Bias Ply tires vs radials on the street?

[Mark_C]

Bias plys catch every little crack, bump and groove in the road and you have to pay a lot more attention to what your doing. They also wander more than radials and should have more toe-in added to your alignment. Radials are very forgiving in this area.

You need to change your alignment slightly when running bias plys. Remember that the old factory specs were written for bias plys, not radials, so if your using them you should be all set.

My bias plys stay on for local driving, but if I'm going over 100 miles each way the radials go back on for that trip. I've got two mounted sets so it's not a big deal to swap back and forth.

Stock factory alignment specs:

Caster +1/2 deg
Camber + 1/4 to 1/2 deg
Toe-in 1/8" to 1/4"

Radial tires need less toe-in, use 1/8" or less for
them

Just for reference (these are radial tire numbers):

Herb Adams recommends these alignment specs for the street:

1 degree positive caster ( Use around 3.5 degrees if PS)
1 degree negative camber.
1/16" toe in

Guldstrand recommends the following specs for a "touring car":
Caster: 3 - 4 degrees positive (+) PS = more, manual steer less.
Camber: 1/4 to 1/2 degrees negative (-)
With upper a-arm relocation Camber: 0 degrees
Toe-in: 0 - 1/8 inch