Drag Radial vrs Drag Slick

Sorry if this is the wrong place? I did a search and did not find what I am looking for. If possible, I would like only those with real experience to comment.
I am in the process of purchasing new rear tires for the bracket car and I have some questions. My car is a 1969 Road Runner/Satellite 3200 lbs foot break with a W2 headed small block. I will be flashing the 3500 RPM converter from 2500 RPM.
My questions:
Does one tire bite better than the other at the start?
Does the surface prep matter?
Is one more stable at speed?
Does the radial need more burnout heat than the slick or vice-versa?
How many runs will a radial take before losing grip?
What radial would you recommend?
What slick would you recommend?
I am looking at 26-28 by 9 wide on 10 inch wide wheels

Thanks for the help, I only want to do the purchase 1 time.
Allen

Why not try calling M/T Tech line.

I run a 28x10.50 Mickey Thompson Pro Bracket Radial. My Car runs 10.50s and 60s in the low 1.4s. I have been super happy with these tires, they dead on hook 99% of the time on any decent track and I have only had a couple of runs where they spun enough to really lose ET(very poor track conditions). They are also wearing very very well, I have around 75-100 runs on them and even some street driving and they still look brand new. I really like the radials, the car requires zero steering input down track, no walking around in the tires like a bias ply tire.

thank you.

What air pressure are you running? I need new slicks.

I run 18lbs.

After years of running bias slicks we now run a M/T pro drag radial. Our car runs better with the radial but it has always hit the tyre hard. Radial has a different set up suspension wise. I've never noticed any difference stability wise but we've never gone over 146 mph but the car is heavy. We usually run 19 psi in the Radials and had to run around 13 in the bias plys to stop wadding them up, We think we may improve with more pressure looking at some of the vids. The radials almost always dead hook with a big wheelie, we've destroyed 2 sump pans so far and damaged headers, steering stuff ,K member and pushed a wing into the door. Switching to Santhuff shocks (from Menscer valved Afco's) was a good move, they really calm the landing down.

I'd call or email Mickey Thompson as they will help you. The latest and greatest tire according to facebook is the PBR (Pro Bracket Radial). Alot of guys running them and getting TONS (300+) runs out of them and say they are deadly consistent with a small burnout. Now the guys I see posting this stuff have adjustable shocks and run at big money races were I'm sure the track is spot on. There are some guys that run them at my local track. Some do well, others have issues hooking up all the time. From what I have witness 1st hand is they work well on a decent track, but when you spin there's no recovering, your going to be a good 1 to 2 tenth off the dial. A Slick is more forgiving IMO.

Thank you

Thank you

I think the PBR is the way to go. It hooks great on national event prep tracks ( NMCA) and it hooks great at bracket tracks through the dead of the summer and even in the cold. I see you are from Georgia. My car has gone 5.90s at silver dollar with the temp in the 40s and gone down Atlanta in the hot dead of summer with no issues. I’ve been 9.40s at 3585lbs on the 29.5 x 10.5 PBR.

The “it won’t recover” is a myth. It recovers. We ran at a race in Tennessee that had water seeping through the track and mine left wheels up, went out and spun and then recovered. The PBR is not the old hard radial design.
Most folks that I know that didn’t like them either didn’t have any suspension adjustment or were not willing to work and adjust. The bias ply wads up and hides a lot of suspension issues.

I am a big fan.

The correct answer is it depends on the tracks you will race at on which type tire is the best
I ran both types of street tires, M/T ET Street and M/T ET Street radials on my old pump gas BB stoker motor in my 1971 Duster, the bias ply street race tires worked better on bad tracks and on the street, the street radials where right at .2 ET quicker and around 2.0 MPH faster in the 1/4 mile on a good track, slower on bad tracks. The bad thing about any radial construction drag tires is once they start to spin you will have to let off the throttle a lot to get them to hook back up again
I've had the radials break loose at around 60 MPH passing another car on the street in a mild right turn when I went to WOT to pass
What part of the country are you in and how many tracks do you have to race at?
If you have all good tracks with good traction buy the radials, if not then buy the bias plies

I ran ar Silver Dollar a few times in 2016. I now live in Mississippi. Would you run the radial with CE adjustable rear shocks and MP Super Stock Springs?

Once I figured out what the PBR's liked I found them to be very consistent even on poor tracks. For me a medium burnout the first pass and then a very short one after Really not.more than just enough to clean them up from driving to the line.

My car is very heavily and it is much more stable with thePBR's than bias ply. I run between 18-20 lbs.

I’m a believer in the PBR. I’ve run both ET Drags, and now PBR’s on my Satellite. The PBR was quicker in 60, and every bit as consistent. It was faster on the big end with no other changes. The car also felt more stable at speed than with the ET Drags. The only nod I would give to the bias ply tires is the look (I love the old school sidewall)

I footbrake, but I have a number of friends running 28” PBRs with a transbrake in 9.90 & 10.50 cars; both hook & book with no issues, those guys are also sold on he PBR.

