Ed Luddy Posted September 29, 2019 Share Posted September 29, 2019 I drove this today to drop off for a friend. Started out in a light mist rain, (don't worry, it didn't melt or rust away) on bias ply tires. Completely forgot how bad they corner with this much weight,Yikes! Ended up stopping at a another buddy's place to wait the drizzle out instead of having the Green Road Monster slide into the ditch due to my lack of memory of the limitations of vacuum wipers, rock hard bias ply's and mid 20th century GM luxury suspension limitations. A pleasure none the less! 5 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Luddy Posted September 29, 2019 Author Share Posted September 29, 2019 (edited) Been a long time since I sat in a 55 Buick! Edited September 29, 2019 by Ed Luddy cropping (see edit history) 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mercer09 Posted September 29, 2019 Share Posted September 29, 2019 beautiful beast! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryB Posted September 29, 2019 Share Posted September 29, 2019 Great looking car! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John_Mereness Posted September 29, 2019 Share Posted September 29, 2019 I bought a set of Goodyear brand Radial Whitewalls from I believe Summit Racing on sale via ebay for my 1955 Roadmaster and they were rather dreamy to drive on. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John_Mereness Posted September 29, 2019 Share Posted September 29, 2019 By the way, lovely car ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrEarl Posted September 29, 2019 Share Posted September 29, 2019 Gorgeous Roadmaster!!! Can we see some interior shots please😊 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walt G Posted September 29, 2019 Share Posted September 29, 2019 For what its worth, I had a pre war (WWII) car that was 25 years older then your Buick and weighed more ( over 2 tons) and had bias ply tires on it and the tires were much narrower. In rain the tires were good except on corners where the road surface was cut with grooves to drain the water off and then handling would get a bit squirrely, if I slowed down this all sorted out well . They were 650 - 19 Lester tires and I feel that the tread pattern had a lot to do with that as much as anything - In some instances I drove the car over 5 hours straight in medium to heavy rain. As for suspension on the car I am talking about , it was a Franklin with full elliptic springs and a tube front axle. This is not meant to say anything against Lester tires nor their tread pattern, they were great tires and I wore two sets of tires out over 40 years in time. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John348 Posted September 29, 2019 Share Posted September 29, 2019 I think that now all of us have been driving modern cars in the rain/snow for the past 25 years and we sort of lost touch and forgot how sensitive the bias ply's were in wet weather, I know I have. Back then EVERY car on the road was on the same playing field so everyone drove a little more aware of the situation. Now it is common to see someone driving in the snow with some AWD Jellybean SUV at 60 MPH on their cell phone, while they scoot around my 4WD truck. Things have gotten better as they should, but that comes at a loss as well. 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trulyvintage Posted September 29, 2019 Share Posted September 29, 2019 4 minutes ago, John348 said: I think that now all of us have been driving modern cars in the rain/snow for the past 25 years and we sort of lost touch and forgot how sensitive the bias ply's were in wet weather, I know I have. Back then EVERY car on the road was on the same playing field so everyone drove a little more aware of the situation. Now it is common to see someone driving in the snow with some AWD Jellybean SUV at 60 MPH on their cell phone, while they scoot around my 4WD truck. Things have gotten better as they should, but that comes at a loss as well. Spot On ... Improvements in performance and handling capabilities have reduced the need for driving skill .... Jim 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
padgett Posted September 29, 2019 Share Posted September 29, 2019 Even back in the day I loved racing in the rain - tires did not wear as fast - engine (and I) cooled down - could go faster than others perhaps growing up in Florida helped. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John S. Posted September 29, 2019 Share Posted September 29, 2019 That is a very nice Roadmaster in any weather. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John348 Posted September 29, 2019 Share Posted September 29, 2019 8 hours ago, MrEarl said: Gorgeous Roadmaster!!! Can we see some interior shots please😊 PLEASE DO! I would love to see the interior Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marty Roth Posted September 30, 2019 Share Posted September 30, 2019 2 hours ago, John348 said: PLEASE DO! I would love to see the interior Me Too ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billy Kingsley Posted September 30, 2019 Share Posted September 30, 2019 Way cool. I am one of those weird people that loves to see a classic in the rain. The water droplets just look interesting on them. A few years back at Rhinebeck I was literally the only person on the field taking pictures in a storm...until I saw lightning hit a tree at the other end of the show field, at which time I decided being the only person standing in a field of metal during a thunderstorm was maybe not my best idea, and I went into the buildings as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
padgett Posted September 30, 2019 Share Posted September 30, 2019 A long time ago I studied a condition called "unladen understeer" which covers the front side of the traction curve. The bottom line is that any tire will increase traction force slowly as the load increases until it reaches a peak and most tires experience a sudden drop off when exceeded. The problem occurs when you have a light car and fat (racing) tires. On my Corvair I used late braking to transfer weight forward as I eased into a turn at speed. This reduced the tendancy to understeer since the outside front tire was already loaded. Rain is similar, too light a load for the contact patch and the tire may aquaplane. Back in the day bias tires were very skinny which raise the plane point. Today's tires are more like the racing profiles of the '70s (back in the day my Corvette had 27x12.65x15 Blue Streaks but for rain I had a set of G70x15 BFG T/As. Today I have 255x70x15 BFGs on my Judge. About the same size as the 'vette & work well in rain. Today my daily drivers have BFG Comp-2 AS and are excellent in the rain mainly for the tread designed for water dispersal. Back then the only radial that was good in the rain was the Michelin X-stop but also was notorious for a sudden breakaway. You really have to understand the incredible improvement in tire technology over the last 50 years that makes modern supercars possible. For more than you ever wanted to know, see here: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~hpeng/vehicle.