bias and radials..???

i went to a show out in CT. last weekend, and WOW, was the ride bad, i almost lost it like 5 times...(right now im running 5.60-15's in the front and Hurst pie crust slicks in the rear on my 55 chevy) my question is, can i run radials in the front with Hurst slicks in the rear, (only for long trips, on the highway)...thanks,mike

 

Ummm...no. All radials or all bias. The slicks are probably the root of the problem anyways. They aren't built for continuous high speed freeway jaunts.

 

The vintage car tire companies strongly stress that a mix of bias ply and radial tires on a car is very bad. Not sure why. But this is what they (Coker, for example) indicate.

Deluxe

 

I had a 1950 Plymouth Business coupe a couple of years ago.
It had radials up front and bias at the back when I got it.

Wonderfull on wet asphalt and curvy roads. I had the widest way of travel.
A slight turn in more than 35M/h had the door ponting in the direction of movement..............baaaad


Paul

 

Its the front of the car thats all over the place, the rear was fine.

 

were the tires balanced....and what was the front end set at ...? as far as toe in ...brandon

 

Aren't your Hurst tires radials? I know mine (31 x 10.5) are made over radial casings.
If so, the problem is mixing them with the bias tires on the front.

I run 145/15 radials on the front with the Hursts (radial slicks) out back and the car drives like a dream. I even made a 500 mile trip at interstate speeds 70+ back in September. Smooth as glass!

I have yet to drive a car with bias ply tires (even all the way around) that doesn't have a tendancy to pull into the grooves and ruts in the road.

-Jim

 

I was running bias plies on the back of my bucket, with radials in the front. It handled ok, but if you hit a section of road that had grooves in it, hang on.
The radials would not even notice it, but the bias plies would try and follow the grooves.

 

This

 

If you are using stock front suspension with stock ball bearings, you might consider converting to tapered roller bearings. They make a big difference in how a tri-five Chevy steers and handled, plus, they last much longer. Ecklers has a kit available to make this conversion www.classicchevy.com . ---CORRECTED LINK---

On my '57 Chevy two door sedan gasser, I run 7.75 x 15 BFG Silvertown bias plys on the front and 8.20 x 15 Radir/MT slicks on the rear. My front suspension is stock stuff jacked up with spacers and converted to tapererd roller bearings. With this set up, I have driven at 65-70mph to both Vegas and Bakersfield and the car handled quite well.

My '57 Chevy Sedan Delivery had the stock ball bearings in the front end when I got it. With the stock bearings, the steering was always a little "twitchy", espescially at highway speed. I recently converted it to the tapered roller bearings, and it drives and steers quite nicely now.

 

oh, it has a 60 econoline i-beam front axle.

 

I never even thought of that, yes, i guess they are capped radials...SHIT.

 

isn't that your ride on the cover of the new rod and custom ....?? brandon

 

I have firestone bias plys on the front of my roadster and goodyear wrangler radials on the back. No problem, drives great and doesn't follow grooves. That might all change when I put on my firestone slicks!

 

As Emily Latella said, "Never mind".

 

AND for guys who really want to DRIVE their cars !!!!!

 

so, whats a decent looking radial to run????

 

I 've been buying Kuhmo 165R-15 for the front of my HotRods, they drive and ride great and are about $40.00 each locally.

 

Yep, that's it.

 

Yup. My '91 Caprice has radials....my hot rods don't.