what size rim?
radials in the front?

 

TUBE OR TUBELESS ?...REAR SWAY BAR STILL ON?

 

sounds like your on a cold slick a$$ track

 

the front has factory pony wheels with 225/55/16s , the rear are weld draglite 15"s , not sure about the width .. i think 9" or 10" ..

 

Get DRAG RADIALS... What ur feeling is a Non Radial Tire..
Plus u have low Pressure in the tire.. (Less than what ur used to)

Get 1 of these Tires.... (I think the M/Ts are the Best for Street/Track)
http://store.summitracing.com/egnse.../egnsearch.asp?N=700+4294921520+4294793325+4294905061+4294904668+4294904676+115

 

the tires are tubeless . there is no sway bar on the front or rear . it was cold out maybe in the low 30s , damp , and had rained during the day . it was just a few days ago in atco nj . the car started to fishtail violently after i went through the traps .. by some miracle i did not hit a wall .. i have been on a mission to find out why !

 

believe it or not, the "wide" heavy front tires may be contributing to the problem. ANY, even slight, movement of the steering wheel at high speed is magnified by the wider tires, any slight corrections will be translated into overadjustment at high speed. That's a big reason for running skinnies up front. Check your alignment, positive caster is your friend when going in a straight line. toe in also has an effect.

As far as the rear of the car, worn bushings, misalignment (rear end not square), worn or improper shock adjustment, can contribute to loss of stability.

How wide of a rim are you using? I've run my 27x10.50 hoosiers down to 10psi without a hint of wiggle, very stable. I'm almost into the ten's.

Cold damp track sounds plain old dangerous!

 

believe it or not, the "wide" heavy front tires may be contributing to the problem. ANY, even slight, movement of the steering wheel at high speed is magnified by the wider tires, any slight corrections will be translated into overadjustment at high speed. That's a big reason for running skinnies up front.

false...with wide or skinny tires the car is going to turn the same amount with any movement of steering wheel...the big reasons for running skinnies is a lower rolling resistance,lighter weight and better aerodynamics.

 

hmm ... maybe i will have to try out a set of skinnies . the whole rear suspension of this car has new urethane bushings , although it has been in a rear collision before i bought it .

 

the whole rear suspension of this car has new urethane bushings , although it has been in a rear collision before i bought it .

get the alignment checked (4 wheel).

 

I believe they don't recommend running a radial tire up front when running slicks. And as said already...you're feeling the non-radial tire movement when it is unloading at the end of the track.

Do a search...I'm sure you'll find something.

 

Not true, you see in my pic below the car i bought came with a radial tire on the front and my car is straight as an arrow at 134 mph on a track that is not the smoothest either.

Bottom line he was on a track that was super cold and more than likely was not prepped because of a low car count.

Nothing is wrong with your car! Quit looking!

 

Funny no one asked what tire pressure you were running..
10psi will feel sloppy as hell but 12-13 will feel much more stable

 

he said in his first post he runs 15 psi

 

I ran my standard 17" Radial up front and my car is straight as an arrow @ 125

 

thanks for all the great advice everyone ! so i guess what i am asking is - is it somewhat normal for the rear of the car to feel like it is on jello when using slicks ?

 

Yea imo it is

 

I have never had a problem with the radials on the front of my car with slicks. I had 225 and 165.

I would either look at the way you are driving the car or suspension. something could be binding causing the issues.

I have had mine move around some this year but it was due to me steering the car causing this. I changed the way I hold the wheel and it goes away.

Tim

 

If you stand beside your car and push it side to side near the back watch how much the back of the car will sway. The slicks just have a really soft side wall and like they said are not a radial so yea I think its normal. The first time I drove a car with slicks it was a little wierd feeling. Like you said kinda (like jell-o)

 

another vote for keeping rear sway bar and tubes in the tires.

 

Run tubes and you will be more stable on the top end.

Also if you have power steering you can bypass that, increase power and have better "feel" down the track with less chance of over correcting.

Put the rear sway bar back on.

These changes are a lot cheaper than buying high dollar drag radials that may not work on a poorly prepped track.

Mixing radials with slicks? That's not likely a problem in a high 11 sec car. Don't buy skinnies for this reason only.($$)

 

+1 about the weather. There is a reason why Englishtown only opens if it is going to be over 40 November and is closed now.

 

yeah sometimes atco raceway really makes me worry .. i have been there in the low 20's sometimes even in the teens . i have heard englishtown is a much better track ,,

 

I have heard the same. Im sure their is a reason why they close for cold weather.

 

My car feels a little wishy washy with the slicks on. I got used to it pretty fast.

 

1.Your mixing wide radials (front) with BIas plies on the back...get skinnies up front.
2.Tubes will help somewhat with the sway.
3.The larger tire diameter to rim ratio you have the worse it will get (a 26" tire on a 15" rim is more stable than a 28" tire on a 15" rim)
4.When you get out of the throttle on the big end it unloads the rear suspension and then all the above become factors. Its pretty much normal but you can have varying degrees of the effect.

 

it could also be uneven tire pressure. I never ran slicks, but once going through the trap I was nearing 120, and the car started wobbling, so I got off the throttle right away. It felt like I was about to loose control if I pushed it to the end. I checked my tire pressure again, and must have had a slow leak. one side was about 10 psi more than the other. I'm guessing if they're not pretty close, then the car at higher speeds could become unstable.

 

If the steering wheel was a clock, where is your left hand? If see so many people with their left hand at 12 o'clock and they have trouble staying straight (especially with a 5 speed car). At 12 o'clock you have too much leverage to pull the car to the left or right and this is easily done when trying to shift a 5 speed car fast. Once it gets a little loose, then you also have the potential to over correct. Also the weight of your arm makes the problem worse because this is an unnatural position.

Your left hand is to be on the wheel at the 9 o'clock position. (This is where you trying while sitting at your computer...). At this positon your arm is tucked to your side and you have WAY more control over the wheel and you also limit the ability to overcorrect. Just watch any professional drag racer in car camera video and see where their left hand it located.

At the track (from the stands) you can see so many people that have their left hand in the wrong position.

Jon.

 

+1 for not mixing bias ply rear tires with radial fronts. Because they flex and sway differently at speed, you need to run the same material tire front/rear. At lower speeds it is not as noticeable…but the faster you go, the more exaggerated it gets. When you run the same material tires front/rear the car has a tendency to sway uniformly front/rear.