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Technical bias vs radial ?

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by flyn schlosser, May 20, 2016.

  1. flyn schlosser
    Joined: Oct 13, 2014
    Posts: 257

    flyn schlosser
    Member
    from phelan, ca

    Going to purchase today or tomorrow either 750/16 for the rear and 550/16 for the front .either im buying the radial excelsiors from coker or the the firestones bias from coker .The bias are much cheaper .Im sure this has been beat to death but looking for opinions. Probably going to order thru summit cant beat the free shipping .
     
  2. Jalopy Joker
    Joined: Sep 3, 2006
    Posts: 31,179

    Jalopy Joker
    Member

    make your own decision on this - look at quality, etc and not just price - or, do a search here on this subject - lots of opinions - only you know what is best for your ride
     
  3. tazareno
    Joined: Jul 21, 2010
    Posts: 49

    tazareno
    Member

    You asked for it.... A fender less car "needs" bias or it don't look right.

    But radials are far superior in every performance aspect compared to bias.
     
    Hollywood-East and Squablow like this.
  4. arkiehotrods
    Joined: Mar 9, 2006
    Posts: 6,803

    arkiehotrods
    Member

    I have always had good luck with bias ply tires. They don't last as long as radials, and you can't corner like Parnelli Jones, but I drove only on bias ply until the mid-80s when I got an OT car with radials, and they work just fine. Looks-wise, I prefer bias ply.
     

  5. 117harv
    Joined: Nov 12, 2009
    Posts: 6,589

    117harv
    Member

    Ryan
    ADMINISTRATOR
    from Austin, TX
    Staff Member

    Bias ply. Nothing else should be considered no matter the circumstances.

    From The Desk Of
    Ryan Cochran
     
    Hitchhiker, lbcd, low-n-slo54 and 5 others like this.
  6. 3banjos
    Joined: May 24, 2008
    Posts: 480

    3banjos
    Member
    from NZ

    Either way, good luck receiving 4 that spin true. They seem to get the 750's right but the 500 range can vary.
     
    bondolero likes this.
  7. What are they going on and if you mix radials the radials go on the rear.

    The excelsiors are a trendy race car type of tire. I like the look but they would never do two things for me, one is they would never fit the era or type of build that I do and two is that they would never fit in my budget.

    You really can't tell by looking that the excelsiors are radials, they look sort of like an old indy tire. And you are absolutely wrong radials are not superior in every aspect of performance to bias ply tires they don't perform better and MOPAR Muscle magazine actually proved back in the '90s that on a car that was not properly prepped for radials they actually performed at lower efficiency that the proper bias plys in nearly every test.
     
    Last edited: May 20, 2016
  8. flyn schlosser
    Joined: Oct 13, 2014
    Posts: 257

    flyn schlosser
    Member
    from phelan, ca

    I agree there expensive either way i go . Thank you
     
  9. 32 Spitfire
    Joined: Dec 26, 2008
    Posts: 997

    32 Spitfire
    Member

    I recently changed the bias Firestone to Excelsior (NO TUBES!) on my Coupe and just pulled in from lunch today telling my good friend Doug I really like the improved ride and superb handling of the radials. I still have the Firestone Bias on my 32 Roadster for more local cruising but my plans and driving are much different in the coupe. Love both for different reasons.

    32 Spitfire - High Noon Speed Shop

    http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/a-bootleggers-morning.993897/#post-11199293


    rz32coupeP1010562.JPG
     
    Last edited: May 20, 2016
    arkiehotrods and flyn schlosser like this.
  10. ^^ My feelings exactly, running around locally and burning rubber bias ply tires are great. If you want to get out on the road and cover some real miles radials might be a better bet.
     
  11. Squablow
    Joined: Apr 26, 2005
    Posts: 17,390

    Squablow
    Member

    You already have radials on your coupe and they look wrong. That was the whole point. A slightly different size isn't going to change that.

    Sure, it could be argued that the radials will handle better. But a new Toyota minivan will handle better too, so why not drive one of those? Because they're dorky looking.

