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Bias vs. radial


bclement

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So my tires are a little scary.....as in you can check the air by looking through the cracks! I was considering going with a tube-less radial vs the original bias ply. My 35 coupe has bias and they do ok, but. Here in Florida we are moving into rainy season and roadway oil slick is a problem for even modern cars! The car currently has what I believe to be original Lester 7.00x16 with tube. Are there any know issue with putting radials on original rims? Are they beefy enough for a stiffer tire? What would be the correct or close enough radial size?

Thanks

Brad

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"Radials with tubes? Seems it can be hard to seal them well on older wheels."

My understanding is that with a 16" rim and that tall of a tire, tubes are necessary, bias or radial either way. My plan, was to have the rims blasted and powder coated before putting the new rubber on there....just seems like a good idea. From $$ radials aren't that much more for a correct size (staying with 16"), but now I'm beginning to wonder about other suspension issues with a stiffer tire?

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mine are 215's they also fit ford econolines..not the gangster whites but normal tires..no tubes stock rims..

search this blog, we covered this last year...41's are an inch or so wider and they would be great, 40s are narrow but

I was able to squeeze 'em on..have had no trouble in almost 10 years I have Firestones! after all...Ford and Firestone

Like beans and cornbread

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My experience is that radials are not needed on prewar cars. We run the Firestone bias ply on our 1940 Zephyr. At 75mph, it goes down the road almost perfectly. If you're having troubles with the car tracking, you may want to check and rebuild your suspension components, including steering box and linkages, i.e. tie rods, king pins, etc.

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Go with Diamond back classics, Their wide whites stay bright white for a long time and they have new radials that look just like the old firestone tread pattern and in all sizes, going to be switching my 700-16s on my 40 Packard 180 to these soon, tubeless but having the wheels powder coated to help make sure they seal well.

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