Is there anything wrong with a bias ply slick on a bracket car? No. You’ll likely be just as competitive with either, but the PBR is a firmer tread compound which leads me to believe it will last longer (???... purely conjecture at this point, but I am 2 seasons in on my first set, roughly 120 passes and they still look pretty good.) I’d say they are simply a step in the direction of progress.

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I ran ar Silver Dollar a few times in 2016. I now live in Mississippi. Would you run the radial with CE adjustable rear shocks and MP Super Stock Springs? [/quote]

I would suggest the best shock you can afford . I had ranchos into low 11s . Now have radial valved dbl adjustable Vikings on rear , far better .

Yes the pbr will walk out not just spin up if it turns more often than not .
I went 135+ passes per set . Needed solid burnout , no " just haze them " or i would turn/chirp

Tex

While the PBR may not recover as good as a bias tire it DOES recover and when it spins it doesn't shake the car apart like the ET street radials do. My car needs DA shocks on the front and once I learn more about that setup I will be able to hook this thing in a car wash lol.

I can run high 9.70's @139 in a car that weighs 3970 on a 9" x 30" Hoosier radial with caltracs and split leaf mono springs - I also run strange double adjustable shocks at all four corners - the shocks have helped tremendously with consistency and tuning to track conditions . - the car must dead hook or it will spin - 60' is usually around a 1.40 - I run 21.5 lbs of air and watch that very closely as it if goes to 23 it can spin - hence it's an elephant on roller skates! I am thinking of changing to the pro-bracket radials this coming year - I Like what I see so far. Radials take some thought and tuning of the chassis but they work very well - yeah it would be easy to go to a ladder bar or four link and put a bigger tire under it - but then that would take all the fun away!

Thanks for the info fellow Mopar racers.

I use the m/t et street R radial. 325/50 with 18# never spun out of the dozens passes I put on them last summer. Street/strip deal with caltracs and in the past with several different brand radials, either they hook or they dont. With the et street r hook every time at different tracks. Awesome tire with the R2 compound wear better on the street than the others I have used. I would buy them again, but I'm now looking at the sr radial street tire because it has the same R2 compound. I drive more street than track.

Will a 28x9R15 fit on a Duster?

What year Duster?
I had to trim my rear 1/4 panels on my 1971 Duster (removed) 3.0 inches on the front side and 2.0 inches on the rear to make 315x60x15 on ten inch wide rims fit it
I had a younger guy come up to that car at the Mopar race at Woodburn dragstrip back in 2008 or so and look at the car real closely and make the comment you can't make that size tire fit on this car, he said he had one and he could only make a 275x60x15 inch tire fit on it
I told him to step back and look real hard at my car and tell me what he saw, I then told him when he didn't see what was done to it to make them fit that I had stretch the rear wheel wells five inches and moved the rear end forward one inch to make it look stock
My message is you can make a larger tire fit if you want to do the work

IIRC years ago I ran a 275 (28" tall) on my 72 Duster with no modifications.

I also have a 71.
Found this on tiresize.com: 315/60R15 tires have a diameter of 29.9", a section width of 12.4"
Do you have any pics on your Duster?

If it’ll fit on a 67 B-Body, it’ll fit on anything......

I run the Hoosier 30 x 9 radial slick and I really like them. As long as I stage in the grove (tire tracks) it hooks good. Its just a street car that has run 10.70's and I drive on the street all the time with the slicks .I only run SS springs with no adjustable shocks other then 90/10 shocks up front and I run from 16 to 18 psi. Ron

Thanks!

After buying my first set of 29.5X10.5 Pro Bracket Radials I will never use another tire again! Over 3 years on one set I put on about 500 passes, the 60 foot never varies more than about 8 thou throughout the day, I run them at 19 psi and don't do a burnout either. Stab the throttle out of the water and that's all. The car runs 10.20's and 60 foot times are 1.39-1.41 depending on the day. I will put new ones on for next season but I'm sure I could probably sneak a 4th year out of them, last pass of this fall was identical in all incrementals to the first pass I made in the spring. They would still be perfect for the average 11 second car. You'll never go wrong with that tire!!

Thank you W2-408

Here is my direct experience after running M/T 29.5 x 10.5 -15' for 10 plus years as that is what was on the car when bought back in '99 so I always stayed with that tire, in 2009 on a Wednesday night track I went out with the usual M/T drag bias tires on the car and ran a usual 10.73 @ 126. Then went back to the trailer and bolted on a set of Hoosier 30 x 9 -15's C06 radials set the air at 18psi (no tube) that a friend had taken off a car he just bought and didn't want and ran 10.51 @ 129 45 minutes later. Car is a '68 road runner with cal traks, stock leafs and a 4.10 gear. In 2013 I sold the car and just bought it back 2 months ago, Car now has split mono leafs, double adjustable shocks on back and single adjustable shocks on the front so looking forward to getting it out again soon as that has helped get it in the teens I am told.

Keith, what did your engine speed do when you went from bias to radial.

Trap rpm.

From what I remember it dropped slightly about 100 as the radials are just a tad taller, I shifted at 6500 and I think was 6400 in the lights.