[vtirocz]

I'll be attending an NMCA event soon where I'll be able to get around 20 or so 1/4 mile passes in. My current tread depth is around 5/32" (closer to maybe 4.5/32" at the center). The tires are 3.5yr old with ~13k miles on them.

Is there a good rule of thumb for min tread depth on the stock SS tires to still get decent traction? I'm aiming to beat my 12.2 time!

[vtirocz]

Anyone have feedback / experience on this topic?

[laynlo15]

They aren't going to check the tread depth but your not going to get much traction when you get down to 5/32. Thats generally when you'd replace them. The track will be well prepped so you might get away with it.

[cdrptrks]

Replacing tires at 5/32" is excessively early IMO. Goodyear Supercar 3 tires on the SS 1LE start at 7/32" new! Over time it might be cheaper to buy a separate set of more appropriate rear wheels and tires for the drag strip rather than replacing stock tires every time they reach 5/32".

[vtirocz]

Thanks for the feedback. I don't plan to replace them since they only have 1000 miles on them since my 'personal best' at the track (exactly one year ago).

I'll take some "after" tread depth measurements and report back on how I was able to do on the 60' and 1/4 mile time. The NMCA event usually has good track prep.

[vtirocz]

Reporting back with results in case this helps someone else on stock SS tires with low tread depth:

• Overall the tires seemed to work fine at this tread depth (started at ~4.5/32"
• Best 1/4 mile pass was 12.24 at 115.9 mph (with 1.94s 60' on that pass). Also ran a 12.25 pass, most in the 12.2-12.4 range, though there were a couple botched runs while experimenting with ways to improve the time.
• 60' times were in the 1.91 - 1.95s range for the most part on the better runs.

Initially I was hesitant to run the stock tires with relatively low tread depth for the event, but they turned out to be fine.

[s346k]

Originally Posted by vtirocz

Reporting back with results in case this helps someone else on stock SS tires with low tread depth...

unrelated: how was attendance at the nmca event? i thought i wanted to go up there again but decided to go down to bean blossom instead.

[vtirocz]

Originally Posted by s346k

unrelated: how was attendance at the nmca event? i thought i wanted to go up there again but decided to go down to bean blossom instead.

Attendance seemed on par with prior years and I thought it was a pretty good turnout overall, however, there weren't a whole lot of cars in the "Chevy Street Car Challenge" class.

I think I was probably the only stock car there!

[foshjowler]

I don't have much experience with the stock SS tires, but I wouldn't expect the tread depth to be where a loss of grip would be. I don't think they use different compounds throughout the tire. Being 3.5 years old and 13k miles of heat cycling is where I would expect the grip to have gone. Though it sounds like they held on alright for you.