The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk steel belts or bias ply tires?

I have a 1/2 ton 54" chevy .. original suspension, steering ect. I did change the rim size to 15". I now need to change out the tires and am considering steel belted radials but have heard that they may have a tendency to grip or wander.... Am I better off keeping biased ply tires in terms of ride quality?

radials will out perform and out ride a bias any day. I'm running radials on my '55 with more or less stock suspension, I've added fron and rear sway bars, spring liners, and a steering stabilizer, it rides and drives just fine. Bias would be ok for a truck that's not used as a daily driver, but if you plan on driving often, opt for radials. In addition to the performance/ride quality, radials last longer.

I read an article in Old Cars magazine where the author said running radials on wheels made for bias ply can cause the wheel to fail. It seems the radial puts more lateral force on the wheel than it was designed for. I have no facts one way or the other, just passing on info.

I like the radials on my '46.

I'm running radials on my 54 straight axle with 15" rims. Wouldn't even consider going back to a bias ply tire. Also run front and rear swaybars and disc brakes.

The truck runs straight as an arrow, no wander and can cruise effortlessly at 70 mph all day long with the T5 (.72) and 3.42 diff.

I'm running a 255/70/15's on an 8" rim with 4" backspacing on the rear.....235/70/15 on the front with a 7" rim with 4" backspacing. I have no interference problems with the front discs or tierod ends.

If I had it to do over, I would go with 235/70/15's on 7" rims with 4" backspacing all the way around so I can do a conventional tire rotation. Hope this helps.

Dave

I have bias plies on my bolt. When it is time to replace, I'm going to try radials of the same profile. (I like the tall skinny look.)

I can't say that my tires wander because I don't really have tight steering, and I drive on country roads. Sorta hard to blame tires on wander under those conditions.

Bill

Radials is the way to go. Run them on the '56 and VERY pleased with the ride and handling.

My truck is not on the road yet, but I was wanting to get the tall bias ply steering tires on the front with the correct tires on the rear as well. They are a bit pricey, so if I get radials, it will be only because of cost and availability.

Go with radials. We put radials on our 44,000 original mile '53 BelAir last summer and it was driving a different car. The radials are about the same height but are fatter. We wanted to stay with wide white sidewalls but they were about four times the cost we paid for a set of plain old Mastercraft (Cooper) steel belted radials.

When turning a corner, I used to have to keep turning the wheel more and more thoughout the turn. Now I can turn the wheel to a certain point and hold it steady while the car turns on course.

Also made it a lot more stable at highway speeds, and it handles much more predictably in wet weather. Not to mention it also rides better!

I don't know if there is any truth to the radial/old wheel theory, but we mounted ours on '79 GM wheels, partly because I felt we needed a
6" rim versus the stock 5".

Obviously, we were using the 5 on 4.75" bolt pattern. You might be able to find some more modern wheels to fit your 6-lug pattern (i.e. '71 pickup).

I really don't know that I put a lot of creedence in the rim damage story. If anything, I would think radial would put less lateral stress on the wheels, as the tire takes a lot of the small movements instead of the entire wheel/tire assembly.

There are a lot of stories and half-truths out there and I don't think I would worry about it unless someone can point you to specific, hard evidence. Remember, just because it is on the Internet does not make it credible.

I run LT235/78R15 on mine all the way around. The tires are 28" tall. All steering is stock and new. I do have a front sway bar.

It drives like a dream and I would hate to think about having to go back to bias ply tires.

Thruwurkin

I have radials on stock 4"X16" rims on my stock '54. They work very well, 8,000 miles and 4 years on them.

215/85R16 makes them 30" tall. These are truck tires, and they lo like truck tires. Am running Patricks 355:1 left lane special ring and pinion now, and I still like them. they steer the stock front end very nicely at speeds and around town.

No sway bars, just radials and decent gas shocks.

Jim S.

Bias ply tires are for museum pieces. Radials run cooler, with less rolling resistance, and will take a far greater beating if you run them off-highway. On highway, they're quieter.

Here is some technical information from Michelin tires for you

I am not promoting Michelin tires.... just highlighting the comparison data of radials verses bias ply.

I am running radials, they were cheaper, and they handle better, when I made the switch on my daily driver it felt lighter in the steering response...
also if you let bias plys sit for a while you have to get them rounded...(as per old skool rodz) If the truck is a daily driver radials are the way to go...

i have 15 inch bias on my 49, 3600. i will put radials on the next time when i change to my new 17 inch rims

There are obviously pros and cons to this question.

I have 650-16 bias ply on my 49 and love them. Granted I don't drive freeways or above 50 mph. I had a 53 with 15" radials and I found them okay but no better than my bias ply. I did find it hard to park or turn the truck at low speeds.

There are again two schools of thought on putting radials on old rims. Some say they will cause damage, others say not. There is also talk of the front end set up having to be changed if one converts to radials, toe-in, etc.

Two friends of mine, one with a 58 Corvette and the other with a 67 Malibu, both converted to radials and both went back to bias ply.

I did consider going to radial tires (215-85R16) on the 49 because up here bias ply tires do not exist. No dealer wants to even talk about them. I bought a set of radials and the dealer was quite concerned about my narrow stock rims and the fact there was no safety bead on them. He said he would install them but would not warrant the tire nor would he accept responsibility if the tires came off the rims (!).

I checked with 2 more tire dealers and had the same experience. Incidentally my experience has been discussed in these Forums.

A lot of this Forum's members have put radial tires on stock 4" rims with success. However if you look at the profile or the sidewall bulge you can see that the rim is too narrow. The manufacturer's specifications call for a 5.5" rim width as a minimum for the above radials.

Again this is my opinion and experience and as mentioned above there are two sides to these question so you will probably get comments from others who disagree entirely.

I can't add to the pro or cons. I have never tried radials on my '67 C20, mainly because it sports 17.5s from the factory. On cold mornings those nylon bias plys sure do thump until driven a mile or two. Helps wake me up!

I bought a 78 GMC 6500 dump truck a few years ago. I paid for it and started down the road for the drive home. Less than a mile down the road I had to pull over to check on a "flat tire". Surprisingly I had no flats, then I remembered about bias ply tires not being round for a little while. They were so out of round I was sure I had not one but two flats on the rear. After about 30 minutes they were smooth and round.

I have run both bias and radial. If buying new tires I will but radials. If I find a great deal on some bias ply tires, like under $100 for a set, I will run then on my old stuff. But only radials for my new (90's) car.

Grigg

The latest Brother's sale flyer references (in its add for modern front wheel bearings) that the old wheel bearings are not designed for the strain that radials put on them. I don't know on this one way or the other just throwing it out there.