What good grippy tyres for a torquey front wheel drive??

I currently run 255/45/18 Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymetric 3's on my 2.5PD VW T5 van.
They are a great road tyre with lots of wet grip but they don't grip that well in 1st/2cnd gear and occasionally tramp.

Any other recommendation??.

I may also try and see if a 265/45 will fit on the rims.

I am currently running Michelin Pilot Sports. They also are great in rain and a good road tire.

I think you almost need to go with a track tire if you want real difference. But that would not be a good daily choice.

A limited slip differential would be the best solution.

so the best bang for your buck is a tire with a UTQG rating of 300 to 350, im running on
205/40ZR-17 SUMITOMO HTR Z II on a set of 17x8 Axis OG Europa SDC
love them and i get decent wear on them but they put rubber down when needed.

I love Asian tires, tried a lot of different brands, currently on Ohtsu P7000’s and they are very sticky, yet to even come close to breaking them loose, not even a squeal from them in any corner, so far they’ve taken everything I’ve given them

I like a good handling car and am a fan of running the widest tire possible so I would say try 265’s

I had a set of Continental ExtremeContact Sports that I really loved, as I run autocross and track days with my car. Those tires had the best wet grip of any tire I've ever had. I'm currently running a set of Federal SS595s, which are a 240UTQG, but they were dirt cheap ($58/tire for 225/45/17s). The federals definitely lack the wet grip but performed quite admirably at a recent track day, especially for the price.

Thanks for your replys guys, when you say UTQG is this the same as the tread wear indicator we have in the UK?

martin33100 said:

I currently run 255/45/18 Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymetric 3's on my 2.5PD VW T5 van.
They are a great road tyre with lots of wet grip but they don't grip that well in 1st/2cnd gear and occasionally tramp.
Any other recommendation??.
I may also try and see if a 265/45 will fit on the rims.

Click to expand...

Seeing as it's a van, you're probably just looking for straight line grip? The tires you have are already pretty gripey... you're going to be trading off a lot of mileage to get more grip.

I run the same tires as what you have now. Wheel spin in 1st and 2nd happen. I've autocrossed and done a track day on these tires; they're a really great tire that will get 40k or more miles. You switch to something like a Nitto, which has great straight line grip, and you're going to be looking at swapping tires every 15k miles or less.

I've played that game with my Cobalt (400+ whp / 400+ wtq). It gets old.

Great traction in 1st doesn't really happen for FWD vehicles. Learn to modulate the throttle pedal to get the acceleration that you need. Just my opinion.

Go to TireRack.com, input the size you need, and then filter out for tires rated "Extreme Summer Performance", etc. Falken RT615k+, Dunlop Direzza ZIII, Bridgestone Potenza RE-71R... all great, sticky tires. Be prepared to eat through them in less than 20k miles though.

martin33100 said:

Thanks for your replys guys, when you say UTQG is this the same as the tread wear indicator we have in the UK?

Click to expand...

Yes. TIRE TECH: UNIFORM TIRE QUALITY GRADE (UTQG) STANDARDS

USMCFieldMP said:

Seeing as it's a van, you're probably just looking for straight line grip? The tires you have are already pretty gripey... you're going to be trading off a lot of mileage to get more grip.
I run the same tires as what you have now. Wheel spin in 1st and 2nd happen. I've autocrossed and done a track day on these tires; they're a really great tire that will get 40k or more miles. You switch to something like a Nitto, which has great straight line grip, and you're going to be looking at swapping tires every 15k miles or less.
I've played that game with my Cobalt (400+ whp / 400+ wtq). It gets old.
Great traction in 1st doesn't really happen for FWD vehicles. Learn to modulate the throttle pedal to get the acceleration that you need. Just my opinion.
Go to TireRack.com, input the size you need, and then filter out for tires rated "Extreme Summer Performance", etc. Falken RT615k+, Dunlop Direzza ZIII, Bridgestone Potenza RE-71R... all great, sticky tires. Be prepared to eat through them in less than 20k miles though.
Yes. TIRE TECH: UNIFORM TIRE QUALITY GRADE (UTQG) STANDARDS

Click to expand...

