So it's time to get some new tires, I've been running radials but Firestone 670-15 tires look bad ass. This car is my daily driver and I have airbags so I'm not too concerned about the ride quality. Are Firestone bias ply tires safe for everyday driving? I saw last month Alex Gambino had a blow out on a brand new set. I know there have been a lot of posts going back and forth about the look of radials vs bias plys, it's not the look I'm concerned about it's the quality of the tire.
I know lots of guys that put a lot of miles on them. Was it really a blowout or just a leak? Never personally seen a bias tire that wasn't a retread come apart like a thined out radial. I have seen ancient ones get as hard as charcoal and start shedding chunks here and there though.
I've been driving my 55 chevy pickup on some really old bias plys, they have to be at least 20 years old, split rims and everything, and the sides of the front tires are missing large chunks from nicking the curb when I pull into my parking spot. I have heard that the firestones are good tires though, as long as you dont run em low they would probably be fine. Once I get the money Im getting some cheater slicks for my pickup from Towel City Racing, they're retreads but Ive heard good things, they have been retreading tires for a long time and they specialize in racing retreads and I'm not planning on doing that kind of abuse to my tires. They also sell some regular tires with a vintage look. just my 2 cents
I run Firestone 670 x15 bias ply whitewall tires on my shoebox and never had a problem. Keep in mind that our roads are our not the greatest here in high traffic ca. I heard about Alex's tire and he was motoring Thru bad interstate. I drive that route in my semi truck and tires take a real beating on that highway. Keep in mind that these are made in orginal molds that have been upgraded or repaired using better materials . After thousands of tires produced there will be a few bad ones.
You can blow any new tire out. I have nothing against radio tires but I am not afraid to drive bias plys everyday. I have 7.50x16s on my bad weather vehicle and bias plys on my murder cycle. You drive a car with bias plys differently because they handle differently. Just feel it out before you go balls to the walls and you should be fine.
It was a blow out. I was driving rite behind him hauling the booth. He has adressed this problem to the VP of coker not only with the blow out but the shaking people have complained about before coming mostly from the sidewalls. We wanted to make sure they fix the problem because as many of you know, we are a dealer for them and we dont want to be selling bad tires.
It's just the musings of an Old Fart but those of us that grew up on bias ply tires remember that the old cars we love now were new cars then. The suspension systems were designed around the tires capabilities and the average car was seldom driver faster that 45MPH. Tires seldom lasted more than a year of daily driving and alignment shops were on every street corner it seemed. I remember when the Humble gas stations started selling the new Atlas "no squeal" Bucron tires that looked like a drag slick and the rubber was so soft you could burn them up in a weekend.
I had 670-15 Firestones on my '50 for many years on the very rough roads of Chicago and had them up to 70-80mph on a few occassions. I never had a problem, but the car was far from a daily driver. I bought them from Coker. I would say that the problem with running them on a daily driver is that if you do get an unrepairable flat, you're going to be waiting a few days for a replacement
Your 54 is NOT safe, it has a full frame, no crumple zone, front drums, no seat belts, . . . . . . . Kidding aside, the radials have a radius on the corners & bias dont, so bias get caught in the cracks/lines on the freeway, no big deal just 2 hands the steering wheel & a little more attention. Now if your talking about the ReCall of 2001, well that's a different debate. The move came amid intense pressure from major tire retailers, safety advocates and government regulators to pull the tires after receiving reports that the tires may be linked to as many as 46 deaths and hundreds of accidents. It poses the risk of millions of dollars in costs and lost sales for the company. The reports to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration allege Firestone treads peel off their casings, sometimes while the vehicles are traveling at high speeds. Company officials said they do not know the cause of the problem, but are confident that whatever the problem, it is isolated to the tires being recalled. Garry Crigger, the company's executive vice president said heat could be a contributing factor. "The vast majority of incidents are in the southern states of Arizona, California, Florida and Texas, which suggests there may be a direct correlation between heat and tire performance," Crigger said. "Most of the incidents we have reviewed indicate improper maintenance or damage to the tires, which is often caused by under-inflation of tires. Under-inflated operation of any tire generates excessive heat, which can lead to tire failure." The recall covers size P235/75R15 in all the ATX, ATXII and some Wilderness AT tires that are currently in use on some of the nation's most popular SUVs. The tires have been original equipment on Ford, General Motors, Toyota, Nissan and Subaru vehicles for several years, but most accidents reported to traffic safety officials have involved the best selling Ford Explorer. An estimated 60-to-70 percent of the recalled tires are on the Explorer and its twin Mercury Mountaineer models. Mounting safety concerns prompted Discount Tire, Montgomery Ward and Sears Roebuck and Co. to stop selling the tires in the last week. But an official with Ford Motor Co. (F: Research, Estimates) said they have confidence in Firestone and that the recall addresses any possible problems. The company said 14.4 million of the tires have been produced since 1990, and that estimated 6.5 million are still on the road. None of the tires being recalled has been shipped from January, and a Ford official who appeared at the Firestone news conference said she believed none of new vehicles now on dealer lots has been affected. The recall is the second largest in U.S. history, trailing only a recall of 14.5 million tires by Firestone in 1978. That recall nearly put the company into bankruptcy and led to the subsequent purchase by Japan's Bridgestone Corp. in 1990. Company officials would not estimate the cost of the latest recall, but admitted it would be "substantial."
