Traction mods for street & track use?
 

What are some mods/tips/tricks for better traction on the street and the dragstrip aside from going to dedicated wheels for drag radials, footballs in the rear springs, etc...?

I'm having severe traction issues in 1st and 2nd gear at WOT, and Powell's mounts helped reduce/eliminate the wheelhop.

I'm still running the factory torque limiter in 1st gear and 2nd gears. Should I make any changes to these tables to further reduce the torque?

Just looking for ideas, not trying to break any speed records at the track, and just trying to improve take off traction on the street.

if you want decent traction on the street the best thing you can do is get a good set of tires, and throttle control.

The answer is tires

What would you recommend? Pilot Super Sports? Stock size (225/40R18) or something slightly wider (235/40R18)?

if your most concerned with forward traction look for something in the 200 tread wear or lower, and the softer the sidewall the better. falken azenis 615k fit the bill, never run them on a cobalt but i know they hook decent. toyo r888 are pretty good to, but they arent gonna be any fun in the rain.

thing is with a fwd is your not gonna get tons of traction and be able to daily drive it, its a balancing act really. to make it so you can hook at the dragstrip you need slicks, stiffen the back up (drag bags or stiff springs that raise the back end) drop the front, etc. no matter what you do, its not going to get very good traction at the strip on street tires.

if you want a dual purpose daily driver and dragstrip car i suggest an all around decent street tire and a set of slicks on other wheels and deal with swapping them at the track. along with that, drag bags are one option, but rear shocks with adjustable compression would be a huge help.

Tires Mickey Thompson ET street S/S on a different wheel like a 17x9 I'm going with 275 40 17 next should do magic but my 255 40 17 nt05 are junk on the 257exe turbo even on 93 only

If you want inexpensive, and they will wear quick, some run federal 595 rsr tires. I may try that route. Like others have said though, swapping at the track to slicks is the only way to go. Boost ramp is your friend also. I've been running the setup you are talking about and it does help, but it's always tough to hook up a light high torque car on skinny 225 street tires.

Around this time of year in detroit, ive been using 195/60-15 snow tires. Before i could spin through 4th on some roads and now i feel much safer.

Snow tires make a huge difference on a fwd car. Even over all seasons, especially on ice.

The Cobalt isn't driven in the snow at all.

Are you an lsj or lnf?
Cause drag radials at the track will break stuff
Slicks is where it’s at if you don’t want to loose the brembos you can run a m&h 17” slick
For the street on my 7163 I use 15” Mickey Thompson 235/60-15 it still spins them

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cob...01c86b1c7.jpeg


https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cob...137fc959f.jpeg

It's a 09 LNF. Would I still be spinning the slicks at the track? I do want to keep the Brembos.

Cool an Nope you will hook for sure I usually run them at 12psi

Agreed on the drag radials, if you have lots of torque.