Recently I went from 17x9 rims with low profile radial tires, to a original rally wheel with Firestone Redline F70-14 tires on it. I was a little apprehensive as to the handling characteristics of the older tire design, as many classic car enthusiasts, and the car gurus at my local place bashed the older tires to no end. Bad handling, following the grooves in the road, non-existant traction, ect.

I was pleasantly surprised to find, not only did not they have any of the negative qualities they warned me about, the tires provide a much softer ride (I have stock suspension), and the squared off look of the tires made an AMAZING difference to the look of the car. So let this be a notice to anyone going for a 100% original look, don't be afraid of bias ply! After all, if they were the best tire we could get back in the muscle era, what can beat that?

I went through Coker for my tires, and I have no complaints whatsoever, in fact, I'm converted, I say Bias all the way!

I'll put some pictures up of the swap asap.

 

It's interesting you say that, as when radials came out they were liked better for their softer ride over bias ply. One major thing to note with yours though, you went from 17" wheels to 14" wheels, which means you now have a lot more rubber between the wheel and pavement. That in itself makes a very noticeable difference for giving a softer ride, even if you used the same brand tire. Your noticed difference is because of the smaller wheel size. Glad the bias are working well for you, old school is cool.

 

I can certainly see where more rubber would make a softer ride, here are the pictures I promised.

Before: (This is a photo at the dealership, I don't live in a place that looks so pretty, haha)


After:




It undoubtedly feels good to have the car up higher, the previous owner had it damn-near a lowrider. I'm loving the paint on your ride, is it lemans blue as well?

 

Looks nice! Another characteristic of radials is how the tread wraps around the corner of the tire, giving you good traction around a hard turn as the tire "lays". The bias tires, with the square corners, don't take to hard cornering quite as well. But they do make driving more fun!

 

Yes indeed, after all, if we can't say these cars are at least fun, what can we say? I remember riding in a 70' Dodge Plum Crazy Challenger on goodyear polyglas, a 440 six pack, blasting down the highway at 145, reviving that memory of the past is worth much more the handling than any radial tire can provide, now all I have to do is install my 383 stroker kit!


100ctane out.

 

Very nice!

So, uhhhh.... I'll give you a hundred bucks for your old rims :-)

 

...$125

 

haha I was thinking the same thing... I'll at least go 150

 

i thought about going with the bias plys but i decided to get the a "hybrid" old school red lines with a radial tread. the only thing really noticeable is that the red line is floped on how its put on.