26 inch vs. 28 inch drag tire debate !
 

Plain and simple tell me why 28 inch tires are thought to be better for drag racing than 26 inch tires ? This would be for a car running somwhere between 11.00's - 9.00's in the 1/4... Faster than 9.0's and it is obvious why you need a bigger tire.

I have never been able to have someone give me a real good technical reason why people think they need a 28inch tire for cars that run in this e.t. range.

your gear ratio is what determines your tire size, most people think bigger is better

a taller tire will give you a larger contact patch, even with the same width since the larger tire will have more rollout, a taller tire will also tend to be able to absorb more shock than shorter tire..

I understand a stick car that is going to hit the tires hard could benefit from a 28 inch tire under the right conditions.

Maybe you get a tad more of a footprint with a taller sidewall but at the same time I have seen many a car with a taller sidewall get loose on the big end from all of that extra flex in the sidewall.

Seems to me a shorter sidewall would make for more stability at speed plus less issues with having to cram the taller tire under the car.

I really hope someone has some data to reference that a taller tire is benficial all of the time because I am not seeing it for my scenario. :dunno:

Taller is not always better... like with anything there are pro's and con's to all of your decisions when modding your car.

Taller gives you more traction because of the bigger contact patch, and maybe even an illusion of hooking better because of the longer gearing. The reason I went with a 28" tire is because I wanted a little bit more gearing for the nitrous runs, and they look better than a 26" tire imo. ;)

With the amount of power you say you're going to make, and the times (60' and there on out) you will need to get the car moving, you're going to strike the tire hard and a taller tire will help you absorb and control that. You're probably looking in the low 1.4x or high 1.3x 60' times regardless of stick or automatic. Hell, with my glide I hit 1.29 60' times, and that's a 2 speed.
As far as cars getting loose on the top end, it probably wasn't because of a taller tire, it was most likely because of the air pressure they were running. You run low air pressure in a 26" tire, you'll still get the sway..

Great points were made by Nasdstang and Chad above, won't re-iterate.
Also, the car is going to move around on you, it's the nature of the beast when you're making the type of power you say you will make (especially with a stock suspension that isn't meant to handle it). You're going to have to drive it a little on the top end, sticking with a 26" tire isn't going to keep that from happening.

I'm far from an expert, just telling you what I've dealt with and learned.

Chad, good meeting you Friday night, car looks incredible. Once you guys get that thing hooked up it's going to fly. Speaking of tire sizes, what are you running on it? W?

we had 28x10.5's on it just to get some things sorted out, we are putting the radials on it tomorrow night, may take it back to sunshine weds...like you were saying about the moving around....first pass we made on our car was at 10.5 lbs...car was squirrly on top corey said...we changed the air pressure to 11 lbs and the car didnt move around at all, small amounts in tire pressure change the way it moves, weight is also a big difference in air pressures needed, heavier cars tend to need more air pressure than lighter cars, the fastest i have ever seen anyone go on a 26x10.5 slick has been 9.36, that was many years ago and im sure someone has gone faster since...but lets say you took a car that runs 8.0's on a 28x10.5" tire with a 3.73 gear...take that car and put 26x10.5" tires, theoretically change the gear ratio to make the final drive ratio the same as the 28" combo and i bet you any amount of money the car will not to be able to run as fast as with the 28's, 28's may not be necessary for anything slower than say 10.0's but once you start pushing the edge the 28" tire and its added contact makes all the difference in the world....thats why so many NMRA outlaw cars run 12" rims with a 28x10" slick, it helps spread out the tire for more patch...

debate :dunno: , just run the big ones like everyone else does.

it is amazing what a half or quarter pound of air will do.
I finally beat it into Joe's head :D that my car liked 11-11.25lbs with our setup. Only took about 2 years.. :)
The thing that killed me was having to run the 3200lbs, I had to add about 200lbs of lead to the car to make weight in the StockSusp. class. By the way, know anyone that needs to buy lead weight? I've got 180lbs left, going for $90. Got it all from Pletchers..

thats a maybe on the weight, im not going to competing, but i may want to put some in the trunk for some bumper scraping action, ill wait until the day before you move, i understand theres huge discounts that day.... :lol: