Every street/strip car Ive owned over the years has had wide bias plies and skinny radials and I never had any adverse handling issues, but they werent driven alot in the rain, and I didnt try to throw them into corners.
I had an O/T 68 LTD Crown Vic 2dr ht that had radials on the front and bias on the back, It seemed to handle well until one day it had just started to rain, not hard, but a strong mist. Anyway, I had a guy come left of center on a narrow country road. Once he had p***ed, as I came back off the shoulder and onto the pavement, it was all over with. Car shot left violently, and climbed a hill on the other side of the road and landed with the wheels in the air. Actually slid down the road about 100 feet on the roof too, and I was only going 45 mph, just before the guy was coming at me. It was a nice car, but totalled once it was over with.
Our family fleet included a 70 Maverick. I bought a pair of used radials from a co-worker for 3 bucks each and put them on the front. I was warned that if mixing radials and bias ply, that the radials should go on the back. I didn't listen. The car was fine going straight but a handful on sweeping turns. It would push on entry then get very loose. It didn't take long for me to move the radials to the rear. It handled fine after that.
I was going to ask the same thing? I only ever met one cousin that I still like today. She was a kissing cousin.
Back when the US makers started offering them the guidance was; buy a set of 4, but if you have to mix em never mix on the same axle and always put the radials on the rear.
Just driving down the road the car shouldn't be scary to drive with the tires mixed. If it is, I would look elsewhere for a problem. Where a problem would be noticed is when the car is pushed closer to its limits of braking or cornering. At that point the tire's different characteristics will become apparent.
it's like jumping off a pier without knowing how deep the water is,,,,,,,,millions of people have done it with varying results, me, I'm not a big gambler..JMO
If your dumb enough to claim me that makes us identical cousins. Here's the deal, someone said they didn't like it when they ran 'em that way and someone else said they did. Evidently an engineer said its dangerous. No doubt they did a study and maybe even tried it in practical application to prove their point. They probably just did a study. I think done correctly it can be as safe as more than the majority of what we see on the road on a dailey basis. A lot of it probably depends on the car and the condition of the tires them selves. Radial tires the plys shift or even break and they become as dangerous as hell. Something to bear in mind is that radial tires are worn out long before the tread is gone as a rule. They won't take the abuse that a bias ply tire will take. Maybe a better way to say it is that they are not as forgiving. You have to maintain proper tire pressure in them if you don't want them to do bad things to you. Here is an example, how many remember the Ford Explorers busting tires and flipping and killing people. They blamed it on the Bridgstone tires that came on them stock, the reason that the tire was overheating and comming apart was not because of bad manufacturer on the tire company's part. The early Explorer rode like a lumber wagon and the way that Ford overcame the problem was to run a bigger tire with less air in it. If they had been running bias plys that could have gotten away with that, not with a radial. Ok I said all that to say this, we want to run them on our rods, the rod is lightened up to the max and the springs are a little stiff so one of the things that we do is run our tires a little softer. Two reasons one we think it gives us better traction the other is ride quality. A bias ply won't like it but it will hold up, the radial won't like it either but it won't hold up it will do one of two things, the plys will break or the tire will come apart. Neither is good at speed and when you have bias plys on one end and radials on the other it will no doubt be blamed on the tire combo. well off the box. next?
Well I've done both combinations with out problems over the last 40 years or so with no issues. 145r15 front N50-15 rear T roadster with a pretty warm 400 SBC ,now 500X16 Dirt ribs front 225-75R 16 rear on my current T. And quite a few others over the years. I do not try for max cornering with any of my cars however,that would be were issues would appear.
It's interesting to note that the majority of people who say they have combined radials with bias plies......and also say they had no issues.....cite vehicles that are far outside the normal use that is anticipated. For example, several T Bucket drivers and a few drag cars, both of which are atypical vehicles. In each of these types, they have relatively huge/wide rear tires and quite small/narrow front tires. Also, it is questionable that whether the weight distribution is anywhere near the normal 52/48 neigborhood common to front engine rear drivers. On the other hand, most of the people who have admitted to spooky handling problems were driving cars of more typical proportions, weight distribution and nearer to evenly matched tire and rim sizes. So, unscientific as it may be, from the anecdotal evidence, I would think it is fair to conclude that the experts were/are correct. At best, it is not prudent to mix radials and bias ply tires and, at worst, it can be very dangerous if not deadly. Ray
porkn******, Man I like your style. Clearly stated in good layman's terms makes it easy to understand.... great advice.
Yep, Jerome, that's my car...and yes I have bias ply in the front and radials in the rear. I ran the car with radials all around for 3 years, but wanted the look with the bias plys and sombreros. The way I have the rear suspension is set up, I couldn't get a short enough bias ply for the rear and stillbe able to keep the height where I want it, so I went with that. Bottom line is I drive the $hit out of the car...ask around, and it still handles great with the combo at all speeds...and thats aggresive highway also. I tow a Scotty camper behind it and still no issue at all with a bunch of miles on it. So to answer your question...I have aload of positive experience with the combo...and say BS to anyone who "heard" it doesn't work. I will say, I can't speak to the reverse combo with radials in the front and bias ply in the rear...but I "heard" we should avoid that combo. Keith
I ran bias on front and radials on back for years ,While I was growing up,Buying tires was not an option ,Pepboys had the best deal on wide radials and I always scored used like new bias for the front ,But that was 20 years ago.Ive heard rear radials and front bias would push you into a turn harder ,But I never had any problems, The rear halibrands on the roadster have been with me since I was 22 and there the one that had pepboys tires,
Say BS all you want to...it ONLY applies to YOUR experience with YOUR car. Numerous other people, including several who have posted here, have had an opposite result. Your car, nice as it appears to be, is another significantly modified car which likely has a bearing on the results you have experienced. The advice of tire experts still seems valid for the majority of vehicle applications. Ray
Every application is different...meaning the condition of the car, the condition of the tires, and how the combo is applied. All I was really saying is...if all is applied properly AS IT SHOULD...the combo works fine!
I've read most of these posts and skimmed the rest. Now I have to say when I was a younger man and it was a struggle to keep the babies fed, I ran anything that would hold air long enough to get me the next paycheck. That means any mix of radials and/or bias on any corner of the car. Obviously there were no I'll effects. I'm still here! The worst handling problems always occurred when they quit holding air.
I personally had Radials on the front and Bias Plys on the back of a 1935 Ford Pickup. The truck was really light in the rear. so light that when I had the rear on jack stands and the rims and tires off, I could lift the rear and re-position it on the jack stands by grabbing the bed and lifting. It ran fine... unless on grooved pavement when the back wanted to track into the grooves. It really didnt do it often, in fact only a couple of times. But It would sometimes catch on the grooves or expansion cracks that went with the flow of traffic on concrete road ways (not asphalt). It was fine a 75-80 mph on the highway but those are asphalt around here so I never had a problem. Surprised me the 1st time, but after that I was prepared for it and it wasn’t a big deal. Really only happend with any regualr re-occurance on a certain strip of road over a bridge in a 45mph zone that I can honestly remember it pulling and suprising me. My wife didn’t like it though.
I ran bias ply and a radial up front on a 53 Chevy. Never noticed any ill effects although the car was pretty hashed so for the most part I stayed under 45 mph. I also drove almost exclusively on gravel as well so that may have hid alot of issues too. Might be a little tough to tell in this picture but the one tire is quite a bit wider than the other.
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