push me off the fence...bias or radial?????

I've driven many miles on both kinds. Remember what an improvement those first radials were on a small sports sedan (BMW 2002) several (!) years back! Ran radials since then on various daily drivers. So I thought long and hard about this and decided on WW bias for our fenderless roadster project. Big & littles. We went for the period look/attitude and expect to just live with the bias handling traits. Don't expect sports car handling from the roadster anyway.................

 

Absolutely correct! On my hauler, which has about 50K miles on the eight-ply 7.50-15 bias-plies on it now, the tires are in great shape and have no weather-cracking, either! I like the bias plies on trailers and older cars. My Terraplane has Coker www tires on it, and they are great!

 

I recently went with bias ply on my truck. It's an everyday, rain or shine driver. Granted, the ride's a little rougher than the radials I had on it, but I've had no problem with it hooking up or its road handling.But, I'm not running 300 horsepower either... My main concerns were how it handled in the rain (I could see no change) and how it stopped (Again, I noticed no great difference, but I've been driving old stuff all my life and brake accordingly). My driving is mostly rural with a 24 mile roundtrip commute. The worst issue I've had with the bias plys thus far is that they've dropped my gas mileage around 2 mpg. For the looks, I'd go bias ply unless I were planning on a lot of long distance driving

 

Surest way to kill the looks on a neat car is to put radial tires on it-period. If thats what your shootin for, order up the radials. Bias plies drive just fine. This "if your gonna drive it far distances you gotta run radials" mentality is a fuckin riot. Funny how on a site like this , I will probably get flamed with this opinion-what the fuck happened anyway??

 

if my wife can drive her 65 Coronet with bias then enough said............oh and its a daily driver.............

 

Says it all, worth reading one more time..........

 

when we were kids my mum always had bias becuase radials were dearer and we all lived, even on long trips but things must be different today because I overheard a salesman in the showroom at work the other day explaining to a customer that the other car they were looking at from another brand was dangerous because the side airbag was in the door and not the seat, he explained if the seat was moved to far back or forward the airbag may not give adequate protection and someone could loose their life just to save a few bucks so i guess all cars are death traps except the latest line from mercedes benz.
we are all here by fluke and somehow amazingly we didnt all die travelling in the back of mums death trap with no airbag in the seat, no airbag in front, no crumble zone, no ABS and likely not even radials let alone todays high tech directional wide low profile tyres.
back in the seventies our local brand "holden" was re engineered with rts (radial tuned suspension), this ment the car had suspension set up for radial tyres instead of bias ply, i wonder if you get the full advantage of radials on old cars, some cars actually drive better on bias like early bentleys.
a mate of mine had a almost simular car with the same suspension modified the exact same way, i often drove his car, he was always happy to let me drive it since he knew no one else that could, he had bias and i had radials, he reckoned that his was more fun with the bias becuase you could easily flick the back out but i could barely tell the difference, even on the highway.
one thing i did notice once is you cant put radial up front and bias down the back, not sure why but when i did it it was the scariest drive ever and near impossible to keep in one lane, i guess the rear sidewalls flex and the front dont and when you try and take up the flex at the rear with the steering wheel the rear sidewalls flex the other way becuase i couldnt drive in a straight line, not so bad but with 4 bias tyres

 

the site says that the Hurst are recaps...don't know about on cars,. but i work on semi's...and a recap peelin ain't my idea of a good time...besides the body damage it could do...Diamond Back makes a radial pie cut cheater...i been trying to find some feedback on them...i don't think they are recaps....

so far the general opinion here is if i'm gonna drive it all over like i plan, buy radials...most of the replies about how "good" bias ply tires are from truck and huge ass sedan owners here...THINK LITE~!!!!!! THINK SHORT WHEEL BASE~!!!!!!! my topo is anything but heavy..and i had a 53 willys 4x4 truck ..on bias ply....it sucked to drive compared to the radials i put on it...

thanks for all the opinions, and the time everyone took to reply...guess it's just a matter of cool or comfort..........so probably cool till i get it ready for the long haul over the road...maybe....still going to look into the "traditional style" radials that Diamond back produces.....

 

How many pairs of shoes do you have or do you wear? Get a bunch of wheel and tire combos man and pic an' choose for your drive! It also helps you buy the next temptation because you already have the wheels and tires. It's an illogical way of collecting cars, but it works, I'm up to 12 already! I'm partial to era correct.

 

I got Coker bias tires on my Hot Rod. No complaints here, even on long hauls.

 

So true.
BIAS!

 

If want to drive it any where any weather any road you need a RADIAL TIRE

 

Do I have to offer an opinion or can I just push you off the fence for the sheer fun of it?


OK - Lotsa driving = radials
Cool factor = bias

 

I had a 67 Chevelle SS with bias plies. It looked fantastic with the original style wheels and tires. I only drove it for 500 miles or so every summer though. Definitely a different driving experience on bias. When I saw similar cars with radials, I never thought they looked quite right. I think on a more traditional rod they would stand out even more. I wouldn't go with radial unless I was driving a tremendous amount, and in all kinds of weather. Bias for me on my next car. Sounds like a nice car you've got. Good luck.

 

BIAS !
Most of us started with bias and drove them until we were forced to use the radial ! Then nothing but problem with them . Bias has been around forever and when I had them on my 69 Dodge Super Bee the bias tire stuck to the race track & road just fine right down to the COARDS !! I have them on my 55 Ford & when my 37 Plymouth pickup is finished , I have 2-Bias M/T on Ansen mags ready to go on !

 

RADIALS!...

Also, don't forget to add power steering, independent suspension, and air conditoning... so you can be even more comfortable while driving.

 

Put radials on it and drive the hell out ofit....+

 

A light car can easily work with the bias tires. My roadster has 'em and behaves really well. I do think modern technology has helped the life of them. The little car doesn't grab the grooves in the road on the interstates. The only concern I have with them is they do get hot in the summer, extended 80 mph driving really heats them up. I worry about having them chunk out like what happens to the rolling bones guys on the B'ville trips.
When I had Ancient bias tires on my 54 210 it was all over the road. New radials really helped it, but new Bias might have also been good. The radials just get warm, not hot in the summer.

I'm no help at all

 

Call me an old lady if you want but I run radials on my open wheel coupe. I drive the daylights out of her.

 

I'm bias to this question...

 

There are supposedly some old style bias-looking radials out there.
I was struck by the change in behavior of my old rod, going to Firestone radials from bias in '72. The car simply changed personality. It did feel easier to drive, and gripped well in cornering. Today building a lightweight car, I am looking for the type first mentioned above.

 

for looks - bias

for performance - radials

I push my car whenever I'm behind the wheel and just picked up a good 10mph in a certain set of "S" curves by switching to radials. Now of course I have a wider foot print and wider rims with the radials than the bias. I sure didn't throw away the bias though because I dig that look too and plan to swap them back and forth.