Your experiences with drag radials
 

Anyone here run drag radials on their car?

I had BFGs on the Supra and those were incredibly dangerous in even the tiniest amount of rain!

Reading forums it would seem the Nitto 555R is a good balance between straight-line traction and ability to drive in the rain. My car has shitty tires with absolutely 0 grip. The 3.91 gears and the V8 are just a burnout machine right now!

Why would you want DOT slicks on the street? they are so soft that you might get 5000kms out of a set. just get a spare set of rims and mount them, and use them when you need.

the guys down in georgia that go mountain racing swear by Toyo Proxes R888 in the widest you can get.

Been running Nitto NT05R 345/30/19 on my car on the stock rims.... hook up great. I run Nitto Invo 345/25/20 on my iForged and they actually get fairly good traction as well

Not too familiar with drag radials but I've run R-comps(Toyo RA-1's) on the street and I wouldn't recommend it at all. They take forever to heat up under normal driving conditions(if at all) to get any sort of grip out of them, they will wear down super quick and they are pricey. I suppose it depends on the intended usage.

Yes those are supposed to be the more hardcore version of the 555R

How do you find them in the wet? Seems like you didn't say "deathtrap" so I assume you just drive reasonable when it's anything but dry

I don't drive my car in the rain so I don't know.

I know you are looking for feedback from those who have this specific tire but just wanted to throw in my $0.02

What tires are you on now that are so shitty that you are considering a drag radial?

Remember a drag radial is designed with minimal tread groove pattern to provide maximum traction in the dry. You are asking for trouble if you run a tire like the 555R in the wet. The water dispersion characteristics of a tire like that are terrible and though it may feel okay while driving around at cautious speed you are very likely to hydroplane or lose control suddenly if you hit water or your tires hasn't warmed up. This will be especially true in the coming months.

A tire like the Pilot Super Sport or Continental DW should be sufficient for high dry and wet traction on a street car. If your car is making a shit load of toque it doesn't matter what tires you run in the wet...you're going to break traction once you have a heavy right foot. At that point you have to just respect the car. Even with AWD, excellent tires and helical lsd front/rear I lose traction without hesitation if I plant my right foot. And I'm willing to bet I don't make as much torque as you.

As mentioned above, run your drag radials in the few summer months we get for maximum traction and leave a good set of high performance dry/wet tires for the remainder of the year.

I liked the BFG T/A drag radials for mission drags. Had them on a spare set of rims for track only. Have to agree wouldn't run them in the rain.

The Nitto invo is actually great in rain, I'm running a 305/35/19 and have zero problems

Heard good things about Pilot super sports, should be a good set of a rubber for wet/dry grip.

But to be honest, for the street, I'd rather a set of tire that does amazing in the rain while offering less than ideal in dry. Afterall, you aren't racing in the streets, you just want stability and comfort. Get some drag radial / R-compound tires when you use them on the dragstrip or the track

what are you driving right now?

My experience with the Super Sports is that while they're fantastic in the dry, the barest mention of moisture caused the tires to lose traction.

Okay, maybe they aren't that bad, but I definitely wouldn't consider them to be a tire to use outside of summer.

^ That's interesting...most people I know that run them competitively like them in the wet. I've run them in slush series autocross several times with great success. They've gotten some excellent reviews as well:

Monsters of Grip: Nine Summer-Performance Tires Tested Comparison Tests - Page 10 - Car and Driver (2012)

Weird. I do know the set I drove on didn't have the greatest amount of tread on them, so that probably played a large part into it.

He would be lucky to see 300tq prob even less hp on good day.
This is exactly what you get with a Frankenstein swapped car.
To get something like this sorted out you need money or skills neither of which the op has.
So enjoy the results of a poorly setup car and keep dreaming that a simple bandaid like tires will solve your problems.