Bias ply tires on '63 Riv

[Guest Tom_Jakups]

I am thinking of going back to bias ply tires on my Riv. I want to make the car as correct as possible and I think the car will look better. My manual shows that the correct tire was 710-15. When I bought the Riv in '95 it came with bias tires which I replaced with radials. I held on to the spare tire which is now gathering dust in the basement. It is a U.S Royal Safety 800 Low Profile tire, 760-15 with the one-inch whitewall. Because it was a 760-15 it wasn't original to the car, but it was used on the car at one time. In any event, other than the wider tread and speedometer issue are there other benefits/drawbacks to going with the 760-15? Thanks.

[RivNut]

760-15 tires were an option on the '63 Riviera. With white walls, they were the $59.99 T4 option (taken from my window sticker.) In one of Darwin Falk's recent "Options" articles in the Riview, he sited exactly how many cars were equipped with the 710 blackwall, the 710 whitewall, the 760 blackwall, and the 760 whitewall. It would probably be worth digging up that issue and reviewing the article.

Advantages - a smoother ride given the weight of the car.

Ed

[Guest Tom_Jakups]

Thanks, Ed. I checked my Riviews and was able to find Darwin's article. Since the 760-15 was an option, I wonder now whether my spare is indeed an original tire. I know that new Rivieras came with special tires. Does anyone know about these tires, what brand they were. Thanks

[JZRIV]

I ran Bias tires on my 67 for 11 years. The reason I bought them was because I was attending my first BCA national and wanted to be as close to authentic as possible.

I suffered for years riding on those horrendous things because I didn't want to invest the money in new tires when the Bias tires still had plenty of life left. Poor judgement on my part.

I finally got rid of them two years ago and went back to radials. The radials handled so much better, it was like driving a totally different car. I then questioned my sanity and common sense for putting up with the misery running the bias tires for so long.

Keep in mind my front end had undergone a total rebuild before the bias were installed. Bias vs radials will magnify any wear in your front end and make the handling that much worse.

The bias tires served their purpose for the point judged show and the only other logical reason I can think of for getting them is if one had a 100% authentic original or restored car that sat in the garage all the time and went to shows on a trailer.

[Guest Riviera66]

First off, I made the same mistake as Jason admits to. Back in the '90s, the only redlines were bias ply and I wanted redlines. What crap they were. I figured out I hated them a bit quicker than Jason did, though; I figured the tires would rot before I wore them out...so time to replace.

Tom: If you want to make your car look 'correct' get the right width whitewall... and keep it a radial. In my opinion, it's more important to enjoy the car than to have it just look nice. Radials can now be made in any style ... spend the $ there if you want.

I suspect your tire could be original...GM usually didn't use a single brand of tire ... but tires they used were 'big name'...US Royal would certainly qualify. Very cheap 2 ply tires originally.

Ed: Glad to hear someone's reading this stuff. LOL...26.6% were 7.60s. I'm working on a new Options article on '63s and '64s for publication(as long as Tom M. doesn't get tired of my esoteric/arcane questions) later this year.

Darwin Falk

ROA#2077

[Jim Cannon]

Oh, yea, I read it all, too, Darwin!

BTW, I know of an original '63 Riv with the original factory tires still on the factory rims, with 17k miles on them. They were Firestone Gum-dipped blackwalls (on a bare bones car with zero options).

It would be interesting to know which manufacturers were used originally.

[Guest Tom_Jakups]

Hi Guys,

I hear what you're saying and I have no illusions about bias vs radial in terms of ride. However, I have had a '63 Chevy Impala for the past 15 years and that car has always had bias tires. I've driven it about 45,000 miles and yes, the ride is harsher than it would be with radials, but, except for stretches of bad pavement, not horrible or something that lessens my enjoyment of driving the car. In fact that car, also restored to factory correct, looks and feel complete with the bias tires. Now, they do make radials that approximate the 800-14s with 1-inch whitewall that came with the Chevy. And every once in a while I think about it, but then I see a Chevy with the radials and it doesn't sit right, the tread is too wide. It just looks wrong. As for the Riv, the only radials I see with 1-inch whitewall is American Classic P205/75R15. Has anyone used these on their Riv? I guess until someone comes up with a radial that is the same size and looks just like a bias tire, it comes down to determining what is most important and what trade-off (looks or ride) you can live with.

Tom

[Guest imported_kbm]

I enjoy the look of the bias tires on my '64 Riviera because the whitewall looks rounder. The whitewall on a radial tends to bend out at the bottom with the 'radial bulge'. I hope that makes sense!

Kenneth

[1965rivgs]

Just my observations...I also like the "look" of the original bias plys but DONT like the way they handle! On pristine roads they are OK, sort of cool, but once the "urban woes" present themselves, uneven surfaces and truck ruts, look out! Contrary to what has been posted (if I`m understanding the previous post) I find the radials to possess low speed harshness and the bias tires to be more smooth? One thing is for certain...tire technology has come a loooong way and it is difficult not to take advantage of their improvement.

Darwin....NO PROBLEM with the questions. Answering them, especially in concert, is always a learning experience for me....very gratifying.

Jim....not sure on the `63`s but in `65 I believe Buick used 3 different suppliers. I know for sure they used Firestone and Goodyear for the triple stripe whites. I have documented what I believe to be an original blackwall spare which is a US Royal.

Tire technology was so rapidly changing in the `60`s (especially `63 to `64, just in size specs!) that it would be very, very difficult to document the running changes and details.

Over the years I have been passively looking for period correct tire manuals to help decode sidewall data....but I have been unsuccessful. Any volunteers to take on such a research project? I`m sure, at some point, there should at least appear date code info on the sidewalls.....too many loose ends, not enough time!

Tom Mooney

[RivNut]

When I bought my '63 in 1982, it had an almost new set of bias ply tires on it. The gentleman from whom I bought it lived in a rural area about 25 miles west of Kansas City. I took the car out and test drove it for about a half an hour and put probably 20 miles on it. When I came back I told my wife that the first thing I probably needed to do was put new tie rod ends, an idler arm, and pitman arm and/or ball joints on the car.

When I took it to a local Goodyear store, which had been doing my car stuff for me, the service manager talked me into a set of 225/70/15 radials before I spent the money on front end parts; that was at about 110,000 miles.

Twenty-five years and 85,000 miles later, I still haven't touched the front end. A couple of new sets of tires, yes, but no hardware. It was those biased tires that made the car wander all over the road.

As one of my regional members put it when he bought a '63 at Hershey in 2004 and drove it back to Branson, MO in the rain. "Those three days on the road driving on those bias ply tires were the longest five years of my life."

Buy a set of extra rims, mount your bias ply tires "for the show," but be safe and drive the car on a set of radials.

Ed

[Guest Tom_Jakups]

Thanks to everyone for their advice. Today I talked to the folks at Diamond Back Classic Radials. They have a Cooper 225/75R15 with an overall diameter of just over 28" and the 1" whitewall. Cost per tire is $180.00. Works for me.

Tom

[JZRIV]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Tom_Jakups</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> They have a Cooper 225/75R15 with an overall diameter of just over 28" and the 1" whitewall. Cost per tire is $180.00. Works for me.

Tom </div></div>

Nice choice Tom. I also purchased tires from Diamond Back and was 100% satisfied from the knowledge of the person that answered the phone, to shipment, and to overall quality and appearance of the tires. Took a bit to swallow the price tag though.

Surely couldn't complain because no one else had the size and type of tire I needed.