DOT drag tires on street.....

Do you run tubes or tubeless? Considering tubes but that is an extra $100 no more than I will be driving the car on the street.
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I've heard of a few guys running no tubes in their drag slicks....drops a little unsprung weight. I'm not sure on the safety of this practice. I can imagine you could do the same thing with street slicks. I would think you'd have to check the pressure more often as the thin sidewalls would leak air.

Anyone else offer an opinion?

My .02 [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]
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i run mine with no tube there fine like that [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]

I always ran my actual drag tires tubeless and never had a problem....was just wondering on the DOT tires.....and yes....would have to check them regularly.
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I ran tubes with an old set of M&H wrinklewalls with a spool once. The car ended up with flats on two different occasions because of pinched tubes.

I do NOT recommend tubes if the car has a spool.

Good Luck!
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I run Hoosier Quick Time Pros and the manufacturer DOES recommend tubes if you drive on the street. They do not require tubes if you run them at the track only. Now that I said that, I DON'T run tubes and they work fine on the street. No leaks. No problems.
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Some people put a thin coat of thick dishwashing liquid (Palmolive) on the inside surface of the tire to help prevent the effusion of air through the tire.

Rim screws can also cause small leaks when no tubes are used.

Good Luck!
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I run my McCreary's with no tubes even though they say tube type tire.I phoned around to a few speed shops and they said it wasn't dangerous just that the tubes will keep the pressures more even so your not having to check the pressures all the time.Of course if you have no leaks this isn't a concern.Mine will sit for a few weeks before there is any difference.As long as I keep the pressure up around 20psi and drive it around once or twice a week its fine.

Buy the tubes...The right (racing tubes).. Believe me the extra $100.00 is worth not having one lose it's bead @ speed.. I had my ET Streets lose the bead under full throttle during 2nd to 3rd gear shift on the street. No fun !!!! cost me a wheel,tire and damn near a car...

I thought when you run tubes with DOT/slicks you should run bead locks since the tube doesnt seat the bead?? what pressure were you running when you lost the tire? that is important?