Ok here's the question bias look radials I have just switched from 670 15 bias tires to these "bias look radials" and my car is terrible to drive now it's all over the road feels like it's rolling over on the sidewalls car was all over the place which is going to suck because I'm leaving Toronto on March 31st to drive to Austin for the lone star roundup has anyone noticed this or have any similar problems
Suggest you take some time and read the following thread on the HAMB... "New Coker Bias look radials" I have posted on page 10
They are stock 50 Ford wheels 6inch car was a breeze to drive with the bias tires on it I'm trying to find the write up that 28dreyer suggested I'm new on here and not very computer literate
I've recently acquired a car with 16" Coker radials that look like bias ply and the act like any other radial tire I ever had,I absolutely love them. HRP
The way I understand air pressure, the 32 or 35 psi or whatever the number is, that is listed on the side of the tire. That is the max amount that the tire can hold safely. So you would not want to exceed that number. As far as not enough air pressure, that is related to the weight/load the tire carries. my example, if the tire has only 5 pounds of air in it, really is not under inflated if its load is to hold itself up. Just saying, if the sidewall says 32, you can lower the pressure and find that 28 psi gives you the best ride, and the face of the tread sits flat on the pavement for best performance. By all means adjust the air pressure and test, see what you like. I dont think air pressure is the problem you describe though. Is there a different alignment spec for radial vrs bias? seems like we use to change the alignment depending if was running radial or bias. Will add, if the weight of your car exceeds the load limit of your tires, it may drive squirrley as the tires are basically flat. I doubt your car is that heavy.
I am going to get it realigned this week if the snow holds off it funny because my buddy chopperdown has the same tires and his car does the same thing
I'll restate my post, I put the bias look Coker's on last summer and just love them. 5.60 15 front, 8.20 15 back. 32 roadster, solid front axle, 32 psi all around. I think we changed the toe in a bit, and IIRC back in the day that was standard when you replaced bias with radials. I don't remember more or less toe in.
Tire construction means a lot. Just a little piece about off topic modern Michelin radial car tires. They have a wedge that they build into the shoulder of the tires, no other tire did this that I know of. Also did it with their semi truck tires. But this shoulder construction, imho, gives the tires the best ride and it prolongs the mileage that the tires are capable of producing before wearing out. I use to retread semi truck tire for a living. The reason why I bring this up, the wedge construction of the michelin sidewalls gives a pronounced curved appearance in the shoulder area and allows the sidewall to sorta act / flex independently for the great ride. In order to build a radial that looks like a bias tire, you want to do exactly the opposite and get a more squared shoulder. I can see some sacrifice to ride for looks here. But I would start with alignment, it should not be a monster to drive, either way.
You're experiencing the same results that most people have had changing from bias to radial. With 40+ years in the truck tire industry, this was common during the big change to radials. Your steering input takes longer to cause a reaction in the tread due to the sidewall flex inherent in radial tires. When the radial reacts, it's often after oversteer input. You will get used to it, just smaller steering corrections are needed. Don't know what your caster setting is, or if it's even adjustable, but you may try increasing positive caster. Is everything (kingpins, shackles, tierod and draglink ends, box) tight? FWIW, I've run radials (NOT Coker) on the front of my roadster for 30 years and it runs string straight, no hands for long periods. 18-20 psi, 6*+ caster, 1/16" toe-in.
Which isn't going to help IMHO. If the vehicle was good with the old tires, one would reasonably expect the new tires to be the problem. Do you still have the old tires or were they worn out? From misalignment? I doubt. To find the thread I referred to, go to the top of this page. Just below the broad horizontal red line there is a thinner black line, on the left are three symbols. Click on the third which is a magnifying glass. A window will open. In the first line it will say "search". Type in, New Coker Bias look radials. Check the first box just below that...search titles only. Then check the box, Search this forum only. Then click the large Search button at the bottom. That will bring up the thread. Click on it to open it up. That thread started when Coker announced the tires, several years before they were finally supplying as I understand it so you may almost want to start about page 8 when the tires were being delivered and installed.
A friend of mine bought the Coker bias appearing radials for his 63 Merc convertible and had the same problem . Upped the air pressure and it helped, not cured the problem. I was in charge of a fleet of police training vehicles and had lots of contact with Goodyear engineers about cop car tires. We were getting 300-500 miles out of a set of tires in a high speed pursuit training program . I asked Goodyear if I could increase the air pressure from 35 to 45 psi . They said no problem. It kept the tires from rolling over and ripping out the outside tread block. We got and extra 200 miles on a set of tires and you add that to the 1600 tires per year we were using it was a big savings for the Govt. I ran enduro stock cars and we would start the race with 65 psi in the right front tire. It was like adding a stiffer spring, which was against the rules. So tire pressure was our only option. Would run 500 laps on a half mile track with no issues. I always run higher tire pressure than the vehicle recommends. The tires last longer, puts a better footprint on the ground, and the vehicle handles better.
The tires Max air pressure is the point at which the max load rating for the tire is met. As previously noted increasing tire pressure a reasonable amount over the max rating is not uncommon and won't hurt anything. This is a normal practice in road racing to adjust handling characteristics, etc. Sent from my SM-G900V using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Hope you get the tire problem solved. Sounds like a GREAT road trip. What are you driving? We are almost neighbors, I live in Woodville. Have fun!!!!
OK so spoke to coker today they really didn't have a solution for me other than increasing air pressure so got home today and immediately went to the shop bumped air pressure up to 40 psi all around to my surprise the car drove like a different car not entirely fixed still have a shake but not a problem to drive now phew!I'm going to post pics of the car as it sits now
Ok so after alignment it wasn't off at all after rebalancing car is still a handful to drive so I called Coker and talked to Jake we got the whole problem sorted out needless to say I have 5 new tires being shipped to me as we speak and yes I'm going back to bias plys Jake is the man at Coker Tire he resolved this problem for me so fast and effectively I can not say enough about this guy so looking forward to getting tires on Tuesday and getting on the road to Austin for the LSRU
So what did Jake from Coker say was the issue and why the change back to bias ply? Sent from my SM-T377P using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I'm sitting on the Like button under those photos. Great paint job. It shows off the care that went into the body work. That color is just about what I have picked out to go on my '52 Chevy panel truck (2-tone with non-metallic chestnut brown as second color). I'll probably swing the paint mix a little more into burgundy country. I hope to see you in Austin. I have a booth in the swap meet area so I won't be able to walk around much. Come by if you can. Look for my shift knob display.
Don't know what Jake said but here's what I said in another similar thread titled "New Coker Bias look radials"... A true radial tire is made in a segmented mold where the pie shaped opened segments of the mold move together toward the center to close the mold against the laid up carcass of bead, sidewall, belts and rubber, for curing. They can be identified by the minute rubber flash marks radially around the finished tire at intervals like a piece of pie. Look very closely. A radial tire can also be built in a bias ply tire mold which is like a clam shell, but the tire is expanded out to the mold. This is the way the early American made radial tires (many of which were very troublesome) were made and today some of the lower end tires from anywhere are still made in this type of mold. They can be identified by a rubber flash mark continuously around the circumference of the tire, usually in the center of the tread, sometimes down in a tread groove. Most tire people do not know this and/or don't care.
I changed from bias ply to Coker American Classic radials, 560 15-820 15, and I love them! They greatly improved ride, handling, and tracking. I would recommend them to anyone.
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