street tires on skinny fronts

[tford]

Anyone run a 185 or 195 up front with skinny wheels? I'm debating whether I should run a more steetable tire up front instead of the bias-ply tires offered by mickt t, bfg, or m&h. Any downsides to running on of those bias-ply tires on the street? I'm mainly concerned with having a blowout if I happen to get on a rough road. I'm not sure on the exact width of my skinnies but I'm assuming they're 6". If I do go with something other than the racing fronts like the brands mentioned, I'm looking at Yokahama or something like that. I've had good luck with them on my daily driver. Thanks, TIm

 

[nonosv6]

How fast is your 1/4 ml mph? I know people who have run those metric size tires but also have heard that's it's not a good idea. I don't think they are rated for high mph. I know m/t has a skinny radial tire that's probably more suited for your application. More$$ but probably safer. Joel

 

[Mike E]

The bias ply racing fronts won't last real long up front. I run a set of M/T SR radial fronts that have good tread and are safe a speed. They aren't as light as the others.

 

[toomanymodz]

I've run these on the street with great results. They fit on a 5 or 6 inch wide wheel:
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/hoo-19050/overview/

 

[Chuck Leeper]

A 6" wheel is not a "skinny"....
In addition to questionable load carry rating, there's the issue of tire contact when braking hard.
No antilock brakes,here. Slide them, and you lose directional control.

 

[coach]

A 6" wheel is not a "skinny"....
In addition to questionable load carry rating, there's the issue of tire contact when braking hard.
No antilock brakes,here. Slide them, and you lose directional control.

Yeah...a 6" is not skinny. 5" or smaller are skinnys. 3.5" are the slimmest your gonna get on a street car. I don't recommend them to anyone putting a lot of miles on their car. Even in the Pro Street day...we only bolted on the matching Sportsman front tires for a show. We all had radials to drive on. Kelly Springfield made a really nice looking Metric Radial we used on the 3.5-5.5" skinny rims...and they looked super skinny since we had 15x15" rears with 22" wide rubber.

 

[tford]

Thanks for the responses guys. Must be 5" then. I'm going with the MT sportsman radials. The skinnies still have old tires on them so I wasn't sure the exact width. This car is not driven more than 3000 miles a year with the occasional trip to the track. Eventually I'll get the 7" welds up front for trips. I figured the bias-ply would be lighter and have the most benefit for shaving 1/10th's off my time, but they will probably dry-rot on the shelf with only a handfull of trips to the track per year. Seems like best of both worlds with those sportsman radials. I've always liked them but had a hard time swallowing that price. Oh well, what's a few hundred bucks with these cars. Thanks again. I will post pics once I get them on. Should look way better than the old T wheels. Tim

 

[coach]

Good deal. You'll be happy

 

[TexasT]

I've run these on the street with great results. They fit on a 5 or 6 inch wide wheel:
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/hoo-19050/overview/

Those arent very tall. Not much roll out. The taller the tire the longer the lights stay tripped and the better the time. I know a bunch that run a vw tire on as 3.5 rim. I would be wary of running something that narrow on the street. I would want something on a 15x6 at least. You want to be able to stop.