Ideal rear wheel and tire setup for drag racing

[HighTorque]

Ok i have a 14 gt500 that i can consistently run a 12.3 124mph 1/4 mile. I am ordering bmr spherical uca, billet lca, mgw gen2 shifter, and some welds with drag radials. I know on these cars 17" wheel is the smalles i can go because i do not want to change or modify my rear brakes. I am looking at sr77 17x10.5 welds with 315/35r17 mt et streets.

My wory is that my factory tires are 27" tall and the mt will only b 25". Will that hurt my ability to grip? Is there a better tire to run on a 17" wheel? I am looking for the best performing tire i can drive to the track and race and drive home on.

Thanks in advance for any input.

 

[Catmonkey]

Back when I did a lot of drag racing I used a shorter slick than my street tires to get better rpm on the top end in high gear. Only reason to go shorter would be if you had the stock rear end gears in the car. You would loose some side wall, and likely a little performance with a shorter tire. So if the shorter tire is getting you closer to your ideal rpm on the top end and has reasonable traction, it's probably cheaper than regearing the differential and going to a taller tire, that may give you better traction.

 

[HighTorque]

Yeah i have stock gears and do not want to change them out just yet. I finish the 1/4 at about 6600rpm in 3rd

 

[VFORCEJOHN]

I use the Mickey thompsons 20 inch 305-35-20 drag radials on stock rims and bone stock suspension and pull 1.6 60 foot times and 10.8's in the 1/4.

I also have a lighter weight set of volk 18's I have yet to get to the track on. 245's up front on an 8 inch wide rim, and 315's on the back with an 11 inch wide rim. they feel much faster than the stock rims. traction feels about the same to maybe even worse? the rears are smaller than the 20's in overall rollout.

 

[HighTorque]

I have looked at tires for the factory wheels but i daily drive my car so about 12k miles a year i would need new drag radials every 4 months lol. Thats why i was going with a set of track wheels.

 

[Catmonkey]

With a 25" tire you should be at 135 mph in 4th at 6,000 rpm. If you don't want to change your gear ratio, I think it's probably your best set up.

 

[HighTorque]

My mph will jump over 10 from 124 to 135 with that setup?

 

[HighTorque]

After half of a days reserach i am leaning towards mt et streets 295/45r17 on the 17x10.5 welds. Only issue is that it seems everyone has those tires on back order. Anyone know where to buy these tires?