If I am going below 35 MPH, and nail the gas, my truck drops down into 1st gear and blows the F1's away.

With the Nitto 555R's, will this 1st gear drop-down hook, or will it still spin some? My truck makes 430 RWHP (give or take depending on weather). If the Nittos still spin, I will be upset. Otherwise, I will get some 16 inch rims and put some M/T drag radials on.

I lost a race today that I should have been able to stick next to (more so) on the low end. It was a Cobra, which undoubtedly has more MPH, but I think up to 80 MPH I should be somewhat competitive? We went from about 30 MPH and my truck went to 1st gear and it just spun like crazy, while he pulled away.

 

itll hook n go im in the same boat u are

 

I have the same mods as you pretty much and just dynoed today at 425hp/508t. I had the very same problem as you, I had toyo's and for all of first anytime I got on it in first wot it would spin, you know the chirp you get when you go wot into 2nd with a FTVB? Well mine would spin and sometimes put me sideways if i was changing lanes.

Put on my nitto 555r and wow, totally different. They still spin a little if I got wot off the line, but if I go into it and it downshifts no spin at all, even easing into it of the line is a nice solid pull. It doesnt even chirp going into second just hooks hard!

 

Forgot to add. I raced a 05 mildly modded stang from a stop, while I was spinning he took 4 cars and got off it before I could catch up, he was nice enough to go from a roll after where i proceeded to rape him.

That pissed me off enough to buy them since my strong point should be off the line.

 

Ak I see you dont have a FTVB? Bro this is like the BEST mod for a lightning. Best 250 i ever spent, get one asap

 

Remember how your Lightning launched when it was stock?
With the Nitto's you get that back again
I have only had them for a week now but I am totally impressed.

P.S....
I have a couple F-1's in the garage if anyone local needs them

 

my truck is stock and with the F-1's I could light them up before a run at the track. I can't even break loose at all with the 555's, i don't even try now i just go straight to stage. I love em! I think the F-1's cornered better (stiffer sidewalls) but the 555's are a far superior straight line hook tire. My 2 cents.

 

Why don't you just have your tuner adjust the shifts. That's what I did.

I never understood people who think it's awesome and makes them faster when they chirp 1-2 either. Some tuners love to turn up the line pressure and make the truck chirp or spin all the gears. But it's all in what the customer asks for. I'm making a little more power than most of the people who commented and I don't really have any traction problems with the F1's.

 

I agree with you. I don't want to break my tires loose anymore than they already do, plus, I've seen enough trannys (on these boards) go out with various shift improver kits, so I am not totally convinced a valve body saves your tranny from anything it would otherwise suffer. I am leaving my tranny stock.

 

As LatemodelRacer2 said...
The answer to this question is YES!!!

WaveBlaster785...I have yet to see a Lightning with 400 rwp that doesn't completely overpower the F-1's. Congratulations to you and your truck

 

Sal drove is 850 hp truck around on F1's. Don's Bolt said he went like 11.4 on F1's I think it was, my buddy runs his 700hp cobra on f1's, there are a TON of 400hp LS1's with F1's....I'm not alone.

 

All that means nothing. You act like F1's are better because some people run around on them. The 555r's will hook better no matter all your irrelevant examples..

 

They last longer, cost less, hook pretty damn well. I just get tired of hearing how F1's suck so bad and Nittos are awesome. I think some people just need to learn to drive. Nittos are the Pinto of the Drag radial world. Of course they hook better, they are Drag radials and they work better on the street than the track, but most guys on the site that have nittos go what, like 1.75, that's not that impressive. But then again, they could just be stab and steer racers, maybe it's not the tire.

 

I have been very impressed with the Nittos. Something I have noticed is if I'm running on an asphalt road I can spin the Nittos just a tad off the line unless I feather it out of the hole but on a concrete road I can feel the azz end of the truck sorta squat as it lunges forward on concrete and I don't feel any spin.

Also when I kick down and it drops into 1st, on an asphalt road it gets a scratch but on concrete nothing, it just hooks and goes. When I had my F1's it would just blow them away regardless of the surface unless I really feathered the throttle. IMHO the Nittos are a better gripping tire than the F1's because they are designed to be. The rubber is extremely soft as compared to the F1's. As far as longevity goes you can probably expect about 1/2 the life that the F1 will give you.

Your at a higher HP/TQ level than me as I only run a 4lber and tune. I think that once you start getting up into your power range in our trucks, it may not matter what tire you go with because you are just gonna lite em up at WOT. That being said, IMHO you should give the 555R's a chance and I suggest that you go with the 305's instead of the 295's for a slightly larger foot print which should help as well. I didn't see any traction devices in your list of mods, are you running anything? I do have truk tracks which IMHO helped a lot. If you are not running anything I would definitely look into the slappers, slide a links, metcos or racho type bars.

Too bad you didn't have your 9 sec pony, the race would have gone a little differently.

Good luck in which ever way you decide to go.

Todd

 

Why "learn how to drive" when you can by some tires to do it for you