Drag Racing & tire height?

[Krinkov]

I'm ready to pull the trigger on a pair of Mustang 17x9 wheels and drag radials. With the 3.06's my stock 28.6" tall tires are just right in terms of crossing the stripe in the VERY top of 3rd gear.

Looking at my choices in DR's I can get them 28" tall, or 25.7".

My question is would I be better off taking advantage of the shorter tire as added gearing, or go with the taller tire to maintain proper gear/RPM at the finish line?

In addition to the mod's in my sig I will be ordering a converter in the very near future (as soon as I decide what brand and stall).

[budoboy]

Shorter tire is ALWAYS faster in my experience. Every time I went to a taller tire I immediately had a significantly slower ET. This is with a heads/cam 6.1 with 3.06 gears and 3.91 gears.

Crossing the line at the bottom of 4th didn't make me any slower. The 3-4 shift is imperceptible in my experience and didn't slow me down.

[slideway]

^ Like Jeff said, The short one. You'll get a quick .15 reduction, minimum!

I don't know how your getting to the top of 3rd. gear with 28.7 tires, I was always well past the line shifting 4th. with the stock tires and stock engine.