Please educate me about tires. I am too lazy to search

[msuguydon]

So here is what I know about tires:

They are generally black, made of rubber, round and have a hole in the middle.  In the 50-60's tires were bias-ply.  Mid 60's and beyond the radial, or steel belted radial was introduced.

SO, I am thinking about putting wide whites on the 58.  I assume I can purchase radial, wide whites.  Yes or no?

Are the wide white tires more expensive than a comparable, black walled tire?

Can I buy wide white radials at a large, chain tire store or do I have to buy them via internet? Do the major tire manufacturers, Goodyear, BF Goodrich make wide whites or are they available only from smaller manufacturers?

I assume I want to avoid bias ply tires.  

Educate me, please.

[58 Yeoman]

I'm running raised white letter Goodrich's on my 58, but I think Coker is the main place to buy wide whites.  There may be other places, but I was never looking for wides, so I didn't pay attention to the dealers.

[Charlie Chops 1940]

Diamondback radials. Look on their web site. Wouldn't even cosider biasplies for the Tunaboat.

Charlie

[donsrods]

There is almost no other subject that will line up people on both sides of the argument faster than "Bias versus Radials."  I have seen discussion after discussion on various forums regarding which is better.  The answer is, it is your personal opinion that counts.

Here is my opinion.  I simply do not like the look of radials on a fenderless hot rod.  I think they look too "new" or something.  That is simply my opinion.  I have never run anything but bias plys on every car I have had, except for my daily drivers that are newer cars.  We have Coker wide whites on my '27 Ford, '23 Ford, '39 Dodge truck, my Son Dan's '29 RPU, and my Son Don's 23 Ford.  The tires on the back of my '27 were bought from Coker 20 years ago and saw daily use for 7 years.  They still have good tread on them and I have lit them up on more than one occasion.  

I have driven through blinding rain storms, on interstates at 70 MPH for hours on end, and will never use anything else on any car I build.

Now, on something like your '58 Chevy it might be a toss up.  The car is heavier and not fenderless, so something like Diamondbacks would probably look fine. Whether or not they will ride and perform better is open to speculation.  Coker in their website kind of covers their tail by saying something to the effect of "use radials unless you want the old timey look of bias plies."  Your '58 came with bias plys originally, and the suspension is tuned for those.  Also my opinion.

I'm sure devotees of both types will post pros and cons, and like I said, it boils down to what you like and want to run.  

Don

[enjenjo]

No comment. Except, I won't even put bias tire on my trailer.

[Land Yacht]

Radials are supposed to handle better, give a better ride. Radials have a round crossection, bias plys more square. The square look fits better with older machines, which came with bias plys. Some will argue the handling difference is minimal, others will say the difference is huge.

[unklian]

Check Universal Vintage Tire.

[tom36]

No comment. Except, I won't even put bias tire on my trailer.

Me neither.  Of all the suspension tricks you can do to and old car, a set of radials is a noticeable improvement. My wife has a 67 buick Gran Sport, and had always had redline polyglass tires that were original equipment.  Car drove OK but would follow the road so to speak.  Last year I put a set of Diamondback redline radials on it and it is a whole 'nuther car! I have  Diamondback WWW radials on 4 of my other cars.  my $.02.  Tom...

[HotRodLadyCrusr]

Coker makes an awesome radial WWW and gives a HUGE discount to HAMB alliance members.

About 3 summers ago I was deciding on whether to run steel wheels and WWW or keep my black walls and "mags".  The decision was WWW vs blackwalls, not bias vs radials BUT Roadstar had a brand new set of bias ply WWW tires on a set of steelies that were the perfect size so I tried them on for bit.  Big Olds rode like crap on those bias plys, looked great, handled awful.  All summer long I kept swapping out the radials for the bias plys, back and forth.  After persoanlly talking with the owner of DiamondBack who is a HAMB member and CokeyCoker, I decided on the Cokers and I couldn't be happier.

After one summer and exactly two major burnouts, the bias ply WWW were trashed and now reside in my living room bolted one on top of the other with a piece of glass on top and is used as a coffee table.  Thats about the best use of bias plys if you own a big old boat of a car.

Now a light weight little roadster is a different story and running them on Roadster's roadster wasn't an issue.

[UGLY OLDS]

I won't enter an opinion on the radial vs. bias thing ...BUT...See if you can do a "photoshop" thing with your car before you purchase wide whites to see how they would look....Some cars they look good on...Other cars ...Well.....Hmmmm....Sorta....I kinda like your car the way it is or MAYBE a 1'' whitewall  :?  :?  :?  Just my .02.... But then..What do I know :?:  :?:   I drive an UGLY car..

[msuguydon]

I had no idea this was such a divisive topic,   I was just asking about tires.  WOW!  (On a related topic, is it ok to use terms like divisive when talking to a group of gear heads? :? )

UglyOlds, I think guys with ugly cars must think alike, I am heading down the smaller white wall tire trail, not a full one Wide White...  are there more options in terms of price and manufacturers for a small (2") white wall?

[UGLY OLDS]

I had no idea this was such a divisive topic,   I was just asking about tires.  WOW!  (On a related topic, is it ok to use terms like divisive when talking to a group of gear heads? :? )

 I had a divisive once but the handle broke...I was real careful too, even read the instuctions:

NOTICE..Before being to using this divisive, operator must be to looking at all instructions and watching all pictures for operation being properly made...."

Handle broke anyway... :?  :?