71DP

I am looking to make a wheel and tire swap this summer. This is on a Cutlass driver. I am either going to swap to 15" and go 255's in the rear with either 235 or 225's in the front OR stay with the 14's and use the G70-14 repro Wide-Ovals all the way around. I do really like the look of those, even though they are pricey. My question is how is the ride on those Wide Ovals? Anybody gone from radial to Bias or the other way and noticed a big difference in ride or handling?

oldcutlass

I liked the old bias ply tires of yesterday, they had some really nice sizes and you could not beat the looks. There are advantages for both. The construction between radials and bias ply's are totally different.

As far as performance and safety, the radials hands down are better. The radials will last longer and are less expensive. The ride quality changes from size to size and brand to brand, the higher the side wall the softer the ride.

If your looking at larger tires for the rears, I'd switch to 15's.

71DP

Thanks for the info. Looks like I will go the 15" route with the 255-60-15 rear and either 225 or 235-70-15 front.

joe_padavano

I'd check the math on that. The 255/60s are about 27" in diameter. The 225/70s would be half an inch taller, and the 235/70s a full inch taller. I run the 255s on all four corners of my 69 H/O. If you want the big 'n little look, try the 235/60s on the front. They will be about an inch shorter than the 255s.

ThePackRat

25+ years ago I put a few thousand miles on a car w/bias ply tires.

Then put on a set of radials.

Couldn't have kicked myself in the *** any harder for having waited.

Talk about a game changer at the time ... it totally transformed the car.

pogo69

i have vintage l60-15's on the rear and wide oval poly f-60-15's on the front....the ride is just fine, i hear some people say the car is all over the road with the non steel tires but in my case i cant tell any difference they ride straight and true. there is a safety advantage with steel but i'm not doing much high speed sustained driving

MDchanic

+1. Had a '68 Delta 4-door that I got with bias tires, when I finally switched to radials, I got really scared, realizing how dangerous the bias tires had been - they kept me focused on the road, that's for sure!

- Eric

ThePackRat

My experience was pretty similar being it was on a 70 D88.

Pretty sure the 68's & 70's were about the same under the skin ... IIRC it wasn't until 71 that more significant changes came in the suspension dept.

Amazing isn't it ?.

Mine certainly never had an issue getting up to speed & rather quickly at that (455).

But prolonged cruising at high speeds never felt 100% secure.

Never forget the 1st time I hit @ 110 on the radials ...

Felt like 65 on the bias ply tires ... no kidding.

MDchanic

Yup. Same car, different skin.

455, 10,25:1, TH400.

Went like all hell, but felt like it was on swivel casters - like you could just as easily go sideways as straight ahead.

I felt brave doing 60.

- Eric

pogo69

those 68 charger hemi's got around pretty well in nascar with poly tires.... most cars went down with engine failure

brown7373

I think the manufacuring quality control of the bias ply back in the day was much better than repro bias ply today. They might look the same and be made from the same molds, but they aren't as good. I had a set of bias ply repro on a 64 T-bird and the drive was terrible. They were out of round. The shop trued them (like cutting them on a lathe) and they were much better, but not near as good as radials I took off. And radials are much better on wet roads. The flex of the radial sidewall allows more tread to stay flat on the road.

oldcutlass

Imho, in 1972 there were many issues with radials, belt and tread separations, sidewall blowouts, etc. I also remember on cold mornings the radial thump and the duck waddle. Radials back then also would wander, follow any crack, rut, tar strip in the road, they just plain sucked. Bias ply tires were the norm, they tracked straight, and I ran them until the mid 80's.

I think Pontiac first coined the term of Radial Tuned Suspension pkg, RTS, around 1976.

MDchanic

Maybe so, but the ones I referred to above were driven on around 1992, and had been made, probably, in the '80s.

- Eric

Bernhard

Radial tires are the only way to go bias ply tires have had there day. Modern radial tires have so much to offer. I still remember on poor roads how the bias ply tire would want to change lanes on you and how you had to saw at the wheel constantly to keep the car between the lines.