The Dodge Challenger Demon‘s 800-plus-horsepower supercharged Hemi might be the most apparent key to the automobile’s hypercar-rivaling velocity claims, however as any sprinter who’s ever attempted to work on an ice rink knows, all the power worldwide won’t do you any good if you do not have traction. The Demon’s sticky drag radial tires-specially-made 315/40/18 units on all 4 corners, seemingly to offer drivers who select the Demon Crate and its slim front tires an extra pair of drive wheels when they hit the strip-play an essential role in assisting the Dodge blast through the quarter-mile fast enough to require the NHRA to need it load a roll cage before contending.
However those grippy tires and the wheels that use them come with a caution: They’re too damn huge for the Dodge Challenger’s assembly line.
As per Fiat Chrysler Automobiles representative Kristin Starnes, the 315 millimeter-wide drag radial tires are too broad for the assembly line where the Demon is made along with other Challengers, in addition to the Dodge Charger and the Chrysler 300. Rather, as caught in these images published online, the vehicle works its way through the assembly line on short-term SRT wheels; the production Demon rims and Nitto drag radials are then set up at the upfit center in Redford Township, Michigan, where the vehicles are readied for their journey to car dealerships.
However as the folks on social medias mentioned, there’s another potential issue with the drag radials that might impact the Demon: Those tires really don’t like the cold winter. Not only do they lose grip as the mercury falls, the soft rubber can crack in below-freezing temperature levels, efficiently ruining the tires. Sadly, the Demon-like all Dodge Challengers-is made in Brampton, Ontario. As in Canada. As in, “The Great White North.”
Thankfully, the Demon is heading out the world in the late spring, when such temperature levels are less of an issue but even if it’s almost June.
