TIRES / WHEELS

El Grippo!


These are the rear tires I raced on until 2006. The whole list: www.mickeythompsontires.com/ ET street
I do not longer use inner tubes. I pump up the tires more often instead.


Once called "cheater slicks" - slicks compound but with just enough treads to pass a police inspection
in most countries if stopped on the street. I found that the Mickey Thompson ET Street is the best model
for me. It says 12.5" wide x 28" tall. That 12.5" means the total width including the bulging side walls but
the real width contact to the ground is only 10 inch.


Treads are 3/16" (4 mm) deep. Swedish legislation demands a minimum of 0.63" (1.6 mm). Always take
your time and measure your newly ordered pair of whatever slicks you buy. Not necessarily the tread
depth but height and circumference! Too often a mismatching pair will arrive. Here I discovered that one
of the tires was 8 mm taller than the other one and when measuring the overall circumference the small
tire had a 1.85" (47 mm) shorter circumference!! Back they go!


2006: Changing to taller slicks! MT ET Drag 28 x 11,5" will be changed to Hoosier 29 x 10. The MT's
were just a little bit too wide so they scrubbed the inside of the wheelhouses. I'm loosing 1,5 inch of
thread width but I'm gaining 1 inch on the height. Hopefully it will be a better combination.
Thanks Jan Murén of Lövéns for finding them so quickly (in USA but I got them in less than one week!)

These are the wheels I use for drag and streetracing. Whole list: http://www.weldracing.com/ProStarXP

Weld Racing's Pro Star XP wheels are made of machined cold-forged aluminum, therefore heavier than
the classic Weld Pro Star's (seen on my Impala on Races-pages 2001-02) but also stronger. Beside it's
very nice and reserved design, which I prefer, the best advantage of this 15" wheel is the larger inside rim
diameter which gives increased caliper clearance for an eventual brake upgrade. Since stock wheels are
17" it's too common that 15" wheels are too tight to fit over stock SS calipers. My former Pro Star's
really hadn't much of clearence, actually they had grinding contact. In the beginning...
The XP's all comes with dual bolt circles (list above), in my case both 5 X 4.75 and the wanted B-body
5 X 5". Lug nuts settles in the tight oval-drilled bolt holes. Smart. Better second-hand value is a bonus.

Note: This choice of backspace works perfect for me but also remember that my rearend is from a Caprice
Wagon which is 1.3" (33mm) less wide than the stock Impala SS rearend! (see > Rearend/Driveshaft)

To prevent the wheels to slip inside the tires I've used Moroso rim screws. 32 screws - 8 on each side on
both rear wheels. Pre drilling and the use of a ratchet is recommended for the first mounting. But it takes
a strong person to start drilling into a set of completely new out-of-the-box Weld Pro Star XP's! Do like
me, think of something else, perhaps a ham sandwich with mustard. It helps. Especially when you're
done and then hear rumors that this method is going to be banned in favour of the use of a rim glue!!!
I hope it's only a rumor...?


My choice to the right.

However, these 285 Bridgestones touch the Hotchkis swaybar at right
front on full left turn. Chunks of rubber are gone as you can see.
It just touches on left front as well, but no rubber is gone there.


May 2008: I'm going back to the SS original size tires (left) to get more road clearance since my new
transmission oil tranny is so low. TireRack didn't have Bridgestone in that size in stock anymore so
let's test Kumho. They should have the same performance.




More as it happens...