315/35/17 Nitto Drag Radials or Sumitomo HTR Zs for my ZR1s

[Mr Nice Guy]

I have a set of 17x9.5 front 17x11 rear Rear ZR1s(grandsport offset) on the way and am looking for decently priced rubber. I will probably go with Sumitomo fronts but am trying to figure what would be best for the rear. 315 choices are rather limited but I've narrowed it down to Nitto Drag radials or the Sumitomo HTR Zs. The price is about the same on these two and quite reasonable. I do go to the track some so the DRs would be nice there but the Sumitomos will last longer I'm sure. Does anyone have experience with the Sumi's? Do they grip well? I don't want huge tires in the back and still have traction problems like I do with the 245 stockers. Looks are one thing but I want it to perform as well. I've looked at other tires but everything else is too expensive. Any help you can give me in choosing one of these tires, or another tire in this price range I don't know about yet, would be greatly apreciated. Thanks in advance.....Later

[MN6WS6]

I have the 315 Sumi's. For me they work well, and they most definitely last longer than Nittos will. Dry weather traction is pretty good on the street, but you can still step the car out with aggressive throttle position (in other words, yes you can still powerslide the car and scare the ricers ) My car hooks awesome on the street NA, and does pretty good on the bottle, especially if you drop the pressure down some. That's 370 RWHP and 454 RWTQ and these tires will still hook up. They do pretty well in the rain, and living in Mobile, I should know all about wet weather driving. It rains a LOT down here.

As far as the track goes, of course you're going to hook better on Nittos. But, if I heat my tires up at 20 PSI, they won't spin (unless you launch on the bottle). I thought maybe I was just launching too weak, so a long time drag racing buddy of mine did a 4500 drop (6 speed mind you) and the car bogged. He had to feather the clutch because the tires hook that well. I'm not real impressed with the mileage (they might have 25k on them and are pretty worn in the center) but I do burnouts, run them on lower than recommended pressure, pull a trailer with a bike on it, and used to spend a lot of time at the track, so those things are to be expected. As a reference, the same guy that drove my car gets about 5k out of a set of Nittos, but he races probably twice as much as I used to.

So, in conclusion, they are a very good tire, especially for the price. They are no drag radial, but they are a good all around tire that just happen to perform well for me at the track. These are the same tires that I ran my 12.36 with in my stock motor, 125 shot, 6 speed, LT1 car with full interior and about 100 pounds of tools and motorcycle gear in the back seat. It's also gone a 7.94 in the 1/8th with the same setup.

[Mr Nice Guy]

Thanks man. How were your 60' times compared with the stockers. I'd really like to get mine under 2 seconds. I've been getting anywhere from 2.3x to high 2.1x. with my 245 Firestones. I really have to baby it off the line. I just don't want to spend money on wide tires and not have them stick any better than what I have now. I'm willing to take a hit on mileage if the DRs are worth it but if the Sumi's would hook up alot better than what I have now I would definately apreciate the extra life I'd get out of them. If I'm not spending money on tires I have money for other mods. Still want to do LT headers and catback. Oh yeah how did they fit for you? Any rolling of the fenders, etc? Just trying to find out what I'm in for with the 315s. Thanks again....Later

[MN6WS6]

Tires rubbing don't have anything to do with width, it's the wheels offsets. I don't know how the GM ones work, there is one offset that fits fine, and one that requires banging the wheelwells. I'm no fan of factory wheels anyway, so I went with American Racing Spinnaker's. AR spent a lot of time on the offsets, because they fit perfect, as the Torque Thrust and TTII guys will attest to. Besides that, I refuse to beat in my fenderwells to make wheels fit my ride, or use spacers.

I can't really tell you what tires to get, because it really depends on what you want to do with the car. As for me, I will have another set of Sumi's on order within 6 months. For the price, you just can't get a better all weather 315.