tire/wheel size

we made our first test hits last weekend on our new project & it has become obvious that i have too much tire....kind of thought i might from the start but was hoping i could get by with it....nope, im currently running a goodyear 36/16-16 . the 36" height in crutial for my ratio to work out. i have a set of 33.5/17-16 that are new. do you think i could get by with running a 12" rim & get the 33.5 tire to the desired 36" ? thanks in advance.

 

Nope. Changing the wheel size makes a minimal difference at speed. But does really screw up the pattern off of the line.
What 36" is it? Maybe we can get it to slip a little and not hurt the ET too bad. Drop the bars and get some spin, or get the tire pressure to where it will slip more. I ran 36" fuel tires for years with a 700 horse deal and as soon as they were figured out, the thing was perfect for close to 1000 passes.

 

They are goodyears.... Not sure of the compound & I'm away from the car. Btw the cars weight is 3000 lbs. I did try 1 hit at 12 lbs & it jumped straight up in the air at the launch... Keep in mind that the clutch is still not set up right as well.... We. It is just real bouncy & doesn't feel right? Can u go higher on the air psi?

 

I run a 2000 lb dragster and run around 5 pounds of air in the tire. My first thought not knowing much about your car was to let some air out of the tire to free it up and let it slip more. This also tends to let the car think it has a lower gear in it at the hit because it is turning a smaller circumference as the tire wraps up more. Just my 2 cents, Rich

 

The 1200 series, (1230's etc) were a standard thought process tire. The more pressure, the less traction. But the 1400's and 2000 series almost work backwards. The more pressure, the better grab you get. Some of the fuel teams were running over 11 pounds in these babies for a while. So people were going down to mid to low 5's to get the tires to slip.
Awkward, I know. But we need to know the series of tire before we can really jump in.

 

These are 1230`s.....

 

1230's will take about 7 psi. And down to 5. Smaller changes really make a big difference on the 1230's. But they stick like a beast. Maybe try to get the wheelie bars down so the tire cannot fully compress to achieve a little spin.

 

good idea wanna be....sounds like thats worth a shot.....we will test on friday, i will keep ya posted.