So, I am buying a set of NT05s this week because discount tire has them on sale and i have a track less than 20 miles from my new house that has open drags every firday. I went last friday and was disappointed with my times due to the crappy street tires i have on my stock wheels. My questions are, on stock 18's what are the largest i can run (currently have 275/35) And has any one done the 16" clk aluminum wheels with stock fronts, what size rears were you using. Last one, i know there was some talk about using the factory spare as skinnies up front...did anyone do this? did it work well? what was the setup?

 

You can run clk wheels in the rear with drag radials and stock wheels up front no problem. Just don't mix bias ply tires with radial tires

 

ok, why?

 

Cause you don't want to lose control basically.

If you have the money to spend get some decent street tires and some 16's with a drag radial for the drag strip.

 

The car will feel like its swaying back and forth and you may lose control. Never a good idea to mix radial and bias ply. Bias ply sidewalls are much softer than a radial

 

got it, thanks for explaining that.

 

Definitely want to get lighter rims than the ones you have now ...heck the stock rims would likely be better.

 

im using my stock rims

 

I run a 275-45-17 (Hoosier DR) on some 17" wheels I got off a forum member. You can run 16's, so I assume you would go with a 275/50-16

(285 might fit, but not sure if you can find that size. I have seen guys with 16's running 265...)

Skinnys are not worth it until you are looking for that last 10th of a sec.

Get some DR's, and practice like crazy- you have the track, go kick some butt

 

If you wanted to use the 16" wheels, then a 255/50-16 would be the size you want for a drag radial.
Getting back to the 18", the NT05 is a decent street tire but if this set of tires are going to be designated track tires, go with NT05R or better yet, the Hoosier or M/T drag radials.

 

Thanks for the Intel, only problem I'm seeing with a lot of the DRs is that they don't offer sizes for the front, and I was advised against mixing drag and street. What so I do?

 

Although you do NOT want to mix Radial with Bias Ply, there are plenty of awesome Drag Radial.

As long as you have a Radial tire, you are good to go. I use the Hoosier Drag Radials but there are many options

 

What sizes are you running

 

Drag radials are radials and so are street tires. Bias ply is when you move to slicks. Just get drag radials for rear and you're good to go. Lowprofile mentioned the proper size

 

Light bulb just went on, thanks to everyone for their help, it was greatly appreciated.

 

Get the clk 16" wheels with the Hoosier DRs (255/50/16).. That seems to be the winning set up