Drag Racing Discussions > Front Engine Dragsters

front tires

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bad penny:
Was wondering any advantages between smooth and ribbed front tires.

dreracecar:

Ribbed fronts need more castor because the profile is round and with a smooth racing tire you can run less castor and that makes it easier to steer around in the pits.
Ribbed tires are compounded with ozone protectant to keep the from cracking whearas the racing rubber is not so you can buy more tires.
Avon ribbed tires have been out of production for a long time now so any avon 225-17 tire you find is about 30 years old. Unfortunatly is was the only tire really suited for what we do.

bad penny:
Thanks for the info

JrFuel Hayden:
Either the front slick, called front runners, and rib tires will work fine. However if the static weight on the front axle is over 400 lbs, I recommend using 2.50x17 rib tire or a front runner, GoodYear, Hoosier, M/T, Phoenix.  The front slicks will have more rolling resistance, and be a little heavier than the rib tires. Of course the front runners are more money; GoodYear retail is $185 ea, some of the other brands are as low as $145 ea. We, Hayden wheels, imports and sell Kenda front rib tires that look the most like Avon SpeedMaster. The 2.25x17 sell for $60 ea and 2.50x17 sell for $70 ea.
Another thing to be aware of is the front slicks are difficult to mount on wire spoke wheels, as a matter-a-fact most slick manufactures will not mount them on wire wheels, because they are tricky to mount and bead-up all the way. The best bet is to have a motorcycle shop install them because they have the right tire mounting machines. Keep in mind rim width makes it tricky too. When you just measure the bead width of the tires and the rim you'll see that on a 1.2 [ inside to inside] rim the front slicks are too close to 1.2". They are even hard to mount all the way on a 1.4" wide rim. Some of my customers prefer running 1.6" or wider so they don't have a mounting issue.
Bruce is right about ozone protection is better on the rib tires, all race tire manufactures don't use ozone protection because they figure the slicks will be replaced before they start cracking.
17" front rib tires started being used by the race car builders when they discovered the light weight, and inexpensive Avon tires, and to this day 17" wheels/ tires is the standard for dragsters.
For a bit of history, when an Avon rep came to SoCal  to visit/ thank a chassis builder for buying all those 17" Avons, he was shocked to see his moped tires were being run over 200 mph, he flew back to England and had the molds destroyed. Too bad they didn't know that on dragsters the front tires don't build heat, which destroys tires, because we run 35-50# of air pressure so the sidewalls don't flex and build heat, and of course don't run very long [ hopefully].

Feel free to call me with any questions, 805-444-4489
Jon, Hayden Wheels

JrFuel Hayden:
Here is a couple of tips on front tires; Always use valve stem caps, I prefer metal, because at speed the valve can push in because of centrifical force and let the air out. I've seen that on  NE-1 and NF/D dragsters. Also of interest is the big show dragsters run up to 80# of air pressure because the front wings put over 10,000 lbs of down pressure. I installed a new pair of GY front runners on a NTF car at the March Meet this year because one of them was coming apart, and he was only at 40 # of pressure, and his wing was putting enough pressure on the tires to build heat.

Be Safe,
Jon

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