History Bias versus radials...Oh noo!! Not again!!!

Well since the tread is about worn out, I'm running bias plys of a different sort, Mickey Thompson Indy Profile N50-14s on the back of my 1,500lb. heap. Here's one with the valve core removed! The original run flat tire.I've been running 15lbs. in them lately.

 

Good thing I build my cars for myself, I'd have way too much to worry about trying to please you jokers.

 

I like chrome

 

I believe Beaner is full of traditional air
[emoji851]

 

Me too! And black paint! And drama!

 

Oh for fucks sake do we need a new one of these threads ever week? Really?! Jesus 900 pages of people bitching over this same question wasn’t enough?

 

But you love me still don't ya?

Funny thing I know where there is a gasser '55 that was built and raced in the '70s that has been sitting since '75 and the tires are still holding air. Just in case anyone ever joins a '70s traditional street beast site I can get you the real air.

 

bias for me... but i might be a little biased

 

Damn... I guess I'll jump in.

I think part of the reason radials get a bad rap is some folks don't get the proportions right. I live in the middle of downtown and I tend to like round tires so I run radials.

I might give bias a try on the next car although I'll probably hate them.

These are all radial cars.

 

You can tell they are all radial cars... That's the problem .

 

Heres a nice way to round this conversation out with
A nice set of Traditional Baldies with No doubt very Traditional time capsuled air...

Ohhh the stories they could tell...



Hamber @Adam M.'s
cool project

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/adams-30-roadster-shed-find-av8-build-thread.635617/

Adam I hope ya kept those they are very nicely balanced
for conversation...

​

 

We need some photos from "back in the day" of roadsters with a bald snow tire on the left front. Cause, you know, that's how it was done. ;-)

 

Bias? Radial? Add zinc to the oil? Ethanol vs non-ethanol? Like the whole car the use and combination needs to be assessed 1st. I have radials on the 47 Packard Super Clipper. A rather large car with sway bars AND a Panhard bar with a shock in the end of it. At something a bit over 2 tons and low center of gravity the radials may be a genuine improvement. Why do I have em? Full disclosure, they were there when I got it and are brand new. Would I have done it? Probably, because they're 15" wheels and I'd have gone blackwall and I could have sourced them immediately at the local level. Probably woulda had road hazard and free balance/rotation thrown in the mix too. All good reasons? One more reason, lower price. I have 2 more cars, a 39 Ford std Tudor and a 65 GTO. The Ford? Bias ply old school tires since it came that way, my buddy put nice big 7.00s on the back already and I have a pair of new 6.00s for the front already. No tires? Still would have gone the same way. I have no plans for pro solo time trials or any high speed gymnastics on the interstate. How will I avoid the dreaded grooved road boogie? Proper inflation. Proper inflation. Yeah, said it twice. Like our modern drivers are all O/D equipped and we've been "conditioned" to a certain feel at certain speeds, so too are we conditioned to inflate tires at something over 32 PSI or whatever the max inflation is on the sidewall. Not all of us but many. Proper inflation was 28-32 PSI cold. I tend to go right to 30 and on the big Classics 32 in the front (those damn engines are heavy!). It's all about the contact patch. At 32+ PSI on our light hot rods that patch gets smaller as the tire heats up, smaller yet at speeds of 65-70. Now we have this motorcycle contact patch under a 3000lb car, well it has no choice but to act like a bike on a drawbridge, right? Of course proper suspension specs and tight steering can stave off those effects but simply dropping the pressure a wee bit makes a huge difference. Even so, someone who's set up a light weight modern V8 hot rod who's planned use is thousands of high speed interstate miles annually? I guess a radial is a benefit for all the reasons they're used on today's cars. Sometimes style has to be tempered a bit in the interest of secure handling.

Oh shit, the GTO, I almost forgot. I have 2 sets of "day 2" wheels. ET 5 spokes and Ansen Sprints. Radials on the ETs, bias on the Ansens. I'll run the Ansens for the local cruise nights, the ETs for the longer rides. I may need some extra tires for the 8 1/2" Ansen rears. I do indeed plan to smoke em up a time or 10...

Thanks for reading the whole thing if you did. And thanks to all the Veterans here today on our country's Veteran's Day.

 

I did...excellent rant and I second the Happy Veterans Day!

 

I'm building a 56 Chevy to a style that is a touch more modern than the HAMB accepts, the tires in that era could have gone bias or radial. I found pro-trac 235\70-15's (bias) for the rear but can't seem to locate a suitable bias for the front. They are either taller than the rears or too narrow for the wheels I'm running (7") . So I guess it's" too modern" looking radials to me.