    At some point, we have to admit to ourselves that a lot of what we do is going for a look more than it's going for absolute performance.

    Get the Firestones and make the car look right. It'll still ride and drive plenty good.
     
  12. Blues4U
    Joined: Oct 1, 2015
    Posts: 7,589

    Blues4U
    Member
    from So Cal

    Around here, the freeways are all covered with rain grooves, which play hell with bias ply tires. They seem to just float on those surfaces, giving you horrible feedback, and the car wanders around inside the lane a lot. Same thing happens on a bike with bias ply tires, and on a bike it's a real unsettling feeling. You get used to it, but you never like it. I haven't tried the Excelsiors yet, I don't know how they react to the rain grooves.

    I know in the old days when we went from bias ply tires on our cars to the then new BF Goodrich TA Radials, the world changed.
     
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  13. Blues4U
    Joined: Oct 1, 2015
    Posts: 7,589

    Blues4U
    Member
    from So Cal

    I agree that we do a lot of things for looks, but aint no Toyota minivan out handle my A. :p
     
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  14. buck 32
    Joined: Oct 16, 2014
    Posts: 183

    buck 32
    Member
    from Maryland

    I'm running excelsior 750/16 radial on the rear. 500/15 bias on the front. Love the look. Rides and handles just fine. Lots of opinions on this topic. Thats mine
     
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  15. jcmarz
    Joined: Jan 10, 2010
    Posts: 4,631

    jcmarz
    Member
    from Chino, Ca

    It's always about freeways. My brother currently has Firestone BiasPlys on his daily driver 64 C10 and he drives all over SoCal, with ease. It rides smoother, steers easier, and goes straight, a huge improvement over the previous radial tires he had on the truck. The trick to getting them like that is to break them in.
     
  16. Fitnessguy
    Joined: Sep 28, 2015
    Posts: 2,020

    Fitnessguy
    Member

    here's my new bias. now i havent driven the car obviously yet but i learned how to drive in my 56 with bias all the way around, manual brakes and strong arm steering. we aren't building Audi's and Ferrari's here! like Ryan said, gotta be bias! :cool:


    IMG_1679.JPG IMG_1681.JPG
     
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  17. flyn schlosser
    Joined: Oct 13, 2014
    Posts: 257

    flyn schlosser
    Member
    from phelan, ca

    are those 750 in the rear and 550 in the front .they look awesome
     
  18. Well your olden days were different than mine, we were playing with radials long before the radial TA. :D

    I actually got radials on my bike, it came that way and there is a stretch of road here that I still have to slow down to about 80 to run on the rain grooves same with the wife's pickup at 70-80 you just have to hang on.The whole rain groove deal really depends a lot on who gouged 'em I think.

    I used to run the rain grooves from San Jose to San Francisco all the time with radials and bias plys and *never have a problem, but there was a highway near Hollywood that just killed me I hated it.

    I remember when I was a little kid and the old man put Pirellis on the roadster. that would have been long before most of us knew what a radial was, they were not common on a American iron. Think pre AC Cobra here. There were stretches of road in the bay Area and North he hated and would bitch about the damned radials, but up the coast highway he loved 'em.

    Not a tire argument at all, just an observation.

    Hell I will probably run radials on my sedan at least until I have to buy tires then I will evaluate my situation and go from there. Just a blanket radials are better is not a valid argument, there are too many variables, wheel choice, suspension, brakes, type of driving all need to be taken into account.

    Now radials are different that is a valid argument when you are making a blanket statement.

    * there was a short stretch of 101 near San Mateo where the grooves were deep and wiggly that was a little uncomfortable. And this is 45 year old information give or take.
     
