front tires? You spend thousands of dollars to go fast but don't want to spend a couple hundred bucks on safe front tires...
My car is a street car mostly, I wouldn`t even run new drag tires on the front, they are too flimsy .
 
I think you na sayers have it backwards. The drag race front skinny’s are the cheap ones as far as you wouldn’t want to put THEM on a street car. They are lite weight & engineered for low rolling resistance. They have a higher speed rating that’s true. That & the fact they are low sellers is why they cost more. As far as a 55 MPH speed rating on a VW tire I’ll have to look into that. With nationwide speed limits of 70 mph that’s surprising. When I bought the pair I ran on my 69 3200 pound B body the tire guy ( life long friend) told me I’d be fine. Had them on the car for 7 years before selling it & noticed no wear at all. Hundreds of passes. I just wanted to see if anyone has ever had a problem with a set on a Drag car. I see others have run them too. I will talk with my tire guy again. He knows which brands have problems. Thanks again to all.
 
I ran the VW tires on my '65 Valiant bracket racer. I believe the speed rating on tires is more related to cruising at high speeds taking into consideration heat build-up. My trap speed was 108 mph, which I only held for one or two seconds. That does not stress the tire much.

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I agree. I think the speed rating is more for heavy hi powered street cars that may see sustained speeds over 100 mph as compared to a much lighter drag car going in a straight line with 100 -110 for 2-5 seconds. Above 110 I would definitely opt for a true drag tire.
 
My front drag tires are 8 ply load range E so they're not light duty. Max load 1450 lbs @ 60 psi and they weight 19 lbs a piece
 
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