Bias Ply tires vs radials on the street?

[tom406]

I think, with alignment and everything optimized, radials are better. But I don't believe the difference is as great as most people are lead to believe. I believe that, much like 6 volt electrics, bias ply tires are very unforgiving of things going out of spec. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] Most cars that have a huge drivability gain when switching to radials from bias have other issues, in my opinion. The effects of worn front end parts, worn steering boxes, bad shocks, or poor alignment are all diminished by the soft sidewalls of radials, and most of us are too lazy or cheap to properly fix the problem, when changing tires will take care of the 1000 miles a year we drive the cars. I've driven super low mile cars with bias plys - they're not "all over the road". I also think some of the repro bias ply tires suffer from quality control issues, based upon the cosmetic blemishes and balancing challenges I've had. So maybe they're not always a good representation of the breed.

And you just can't get "the look" with radials on a period-correct looking car. The square shouldered EAGLE GT's of the mid to late 80's were about the closest I've seen. I wish Goodyear would re-release those with Polyglas style small lettering, and no sizes (after all, "P215/65/R15" in white letters would screw up the visual, no?)