  19. My Deuce pickup had bias ply tires and I put thousands of miles on them,over 600 miles in one day.

    I have had radials on my sedan since I built it but the next set of tires will be bias ply. HRP
     
    Moriarity likes this.
  20. Blues4U
    Joined: Oct 1, 2015
    Posts: 7,589

    Blues4U
    Member
    from So Cal

    That was my misspent youth dealing with muscle cars. I think pre TA, radials were more a sporty car thing, and there were other radials out, like Goodyears, or even Kelly, Uniroyal, etc. even local Winston tires had their radials, but TA's were the king of hill for us muscle car guys, they pretty much set the performance standard the others had to measure up to. In my big block, muncie 4 speed Chevelle with low profile TA's, chopped springs, poly bushings, 1 1/4" sway bar, gas charged shocks, etc, I used to love toying with Euro sporty cars in the twisty stuff. But that kind of talk will get this thread closed, so I better shut up!
     
  21. gal6xie5
    Joined: Dec 19, 2006
    Posts: 268

    gal6xie5
    Member

    The Excelsior tires still run tubes and that is a pet peeve of mine for radials.

    The Firestone looks much better and handle well for what they are. As for them running true...We just did a set of 750X16 and 525X16 blackwalls on original rims and they balanced with little to no issue.
     
  22. LOL must have been a '64 Chevelle, there I fixed if for ya.

    The first radials I ran on a car that I owned were Continentals as I recall, 215x70x14 on an OT oldmobile. That would have been about 75 or 76. I got them from a wrecking yard in Kansas for 7 dollars apiece and all that they had was 2. My mom put radials on a '67 Chevelle in '69 they were Michelin X radials. The old man had Pirellis on the roadster before '64 I could not fathom a guess to the size. he preferred Pirellis but he said that Dunlops were also good, they was way before the steel belted era.

    Now none of this is to say that what we know to be traditional is not traditional, it is like the knee action front end on AK's roadster just something that one man did.
     
  23. denis4x4
    Joined: Apr 23, 2005
    Posts: 4,198

    denis4x4
    ALLIANCE MEMBER
    from Colorado

    Went from bias ply Excelsiors to radial Excelsiors on the roadster and it was like getting a new car! Only complaint is that there isn't a lot of tire rake. I did not pop for radial tubes....using the bias tubes without any issues.
     
  24. Baumi
    Joined: Jan 28, 2003
    Posts: 3,043

    Baumi
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    I had a set of Exelsiors, they were pretty stiff compared to normal bias plys, even with low pressure they rode quite harsh and even worse, they were badly out of round and had a bad death wobble at about 60 mph. After 10 miles on them I sold them .The fix was a set of Firestone Bias plys.They were round and balanced out fine. Just my 2 cents.
     
  25. Tim
    Joined: Mar 2, 2001
    Posts: 17,095

    Tim
    Member
    from KCMO

    Saying his existing. Radials are visually the same as excelsiors is like saying rose Anne bar is visually similar to Cindy Crawford. I'm mean they are both woman about the same age right?
     
  26. tfeverfred
    Joined: Nov 11, 2006
    Posts: 15,791

    tfeverfred
    Member Emeritus

    LMFAO
     
  27. LOL I would like to inspect the important parts to see how close they really are but given my choices I would probably lean toward rose Ann, lower maintenance and well hell I just like mine a little on the meaty side.

    Come to think of it I like my tires a little on the meaty side too, I wonder if there is any connection there.:confused::p:D
     
  28. prpmmp
    Joined: Dec 12, 2011
    Posts: 1,129

    prpmmp
    Member

    Went from bias ply to these(American Classic radial bias ply look) No comparison!! Hands down these new tires make this car a dream to drive!! If you drive alot these are the way to go!! [​IMG]IMO! Would buy again with out even thinking!! Pete
     
    bondolero, Baron, mad mikey and 3 others like this.
  29. Those are nice looking tires, I like the rubber rake you got goin on there.
     
  30. Fitnessguy
    Joined: Sep 28, 2015
    Posts: 2,020

    Fitnessguy
    Member

    7.50's in the back and 4.50's up front. think it gives it just the right rake with the suspension set up on the car. IMG_1684.JPG
     

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