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What tire actually maintains it's traction through its life?

3.2K views 5 replies 5 participants last post by  Rockster  
#1 ·
Happy Sunday gang! Well I live in Utah, the Charger HC is now in the garage for the season. Putting together my list of parts needed before the HC comes out in spring. I'll be getting replica HC2s in 20x11 for the rear. I might hit the drag strip 3 times a season, no need for a dedicated drag tire. I like tires that maximize the cars handling, while hooking up as best as possible from a go. I currently run the Nitro 555G2 but they don't maintain their traction through its life. I have about 30 percent tread left, no traction . I don't want the Michelin Pilot Cup 2 as their brake away is Scarry and driving in the rain is a nightmare.

So after all of that, phew. What tire would you all recommend that is summer only, can deal with 700+ hp (I'm running a metco 2.85), whose traction doesnt drastically drop off during it's life span, and can max out the cars handling ability. Does such a thing exist?
 
#2 ·
On a Hellcat? None lol
I ran 3 sets of 315 NT05R’s and they where good right to the wear bars, after that from a dig traction really fell off. Doing a set of 315 555R2’s now. They are better then the worn NT05R but we’ll see how they are 1000 miles from now.
 
#5 ·
Well in the all season space I run the Conti DWS06 on my other cars and they are GREAT all the way to the bone, I'm not sure how the Conti DW's do, but if they are like the DWS they might be worth a look.

One of the challenges on the sticky summer tires is that how you use them makes a big difference in how they perform toward the end of their life. If you heat cycle a soft tire they get harder after every cycle. As a result on some super soft race tires you WANT to heat cycle them so they hold up better through a race. So lots of burn outs, high core temp road work, etc. will make the tire feel less grippy toward the end.
 
#6 ·
My experience with other (sports) cars is both Pirelli and Michelin tires or Bridgestone and Continental tires tended to deliver good traction as the tires wore down.

These were high performance (summer) tires so I'm only talking about dry performance.

As the tires wore tread grooves wore away and thus the tire had more rubber in contact with the pavement.

The downside was noise. And the tires often made the car feel squirrely to the point I'd suspect a low tire and pull off the road to check tire pressures. This with cars that predated the appearance of TPMS.

Oh, and another downside at least at the rear was the more worn the tires the more prone to getting a puncture.

At some point tire grip was compromised because with so many miles (approaching 20K) the heat cycles tended to harden the tire tread rubber but by this time the tires were pretty much worn out anyhow.

As an aside I just got a 2020 Scat Pack and it came with Pirelli high performance tires. Compared to the Pirelli all season tires on my 2018 Hellcat these high performance tires are the bomb. Not that I should be surprised. As I mentioned above with one sports car it came with Pirelli high performance tires from the factory and they were superb tires.