I've never had any problems with my bias ply tires. Have to admit with growing up on radials(I'm 37) that there was a slight learning curve when I switched to the bias. Once I got used to the whole following the cracks thing, i love them...least on my hot rod.
Nothing wrong with Firestone's,think about it,when I was grown up no one ever heard of radials. I've put thousands of miles on bias plys. I have driven my 81 year old pickup thousands of miles with no problem.HRP
I drive my 60 yr. old truck with bias on it all the time and never had any tracking problems. Not really much different than any car I'ver ever driven with radials besides just naturally being a rough old truck of course. Considering is just a beat up old truck with no power steering, etc. it seems to ride perfectly fine on bias tires. I don't get the whole bias tires following cracks thing. I don't seem to have an issue with that. Maybe being an old truck it is so rough it doesn't matter or maybe just lucky I guess. I don't have any tracking problems though, that is for sure. And am I missing something, Firestone doesn't make radials now?
remember the firestone 721 radials ,turns out they had a huge problem with separation---before that was public knowledge i put a new set on my burb for vacation---when the first one let go it was so violent i changed lanes before i could regain control and slow down---all 4 blew before i got home---no more firestones for me...
If they make a line of tire you can live with .... Cooper Tires American made by union workers .... That is what I run down the road on Jim
We have Firestone and Ford to thank for the TPM systems...... Well I like the TPM system on my '07 GMC - can check all 4 tire pressures any time on the dash read-out. Only good thing I bought at Firestone was my steering wheel bike in the '70's.....
Hmm. I was just talking about this with a couple friends. One, who is 28 has never driven on bias ply tires, and is hesitant to try. The other is my age (59) and commented, "gee, for 70 years bias WAS tires". I agree, I don't get all the modern trepidation about bias ply! I never had any real tire trouble and bias tires lasted a reasonable time. I agree radials are superior, but I don't get the paranoia!
the 6.70 firestone tires your thinking of buying from coker belong to coker. they bought the rights to them along time ago. they are made in the U.S. Yes they do ride different than a radial but ive had radials on my 40 chevy (daily driver) before and without power steering, it was a pain in the ass turning the car unless I was already driving down the road. I decided to put firestone bias plys on the car and I can turn the wheel with one hand in the parking lot. Oh and they look a million times better! Just my preference of style.
they are safe it was a leak by the time i got to the side of the road it went flat there THERE SAFE as any other tire ive been threw 5 SETS , yes 5 sets of tires on my car . ive had one blow out and it wasnt even a blow out it went flat on the side of the road and once a piece or chunk of tred came of a rear tire and once i broke a ball jiont it wasnt a tire problem at all i would not run any other tire on my car firestones forever what i have come to learn is these tire MUST be mounted and ballance at a tire shop that has a newer ballancing machine that the tec will be able to zero out the wheel they will even tell you the best way to mount the tire on the wheel i was at coker in fresno yesturday i brought the 670s i already had mounted and ballance were i normanly have it done for the merc were building , just to see if they were done correctly , and i picked up 4 brand new 670s for my car and had patrick over at coker check the other 4 and mount and ballance the 670s for my car . the tires for the merc only one was done correctly . the 4 tires i was replacing NONE were mounted corectly , the done right now patrick zeroed out all 8 tires bias plys have been around for ever , are they gona run as good as radias proably not , but if you are gona run them i would think you would want to get the best performance out of them by having them mounted correctly you can evan take it a step furthere by having the tred trued . ive never had a problem with bias plys yes theyll track like a motor cycle and catch a grove but thye look is more impaortant than the ride AND THE RIDE AINT THAT BAD it realy pisses me of were as every one has there opion about this and thatt BUT do they run or have they ran bias plys you have a lot of arm chair cowboys on here i dont think any one on here drives there car more than me so unless youve realy put some miles under your belt with these tires shut the fuck up most of the time the responsise have nothing to do with the topic i will end this with if you want a good ride and comfort buy a new caddalac 670 firestones forever raidials on custom cars SUCK man up
I will probably go with the 670-15 Firestones. I feel they look too bad ass to pass up and I'll see how they do in June on our trip to Ink-N-Iron. Thanks for the info.
They are safe *enough*. Tire engineering's come a very long way - as far as any other aspect of vehicle engineering - in the past 60 years. A modern tire lasts much longer under much more severe conditions than was the case in 1955. So if you want to run an old tire design, fine do it and enjoy. But don't expect modern tire behavior or durability. As far as Firestone goes, they are now a division of Brigestone and their current products are basically Bridgestones. They were good in the '60s, they did some great pioneering fabric radials in the '60s and early '70s then failed completely with mass market steel belted radials in the mid '70s
Im with Alex. Firestone 6.70s on my taildraggin 47 Chevy. Firestone 16 x 7.50/5.25 blackwalls on my roadster Firestone 16 x 7.50/5.25 whitewalls on my 3W All these cars will never run anything but bias. Radials look totally shit on hot rods/customs. It makes me laugh when people complain about a bias tire's characteristics. Too used to driving late model cars means most are comparing apples to bananas. As far as any ride/handing issues go - get real, the roads we are on now and light years better than anything most drove on when these cars were new. To me, the tires give that cars one of the most important things that new cars lack - SOUL. DRIVE the bloody cars - don't try to make your "old car" drive like a new one and put you asleep at the wheel. If I wanted that Id jump in a soccer mum's SUV. Geez....
What the hell dose this have to do with his question FIRESTONE doesn't even make the tires he's asking about ?
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