To be honest I don't rate the GY F1 Asymetric 3's for dry grip pulling away but the issue is I changed wheels, tyres, and added 50hp all at the same time.
So basically it could be the new tyres or just the extra power causing the tramp.

Before I had 280hp/620nm and on 20's it was fine on Pirelli's, Toyo's and GY F1 Asymetric 2's.

Now I am at 330hp/665nm and on much lighter 18's and get tramp with the Asymetric 3's, both 18's and 20's run a 255 tyre.

You need a bigger turbo if you're breaking the tires loose just stomping on it.

Any of those tires I mentioned should be good. Most of them are meant for autocross, so they're great in the corner, but that doesn't always translate to straight line grip in lower gears.

Nitto makes a couple sticky tires that are good for straight line traction; the Nitto NT-05 and NT-01. They also don't last long. NT-01's lasted about 10,000 miles on a friend's supercharged Cobalt SS (around 300whp/300wtq), but they have SERIOUS grip. NT-05's should last longer, but not THAT much longer; 15k to 20k, depending on driving habits. NT555's will last even longer, but not as much grip.

The other thing you have to worry about, being in the UK, is wet traction... and that's a pretty big trade-off for a lot of these tires. NT-05's, and almost all the tires I mentioned in the previous post are not known for having great wet weather traction. Not totally terrible, but not great. NT-01's can be down right dangerous on wet roads.

What tire pressure(s) are you running?

I researched the Continental ExtremeContact Sport (a summer tire) mentioned above for wet and dry grip, but then settled on the ExtremeContact DWS, the all-season version of it. Maybe 10% less grip, but still very impressive. I used to be able to chirp my old tires just by stepping on it (standard 140hp 2l TDI with DSG) from a stop; not anymore with these tires. I also often got the inside tire breaking loose when accelerating from a stop on a wet road; this is also gone.

Forgot: tirerack has dry and wet measurements for all kinds of tires, incl. many of the ones discussed here.

This is one of my 1/4 mile runs.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lOsZaaKKsIk

Axle tramp at 3000rpm

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_0EdjqPJ6gw

What tire pressure are you running up front?

Lower tire pressures will yield more traction, but at the cost of cornering grip. I typically run 28-30 psi on the fronts for my Cobalt.

USMCFieldMP said:

What tire pressure are you running up front?

Lower tire pressures will yield more traction, but at the cost of cornering grip. I typically run 28-30 psi on the fronts for my Cobalt.

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It's a van weighing 2Ton so I run them at the factory setting around 40psi.
I tried a lower pressure when I was at Santapod raceway but this made my 1/4 mile times were actually slightly slower.

How much lower of a pressure? How did your 60ft change though? How many passes did you do on the lower setting? Did you do multiple passes at different pressures that day?

Are you using drag bags or anything else to help prevent or negate weight shifting to the rear of the vehicle? We used to make our own by stuffing deflated junior sized American footballs into the rear springs and then inflating them. It helps keep the rear end from squatting, which helps keep more weight over the front tires, which gives more traction.

And are you mainly concerned with getting better times at the drag strip? A cheap pair of the smallest diameter wheels you can find with some drag oriented tires (NT05R or NT555R) will make a world of difference, because A LOT of the tires that have been mentioned in this thread have stiff sidewalls, which are inherently not great for drag racing.

Mongler98 said:

so the best bang for your buck is a tire with a UTQG rating of 300 to 350, im running on
205/40ZR-17 SUMITOMO HTR Z II on a set of 17x8 Axis OG Europa SDC
love them and i get decent wear on them but they put rubber down when needed.

Click to expand...

I was going to chime in about the tread wear as well. My suggestion would be under 300 for grippy tires. Yokohama makes a nice tire, but being softer it's going to wear MUCH faster than most people would find acceptable or even ok. Personally I prefer softer tires, so i typically go for around 300 for the rating. I went and bought a slightly "harder" set of tires and my car felt like it was skating all the time and I don't even race. It just felt odd to me. Maybe it's just a mind over matter type of thing, but I don't think I'm going with a rating that's higher anymore.

The tires he's running right now are a 300 treadwear; same tires I run on my car.

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tire...dewall=Blackwall&partnum=545YR8F1A3&tab=Sizes