well, i finally got my car tuned and running at full boost, and am now having nothing but traction issues. The car is a daily driver, so I don't want anything too radical, but I am willing to make some changes. I am basically looking for wheel\tire, suspension, etc advice for a 500 whp daily dirver. I understand that nothing is going to make it 100% better, but the stupid thing rips loose my 14" nitto 555r drag radials at 5k rpm in 4th gear. I was thinking about buying a pair of 15x8's and running 225/50r15 bfg's, but i have heard that people are getting less than 1000 miles out of them. Any advice is appreciated, but please leave out boost by gear or detuning it as I am not interested. setup is in sig, current suspension is tokico blues with progress H22aEG springs, stock m2a4 trans with quaife lsd. Thanks!

 

a stiffer suspension would help you alot. there are so many traction bars to choose from. L-Con from what I see is most popular, and as far as wheels go, get a set of lenso VPD's and slicks for the track.

 

I have looked into stiffer suspension, what is suggested for a street car though, the car rides very nice now... as far as the traction bars go, do they clear an h22? as far as wheels and tires, i am a run what you brung kind of guy, so slicks and street tires are out of the question, the car is drag radial only...

 

i had the tokicos 5way illuminas and progress b-series lowering springs, great for street
smooth ride conmfort, but not good at the track...
tokicos 5way illuminas and s2 coil overs, so far nice set up i love it, never had wheel hop at the track or streets even without traction bar on M/T drag radials..
the tires you get at that amount of power you're not going to get traction at all
and drag radials are gone after 2k miles

make up your mind get slicks for track only and any tires around 240 tread wear like (nitto neo gen).will be fine and traction bar for sure...etdracing ftw!!!
"driving a 500hp civic on the streets, should be like driving a ferrari without insurance"

 

wanna know the truth? You're an FWD 500whp application that was never designed to be that way. Suspension will be a first step, and LSD will be a second, even with traction bars as a third.. But in the end, it will be your foot, and the knowledge of the fact that you will not get real traction in such a powerful car.

Get used to it.

 

i know this... I have a quaife lsd as stated in the original post, and am preparing to make suspension changes as well as traction bars, i know nothing will make it hook up perfectly, but i am just looking for advice to make things a little better, there are no traction mods on it right now whatsoever other than 14" drag radials, so there are things that can be done to make things a little better.

 

Try an alignment first.

 

I am using Omni full coilover suspension. the sports with 12KF and 10KR. they work great for me on street and track. if it were just a track car for me, I would have got the 18KR, but the 10K is perfect to do both street and track. very little compromise for my car since I have alot of weight removed from the vehicle as it is. traction is gonna be a issue either way you look at it. personally, I will never show up to any track without my slicks and about the street, I run cheepy Wanli 1088( I think 280 treadwear). anybody wanna run, catch me at the track on my M/T's and I'll rip you a new one.lol.... I've tried Falken Azenis tires, and Yokohoma parada spec II's. Nothing is gonna have close to the traction a slick is capable of. I don't street race!!!!!

***edit*** I also run a Z10 traction Bar, and OBX Diff

 

car is dead nuts.

 

anyone on 225/50r15 bfg drag radials?

 

I'm not sure with BFG's but I've used Hoosier drag radials that same size and Khumo V710 drag radials. both are OK, just a hair better than azenis but not as good as M/T slicks. not completely a soft enough tire, but the life of the tire is SHORT!!!! Very short.

 

just wondering why you say no boost by gear? its fairly cheap to do and is one of the best things for getting traction with a daily driver

 

I had bfg's once. never will i waste my money on them again. I made 4 passes and completely destroyed them. And that was will 400whp. I heated them good, but when i launched they couldnt hook. i spun them into 4th gear. Thats when i realized that there no replacement for slicks. I had the same vision as you until then. You said "run what you brung", BRING SOME SLICKS WITH YOU!

 

just wondering why you say no boost by gear? its fairly cheap to do and is one of the best things for getting traction with a daily driver

 

A fwd car with 275 ft-lbs+ of torque is going to have problems regardless. You said that you didn't want to hear about boost by gear control but it is a reality. How much torque does your setup make?

 

well, i have everything i need for boost by gear, the setup will hold no less than 16 psi, and gears 1-3 are roasting before then, and 4th gear breaks loose about 18psi, and i dont beat on 5th gear, so i feel that foot control is going to be better for me in that respect. It is internally gated (yes i know that sucks) but it lets me keep A\C which is to me a more important part of a daily driven street car in florida than street tires and pump gas!! the setup makes over 350 ft lbs... lol should have went d-series!

 

has anyone ever researched air bags for the rear? i dont want to make the car dance or anything, but i think it would be pretty cool to keep the rear suspension level and soft until i need to jack it up 4" and stiff as hell for a pull, then go back to level and soft... just a thought.

 

air bags bad,i know a couple of people with them on minis,bad.
traction bars will help,suspension bushings,stiffer durometer motor mount bushings

 

When i replaced all of my bushings in my car i noticed a big increase in traction. Also having things like stiffer engine mounts, traction bars, lsd, suspension, alignment, tires, those are obviously the big things. Also something you probably wouldnt wanna get into but changing your gearing can make the car much more streetable. I was running a CTR trans on my 400whp setup and it was a lot of fun but pointless. Now i am running an ls trans with a different final drive and it is much better now.

 

I forgot about that. When I first drove my car after it was tuned it was all over the road. A alignment and d.r.'s helped fix that issue 85%. 235/60/15 MT drag radials are the last stop for a high whp+ street car. I think your problem is boost control plus if the torque on your dyno graph just shoots up quickly in a short rpm range that is a recipe for eternal wheel spin. If you don't mind list your setup in detail.

 

225/45/15 Toyo RA1's on the street worked pretty well for me. They are r-compound tires, so they stick well, but they handle rain pretty well and hold up well on the street. I've known guys that get 10K out of them.

 

Im runin the 225 50 15 bfgs and after 1500 street miles they are pratically bold,and i only did a few highway roles and digs on the street .The street eats them up like cheese graders and i spun just as bad if not worse unless i heated them up first. But for the money they work pretty well at the track.Just got to moderate the trottle on the street.Goodluck if not

 

I am a toyo dealer, and have been looking at these, but thought they were more for road course racing. I will def look into them! thanks!

 

thanks for the advice, you def steered me away from them, i need to get at least 4k out of the tires...

 

Omni coilovers, MH bias ply, full-race traction bar and if that is still an issue, change your setup so you can boost lower to do boost by gear. I know you don't want to hear about it, but I am running an ITR tranny and run 500+ on the street all the time.