Ok- can somebody give me the skinny on this issue? I am buying wheels/tires. I'm really digging the way that a vintage Bias tire looks on a narrow wheel- but how do they perform these days? I have heard that the "new" bias tires are alot different. i live in the desert, so not worried about wet traction- but the '58 is a hefty ride.
well almost everyone here runs bias tires so you aren't gonna get my replies saying to run radials. I vote for bias plys as well. Have any friends that you could borrow some tires from and take a test drive?
The quick rundown: -Lack grip, dry or wet -Very sensitive to air pressure -Find the grooves in the road and stay in them -Wear at east 3x as fast as radials -Look awesome -Perform like **** -Cheaper than radials BTW, cute puns.
The one thing that I haven't seen many people say, so may add a little to this thread... My bias plies we old (Sears), but when I had to trade them in for a set of radials, I missed the way they tracked. It takes a while to get used to the road handling characteristics though.
I believe heavy cars work pretty good with bias tires. Let's face it, that's what they were designed with. Bias tires are stiffer in the sidewalls than radials, so the extra weight makes them work. of course, I could be completely wrong...... what do I know?
I had a set on my 56 Poncho and drove it all over Hell and back.Other than the road walk they do fine .Plus they look 100 times better than Radial on a real hotrod ." Form before Function " is what my friend tells me all the time...
Seldom mentioned in these radial vs bias post is the sound during a burnout. Radials sound a bit gravelly, low pitch growly sound. Now the bias tires will scream like a girl when you get them spinning. The little chirps are a better sound too. Steve
the saying is form follows function which really doesnt apply here. meaning if its works well it looks good.
Bingo! I have bias on my Plymouth and radials on my wife's Desoto and her Buick. That being said...radials are for girls! ******Knuckles
On a big heavy old car you will find the steering much lighter with bias ply tyres. The cars we love were designed to run on bias ply. To those whose who go on about handling etc back in the day our mothers and grandmothers drove on them fine and didn't have problems......were their driving skills better than yours?
Everyone who thinks they need radials, disk brakes, heated coffee cup holders, etc. for "safety" needs to see that.
they didn't know any difference and didn't have any choice. they used to crank start model a's and t's also. i ain't doing that either. you forgot overdrive and a/c. i have those too. don't need heated coffee cup holders though, cause, wal-mart has heated coffee cups that plug into the cigarette lighter.
I like the squushy look....I had 13" Bias on my 65 Dart...9" drum brakes you know all the good stuff. Boy did it drive like ****. It was unsafe. All over the road and wouldn't stop. Changed to 14" radials and that was a great improvement...then rebuilt the front end and installed disk brakes and put on a anti-sway bar. She is a smooth drivin' machine now. Stops without fade..doesn't wander all over the road...just depends on what you want. Out of control missile or a controlled missile...
No, that logic is absolutely retarded. So, your mother and grandmother went 85mph down the freeway in the left lane on her cell phone late for a power lunch? Times are different man, way different. Our cars were designed for leaded gas and kids played with broken thermometer mercury. Big hits Im sure. With scientific research comes better living, applied science...technology. So, these cars didnt come with seat belts. Had they, they could have possibly kept someone from going thru the panoramic windshield to thier ****** death. If given the choice, do you think they would have chosen ****** death or seatbelts? Prolly the latter, but they werent around yet. If someone had just gotten into a nasty car crash due to ****ty brake fade and someone said I can offer you the opportunity not to have that, with disc brakes, and do it all over again...who wouldnt? But, they were not available in the m***es then. Point is there are reasons new cars have discs, radials, fuel injection, yadi yadi yadi. Flying the flag of the way it was was fine doesnt fly. The age old "they were designed for the bias tire" is idiotic too. Did we have such a plethora of radial hoops to choose from in the 50's but the research engineers went with bias for a "traditional hotrod or custom" look? No way man, it was what was available. This is the same ******** you see in the SBC bashing threads. If the forefathers of hotrodding could have 400 hp out of an easily attainable engine for pennies on the dollar, they would have. They didnt, so they went with big antiquated mills instead. Rant over, but if you want performance go radial, if looks and ****ty driveability are what you are after, go bias. In my future I have 2 cars I really wanna build when I get to it...a 51 Merc driver w/ all the power goodies and disc brakes, and radials, and a 49 with a flathead that I would NEVER put radials on. But, I understand which positives and negatives come with both.
Hmmmmm.......... you swapped tires BEFORE fixing the brakes and suspension???? Have you tried the bias plys AFTER that???? I know the radials will ride better, but would be interesting to know "how much" better..... Not fair to blame the tires for "other" problems....... Nice lil' Dart....
Hey, I personally don't drink alot of coffee, or talk on the cell phone and drive 70mph in the hammer lane, when I drive my old truck, I can barely hear myself think with the engine noise and pipes. I don't want it any other way... either. And there for drum brakes and no power steering and bias tires my granny drove em and I doubt she drank coffee or talked on her cell phone either. I think people should quit all these stupid things and just drive the damn car and we might not need seatbelts or stupid laws, or airbags because I'm sure their would be a hell of alot less accidents if dumb people would quit taking advantage of "safety features" and use the safety feature god gave them. But whatever
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