I have an EK Civic, Turbo B-series, 450whp/325tq. Just finished up the motor and had it tuned and I'm quickly finding out how much traction is going to be an issue. In 1-3 gears, the tires break loose right after VTEC engages. I haven’t taken it to the track yet because I don’t think I'm going to get anywhere until I get this fixed. So two things....

First and most obvious is tires. I have 17" BF Goodrich G-Force T/A KDW right now. Any recommendations on what tires to look at for replacement? It’s not a track only car, I do drive it on the street, but never in the rain or wet conditions.

Secondly, traction bars. Do they help with anything besides wheel hop? I have zero wheel hop right now. Good suspension and stiff bushings have kept me from ever having wheel hop issues, just wheel spin. I would guess I wouldn’t see any benefit to traction bars, but thought I'd ask.

 

Traction bars help with wheel hop and preloading suspension. You need boost by gear or a dual stage controller something to drop the boost pressure in lower gears. You need good tires. The track is a different world all together. Hopefully you'll be on 23" slicks which will give you gobs of traction over a street. There's a lot to setup properly but you will have two setups one for street and one for track.

 

I would say look into some type of drag radial although im not sure if they make any in 17s. another option would b toyo r888 they grip really well and I know for sure u can get them in a 17. check out tirerack they got pretty good prices on them.

 

just checked on jegs they got et streets in 17" on there

 

Bfg radials are garbage don't bother.

 

Pretty forward statement. On what basis do you make that claim?

 

I've used them and got better traction with street tires than bfg drag radials.

 

Also, I'm not opposed to getting a new set of wheels. I have had these 17's on the car for about 9 years, and I dont really like them anymore. I dont want anything chrome or flashy though. Black or gunmetal. Whats the optimum size in your opinion, and why?

 

15/16" buddy club p1 HANDS DOWN. they make a new 15x7 +32 or +35 dont know off top of my head. light enough for drag use and strong enough for DD and price is a BIG bonus

 

In that size, try a set of Toyo R888's. They aren't a "drag radial," but they seem to work on everything.

I went from spinning third gear on 450hp to hooking 600hp going from 215/45/16 Falken Azenis RT-615K's to 225/45/16 R888's.

 

I have bfg rival on my car, 205-50-15. it spins 1st and 2nd. holds 3rd and 4th gear (on a warm day). 480/325. I want to try them out in a wider size.

 

Stepping up to a taller size would be more beneficial than wider on the street but lengthens gearing a little.

 

Id go with a 15" wheel with a 225/50 tire of some sort. Give you more of a sidewall than your wheel/tire setup right now. As for tire, ive never had a good radial hook power except the m&h 235/60s which would be too big for what your looking to go with. Ive ran ET Streets 225/50, they hooked 440ish in third but were on within a month. (I street drive my car all the time.) Ive also ran a Toyo Proxe 4s in a 225/50/15. Lowered them down to 18psi and they hook 420ish in third and 560 in fourth. Plus you get the longevity of a street tire. Those have been the most fun tire ive owned.

Everyone will tell you something different. Everyone has there own preference. You can do all the research in the world and still have no idea on what you want to do. Pretty much just get what you get and drive your car like you stole it. Thats all you can really do.

 

What street tires?

Do you have any time slips or logs of acceleration to prove this "better traction"?

How old were the tires? How much tread? Road temps the same? Etc.?

 

Yes I datalog on the street every time I drive my car. I can't say what the road temps were I CAN say the bfg's did NOT hook up for **** and my falken re912's would hold the power and not spin. I don't need a print out of data logging to tell me what I experienced. Just speaking from experience if they work for you or others great.

 

I see what you're doing there, but I also have had the same experience. Switched from Falken something or others to BFG's and the car spun all over the place, switched back to the falkens and it would haze 3rd but at least the car went somewhere...this was at low boost 515hp level. I have a video somewhere of me blowing the tires off at ~160mph on high boost with the bfg's which did not happen with the falkens.

 

I'll vote against the BFG's also. Have them and a set of ET streets on two sets of wheels. BFG's sucked for only 390whp... Bought ET streets and now just loan out the BFG's to friends on track days until they get used up. They won't go back on my car. Both sets are 205/50/15

 

I had a similar experience. My 205/50/15 nitto neo gens would hook better then my bfg drag radials in 225. This was at 396whp and 311tq. For the money the nitto neo gens are pretty damn good IMO.

 

Yea, they're garbage.

 

I had good luck with them... infact i wish they still made 215/60/14's. These tires on a buddy's stock tuned k20a2 went 13.3's in an open diff full interior integra.. They don't wheel hop that's what i like most about them

 

ok first... you are worried about traction on the street with a street tire. no such thing as traction here. even if you put a slick on the car you still will unhook on the street so quit worrying about it. as far as the track goes.... don't put a baby *** 23 tire on there. go as big as possible. the idea is to hook up. you aren't competing in any class so who cares.

 

You don't go as big as possible you properly size the tire to your setup and horsepower and torque production along with proper gearbox. 23" slicks worked very well on 450hp. Once stepped up to 550 hp they were terrible until third gear. Then stepped up to 24.5's. Larger than that you start really beating up the drivetrain.

 

Bingo. It all relates to one another and you package the entire setup as a balance.

I was just curious what your reasoning was for the statement you made. I know plenty of people that love the BFGs, both in person and on the forums here. I'm sure some of them haven't used other tires though in comparison (i.e. it could actually be better on another tire), so that's what I was trying to get at. Just like genuine info and numbers rather than "they're ****".

 

The bfg drag radial worked well for me. My experience with them is at P225/45R17 with a 230hp motor +150shot nitrous. Less then your making overall but i liked them. I will say this though. With the bfg at full tire pressure they are no different then a street tire. It wasnt till I lowered air pressure and put some heat to them that they work. I dont believe a highway pull will put the proper heat to them to make them work. But I have no science or numbers to back that just experience at my power level.

 

I use the MT ET Streets 225/50/15's and those are pretty bad a@@.