GRRRR. No such thing as 27/28" tall front runners

Doing a mini tubbed Pro street 95 Dakota. I really want skinnies up front. 15x4 Draglites which are readily available. I want a skinny RADIAL tire thats 27 or 28" tall. My rear tires are hoosiers- their matching front tire is neither skinny or tall. 26" tall max. MT USED to make their Sportsman SR Radial front runner in 27" and 28" heights. But those are discontinued. They make only 26" tall. In a 17 and 18" wheel they offer lots. My truck will look powerful but will have the stock 190,000 mile 318 powering it and probably for a long time. I'm not concerned with some of the negatives that pizza cutter front wheel and tire combos provides. Truck will see me going back to forth from work - running errands and cruising only. I watch facebook market place daily. I made a great offer to a guy for his MT Radials that are new - 27" tall mounted on draglites. He's thinking about it. He doesn't want to break up his set but I cant use nor do I need the rears in his set. Rant paused.

I think your only option may be the M/T Sportsman, but it is a bias ply. Part number 255669. Summit has them in stock.
I was looking for a radial a while back and M/T told me they had no idea when or if they'd be producing the 27-28" tall radial fronts again. They also had an ET Street front radial (3851) that's 27" tall, now it's part number 250736. Summit shows one of those in stock.
I got lucky and found a new set of the M/T SR radials (6678) for sale in the classifieds here and got them.

They probably quit making they because they were unsafe for street use. Too tall and narrow leads to chances of getting peeled off the rim on a hard turn. That leads to legal issues for the manufacturer.

Check with your local tire shop...look for a Radial 15" VW Volkswagen tire.
A friend of mine used those on the front of his Duster,in the '90's ...
IIRC he used 15X3" Centerline front wheels, 15X8" rear. Like the"Crop Duster" used.

You'd probably find what you want if you went with a 17" front runner.

Mickey Thompson has the ET Street fronts now in 27x6.0-15's.

Crap, didn't realize they disco'd the S/R's.

All this is new to me as we run those, too, and really liked them!

I wonder if it has anything to do with Goodyear buying them?

Coker Tire has some oddball stuff that is tall and skinny. 4" wide rim is a tough one. A 5" or 6' rim would be way easier.

More on there than this one that I picked as an example. Pie crust sidewall might not be ideal for a newer Dakota.

https://www.cokertire.com/tires/american-classic-670r15-blackwall.html

Just looked and Weld wheel prices are to the moon and gone. For that kinda money I'd buy something more upscale like something from this place. https://www.etmags.com/index.cfm

They have disco'ed a bunch of 15" sizes. the 26x10 and 26x12 I've used are gone. Looks like they are going after the street rod and pro street guys like Hoosier D.O.T. radial series

FWIW, Coker does offer several 27-28 inch tall radials with 6.5" section width, 4.5" tread. These are their American Classic series that are built to look like old bias plys and the cheapest one is $314 each.

I have heard but don't know how true it is...but some grudge guys use a motorcycle tire on their front runners.

I have never looked into it

A friend just bought a nova drag car that has motorcycle tires on the front. Don’t know if II would trust them due to the load rating.

I did look into this but the tallest tire seems to be 26" tall. The dakota has lots of room up front and the stock tire is 27.5" tall.

I know these aren't a drag race type front runner, but I have Hancook Optimo tires on my 'Cuda, size is 205/75-15, roughly 28" tall, mounted a 4" wide Weld wheel, they are a radial, my car is over 3800lbs with me in it, runs mid-to high 10's, is street driven mostly, due to lack of tracks and time, so I have a few thousand miles on these so far, no issues.

Thank you I saved that to my favorites. I had looked on Cokers site but evidently not good enough. That price is high but everything in this hobby is expensive. I hope I can strike a deal with an on the fence seller I found on Market Place. He has 15x4 draglites with brand new 27" tall SR Sportsmans but he doesn't want to break up the 4 piece set. I only need the fronts.

[quote=Stanton]You'd probably find what you want if you went with a 17" front runner. [/quo

Yes in 17" and 18" wheel size EVERYTHING is available. But I am true die hard 15" wheel with meaty sidewall tire kind of guy when it comes to the hobby. I miss the old days- ordering some Formula 1 Superstock N 50s from and ad in the magazines. $68 each!!!

Too bad you don't live closer I'd make you a heck of a deal on a set of 28" sportsman. I hate them.

back in the day, i was the first guy to run Formula 1 Super Stock tires around here. the local mom-n-pop tire store could get them, and they were cheaper than the magazine adds.

Goodyear D1966, Hoosier 18112, M/T 3002

Ok time to put my $$ where my mouth is. Got a notification on October 27 that the 28" tall skinny SR fir a 15 wheels is available again. At least a limited quantity is: https://www.summitracing.com/parts/MTT-6678?referred_from_restock=true

Yep, all the commonly available 165R15 "VW" tires are more like 25" tall. Even the ones that are 165-85R15...they're still short.

Thanks but I'm looking for DOT approved full time street tire. Steel or fiberglass radial construction. Members on this post have provided tires I was not aware of.

Thanks. For a 205 series the Hankook Optimo has the height I want.

You're welcome, they work well for me, my buddy put a set on his 10-sec Coronet once he saw them, as he didn't like the Sportsman tires either.

Buy them and sell the rears ?

M/T came out with these radial front runners recently, they are available in 28". Availability seems hit or miss but Summit says they have 16 in stock right now. Not cheap!

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/mtt-3880

That's for an 18" rim , he's looking for 15" rim options

JohnRR said: "Buy them and sell the rears ?" His rears are 28 x10 x15 tires on a 15x8 wheel. My rears are SIGNIFICANTLY larger at 29x15.5x15 tires on a 15x12 wheel.

Whoops, totally missed that. Sorry for the bad info. I have those tires myself for 15" rims but they are only 26" diameter.

Summit does show eight of the 28x6-15 S/R front runner tires currently in stock, go get 'em.

M/T S/R 28/6-15