Posted By: 1320Dart
Big Tire Cars - 10/16/14 03:48 PM
I've been having an argument with a guy I work with. So please chime in.....
Is there such a thing as "Too much tire"?
If there is, what are the key things to look for?
Thanks for playing
Posted By: OUTLAWSSAA
Re: Big Tire Cars - 10/16/14 04:35 PM
Ya,if its a 10 or 11 sec car,there's no need to run a 14 X 32 tire. In reality its probably slowing the car down.
Posted By: 1320Dart
Re: Big Tire Cars - 10/16/14 05:09 PM
How did you know it wanted a smaller tire?
Posted By: Eric
Re: Big Tire Cars - 10/16/14 05:17 PM
Depends on what you are trying to do. I know some very successful bracket racers who run huge tires on realitively slow cars just for consistancy.
Posted By: Al_Alguire
Re: Big Tire Cars - 10/16/14 06:27 PM
Very much agreed that it depends on the application. If it is a bracket car I would say NO. If it is in the case of looking for every last little .01 then yes you can easily have WAY more tire than needed. But I don't think you are building a heads up car so IMO use what works best most consistently.
Posted By: 496 A-body
Re: Big Tire Cars - 10/16/14 06:29 PM
This could be because he went to a smaller diameter tire. But, I would agree if the tire is lighter it will help.
Good point about the diameter! Shortly after making the change in tire size he went from a dana 60 to a 12 bolt, not sure but he may have changed gear ratio to keep his RPMs where he wanted them.
Posted By: 80fbody
Re: Big Tire Cars - 10/16/14 08:07 PM
larger tires simply weigh more and have more friction. Same basic reason to have skinny tires up front to reduce rotational mass and friction at the top end. My 2 cents on the subject.
Posted By: Monte_Smith
Re: Big Tire Cars - 10/16/14 08:48 PM
You only need enough contact patch to stick the supplied torque on a consistent basis. Anything beyond that is dead weight to pull. WAY too many guys put more tire on their cars than they need as a crutch for a poor working chassis.
Lots of bracket guys are among the "stick and go" persuasion......meaning put a big enough tire on there that you pretty much dead hook it, regardless of track conditions and never have to worry about wheel spin. That's fine if that is the route you want to go, but even at that, if a 14x32 will get the job done, a bigger tire won't help it hook any better and will only slow the car
Now where some of this goes completely out the window, is cars with a LOT of power. Many of these cars will NOT work with the tire dead hooked. They want to shake. In those instances there is definitely a such thing as too much tire
Monte
Posted By: 1320Dart
Re: Big Tire Cars - 10/16/14 09:06 PM
Hi Monte-
This is what I was trying to argue.
Was what you said here:
"They want to shake. In those instances there is definitely a such thing as too much tire."
But I thought that blanket rule for all cars. So that's where I went wrong on my argument
Posted By: Dragula
Re: Big Tire Cars - 10/16/14 11:49 PM
Yup...I have big tires....And I am slow....Oooh, and I won the Modified Gasser championship last year.
So if your a bracket racer, it may slow you down if they are bigger than you need, but the track is not always perfect either.
What I don't have to do is adjust the suspension for evey little track imperfection or changing conditions...I do make changes to it, but generally once its set-up, it hooks.
I drove a 600hp small tire car a couple years ago....Doing a Ssss down the track is not my idea of racing. Nor did I feel very safe staying in the throttle....
Posted By: dakotawilly
Re: Big Tire Cars - 10/17/14 12:17 AM
easy formula,divide the tire width by your i.q. if the answer is less than 2 you should be racing the"short bus"and licking the windows as you pass the 60 ft mark......
Posted By: dvw
Re: Big Tire Cars - 10/17/14 04:19 AM
I bracket race my 9.20 foot brake car in pro and N/SS on a 10.5x29.5. It was in the winners circle 3 times this year, 2 semi-finals in 12 outings. Spin is not a problem.
Doug
Posted By: cgall
Re: Big Tire Cars - 10/17/14 06:57 PM
Maybe the Chevy II picked up some ET by going with a shorter tire.
