[JohnnyyT]

Hello,

I know this has been discussed before, but I can’t seem to find a clear cut answer.

I recently purchased a 17’ 2SS with 15k miles on the clock. The Goodyear’s on the car have about 6/32 left, but I have a lot of trouble getting the tire to hook under hard acceleration.

Will upgrading to 1LE wheels with 305 rears help a lot in this aspect? Or is it just time for a set of new tires.

Thanks

[vtirocz]

The 305 section width won’t provide much (if any) benefit over the stock 275s. Look no further than magazine times for both cars, which are essentially identical. I’d expect the wider tire to provide some benefit in cornering grip.

[MrChrisLS3]

There's enough torque to smoke through any street tire. If you talking about drag strip then a good drag radial in back and skinnies in front, will help.

A 305 my help a little bit, I think 30mm is about an inch and half wider? The trick is in the tire, soft summer compound. Just plan on an annual purchase if you're doing a lot of fun stuff.

[Markoz28]

305 will also look better. 275 makes the car look like a base V6 model.

[Flowtie1]

More meat, more traction

[foshjowler]

The compound is more important than width. A sticky 275 will be way better than a bad 305

[Kerry]

Originally Posted by vtirocz

The 305 section width won’t provide much (if any) benefit over the stock 275s. Look no further than magazine times for both cars, which are essentially identical. I’d expect the wider tire to provide some benefit in cornering grip.

I hear that alot and read about friction test on the internet. Guess all the people putting bigger tires on are wrong maybe we shoud run bycycle tires lol. Get great gas mileage See how absurd that is. The wider the better for stright line traction given the same compound tire. Been proven a millon times. Why do they even have a small tire class if not.

[VinnAY]

As said a better tire in the compound department is going to garner more gains than a simply wider tire, such as going to a straight summer Max or even Ultra class summer tire is going to outperform the OE tire and width has almost nothing to do with it. "the good years on the car" doesn't really say anything that's meaningful.

[Kerry]

Originally Posted by VinnAY

As said a better tire in the compound department is going to garner more gains than a simply wider tire, such as going to a straight summer Max or even Ultra class summer tire is going to outperform the OE tire and width has almost nothing to do with it. "the good years on the car" doesn't really say anything that's meaningful.

yea ok lol width has nothing to do with it hahahah lol sure ok. Good to know all this time I been watching drag cars and they could have saved so much money with narror tires.

[VinnAY]

Originally Posted by Kerry

yea ok lol width has nothing to do with it hahahah lol sure ok. Good to know all this time I been watching drag cars and they could have saved so much money with narror tires.

Reading comprehension is hard, I know.

[vtirocz]

Originally Posted by Kerry

I hear that alot and read about friction test on the internet. Guess all the people putting bigger tires on are wrong maybe we shoud run bycycle tires lol. Get great gas mileage See how absurd that is. The wider the better for stright line traction given the same compound tire. Been proven a millon times. Why do they even have a small tire class if not.

The original poster asked specifically about the benefits of going from the SS rear wheel/tire (275 section width) to the SS 1LE rear wheel/tire (305 section width). There's a ton of data on this now from all the magazine tests that have run both cars. I don't think I've seen ANY instrumented tests where the SS 1LE was measurably faster in a straight line (which is what the OP is inquiring about) than the SS. If you have data that suggests otherwise (specifically between SS and SS 1LE), please share it.

Here's one example of comparison data showing the acceleration times virtually identical, despite the 1LE being on a stickier compound:

2016 SS manual tested by Car and Driiver:
0-60: 4.0
1/4 mile: 12.3 @ 118mph
https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews...m-test-review/

2017 SS 1LE tested by Car and Driver:
0-60: 4.1
1/4 mile: 12.4 @ 116 mph
https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews...d-test-review/

[Kerry]

I have an ss I have compared tires wider is better. Put the 255s on the back and the 275s on the front and tell me it dont spin way more. Some people, O well Im done with this. Different cars different days is no comparison. Tell me why they put wide tires on a drag car? Why bother at all? Have a nice nice day and enjoy spinning lol. Thats ok the questions are rhetorical ha

[vtirocz]

Originally Posted by Kerry

I have an ss I have compared tires wider is better. Put the 255s on the back and the 275s on the front and tell me it dont spin way more. Some people, O well Im done with this. Different cars different days is no comparison. Tell me why they put wide tires on a drag car? Why bother at all? Have a nice nice day and enjoy spinning lol. Thats ok the questions are rhetorical ha

The comparison in question is 275 (SS tires) vs. 305 (SS 1LE tires) and if there's a measurable straight line benefit to the 305 tires. Like I mentioned, there's a lot of road test data on both cars by the same magazines, same test sites, same drivers, same procedure. I'm not seeing a difference in the data.

I provided one example (Car and Driver's results on both cars) showing identical acceleration times, but the other magazine road tests showed similar results.

It sounds like you're arguing that the SS 1LE 305's WILL provide a straight line acceleration benefit. If so, why wouldn't this benefit show up in the magazine acceleration test results between both cars? Where's the data to quantify the improvement that you're confident exists?

To be honest, I expected there to be a straight line benefit also, but the data shows there is not.

Regarding handling / lateral grip, the SS 1LE wider tires and stickier compound definitely provides a benefit over the SS combo that shows up in the data.

[GearheadSS]

The problem with magazine tests like that is they weren't done on the same day, by the same driver, under the same conditions. Magazine tests like that have zero effect on my tire buying decision.

We don't know if the tires were new or if they had already been thrashed after a few hot laps. Magazine cars usually go through several tests by a lot of different people.