FWD Racing: Performance vs All Season Tire
 

I know a lot of you like to take your Monte to the track and play, so I thought I'd pass along a little info I picked up along the way about racing a FWD car.

A friend of mine used to have a Cobalt SS that he ran 'performance' tires on when at the track. No matter how he launched, he would always break traction coming off the tree. One weekend he realized his 'performance' tires were worn down too far to run, so he left his daily driver all season tires on the car. The very first run he shaved .2 seconds off his time. By the 4th launch he had shaved another .1 second off his time. When all was said and done he settled into consistent runs that shaved a total of .4 seconds off his time.

Why? The rubber used to manufacture 'performance' tires for street use is very soft. That is why you don't see very high mileage ratings for them. Anyway, the soft rubber cannot get a good bite so they tend to spin. The 'happy medium' of the rubber compound used in the all season tires offered a better bite so the tires didn't spin (as much) and he was able to get out of the hole quicker. We tried this 'experiment' on a couple other FWD cars and had the same results. Bottom line: Just because something is designated as a 'performance' part doesn't necessarily mean it is going to make your car go faster.

You said the performance tires were worn down though.... nothing work right when it's worn out. Also there is a lot of other variables (tire pressure etc.)

I went from all seasons to nittos for street use and noticed a big difference with nittos being better. On the track I went from toyos to hoosiers both drag radials and the hoosiers were so much better.

The times with the all season tires were compared to the best runs he made on the performance tires during their service life. And yes, there are as lot of variables to consider. That is why we tried it with a couple other cars and we saw the same results - a lower ET.

Whatever works for you is what you should go with. :thumbsup: The point I was making is that you don't need performance rated tires to lay down a good run. In fact, you just may go faster with your street tires. ;)

That, my friend is your opinion on tires and can respect that. Not sure what brand of tires your basing things on, but can tell you tires make the word of difference when drag racing. All seasons are ok but a tru summer tires ''re-11,nt05,Pilot ss,etc..'' will kick the crap outta them for dry hookup and when I bolt on my mickey et streets there's NO comparison. Low hp rides need not apply.

I also agree with depending on how much hp you have. Also this was only a test on a drag race. I bet on a twisty road the all seasons don't have a fighting chance. Just my opinion.

It is cool to know that depending on the cars hp and track condition etc an all season stands it's ground though.