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avgwarhawk Posted September 30, 2019 Share Posted September 30, 2019 I drive bias on my 54 and 60. Learned to not out drive the tire. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marty Roth Posted September 30, 2019 Share Posted September 30, 2019 7 hours ago, padgett said: A long time ago I studied a condition called "unladen understeer" which covers the front side of the traction curve. The bottom line is that any tire will increase traction force slowly as the load increases until it reaches a peak and most tires experience a sudden drop off when exceeded. The problem occurs when you have a light car and fat (racing) tires. On my Corvair I used late braking to transfer weight forward as I eased into a turn at speed. This reduced the tendancy to understeer since the outside front tire was already loaded. Rain is similar, too light a load for the contact patch and the tire may aquaplane. Back in the day bias tires were very skinny which raise the plane point. Today's tires are more like the racing profiles of the '70s (back in the day my Corvette had 27x12.65x15 Blue Streaks but for rain I had a set of G70x15 BFG T/As. Today I have 255x70x15 BFGs on my Judge. About the same size as the 'vette & work well in rain. Today my daily drivers have BFG Comp-2 AS and are excellent in the rain mainly for the tread designed for water dispersal. Back then the only radial that was good in the rain was the Michelin X-stop but also was notorious for a sudden breakaway. You really have to understand the incredible improvement in tire technology over the last 50 years that makes modern supercars possible. For more than you ever wanted to know, see here: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~hpeng/vehicle.pdf I use these same BFG Comp-2 AS tires on our C-4 Corvette and find them to be an excellent, affordable all-weather tire for the "Touring-Style" driving we do. We've taken several cross-country trip on these tires and are very satisfied with the comfort, handling, and minimal wear shown so far over the three years they've been on the car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
padgett Posted September 30, 2019 Share Posted September 30, 2019 Last Bias tire that was great in the rain said "No Skid" on the treads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Luddy Posted October 1, 2019 Author Share Posted October 1, 2019 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheezestaak2000 Posted October 1, 2019 Share Posted October 1, 2019 has anyone else had the joy of driving thru about a foot of standing water with drum brakes? end result would make a great "thrill ride" for an amusement park Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John348 Posted October 1, 2019 Share Posted October 1, 2019 11 minutes ago, cheezestaak2000 said: has anyone else had the joy of driving thru about a foot of standing water with drum brakes? end result would make a great "thrill ride" for an amusement park Many a time! great memories! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Bruce aka First Born Posted October 1, 2019 Share Posted October 1, 2019 2 hours ago, cheezestaak2000 said: has anyone else had the joy of driving thru about a foot of standing water with drum brakes? end result would make a great "thrill ride" for an amusement park Well of course! Then just ride the brakes until they dry out. NO problem. Ben 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leon bee Posted October 1, 2019 Share Posted October 1, 2019 Wiper don't work yet in my old Buick. But I've just gotten an old Ford back on the road; driving uphill in the rain, I love how you gotta let up on the gas and let the wipers swipe a couple times. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Bruce aka First Born Posted October 1, 2019 Share Posted October 1, 2019 51 minutes ago, leon bee said: Wiper don't work yet in my old Buick. But I've just gotten an old Ford back on the road; driving uphill in the rain, I love how you gotta let up on the gas and let the wipers swipe a couple times. Yep. The way it was Ben Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron65 Posted October 1, 2019 Share Posted October 1, 2019 That's a great looking car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Luddy Posted October 6, 2019 Author Share Posted October 6, 2019 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug Novak Posted October 6, 2019 Share Posted October 6, 2019 (edited) With Bias Ply Tires I found that tire pressure needs to be as suggested in the owners manual. Usually they call for Bias Ply's around 26 pounds. If you forget and over inflate Bias Ply's to what newer Radials air pressures call for such as 45+ pounds the older cars can't handle it. Also, there are New Shocks designed for Vintage Cars that really help. I put Gabriel Shocks For Vintage Cars per what they recommended, for my '68 AMX running Bias Ply Tires, and have found that this combination really made the car handle close to how it handles with Radials. Forgot to mention, the first car I restored 40 years ago was a '54 Pontiac two door. I put Radial Tires on it. It had a straight 8 Flat Head and Manual 3 on the Tree Trany. Only problem with it was worn engine mounts. When I went into a turn too hard the engine must have leaned as it would knock the Glass Fuel Pump Bowl Clip off stopping fuel flow and killing the engine. The radials were big and raised the A arm too close to the fuel bowl. I figured it out after I had sold it. The Radials were great. Edited October 6, 2019 by Doug Novak added info (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John_Mereness Posted October 6, 2019 Share Posted October 6, 2019 By the way, I have always put some cut pieces of duct tape on the rims to give the teeth in the hubcaps something to better bite into - radials on 50's cars at times can be hubcap throwers. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
padgett Posted October 6, 2019 Share Posted October 6, 2019 "radials on 50's cars at times can be hubcap throwers" because the increased cornering force flexes the wheel ? Nothing has ever thrown more hubcaps than the Charger in Bullett. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
60FlatTop Posted October 6, 2019 Share Posted October 6, 2019 Just a guess, were the tires purchased in the mid-1990's? Decades go by fast. How long since the plugs were removed to top off the rear shock fluid? There's an old term, "benevolently neglected". It refers to about $2500 to $3000 worth of deferred maintenance on a shiny car. The second year I owned my '60 Electra we drove to the 100th Buick anniversary in Flint and came through Canada on the QEW in the rain with grace and at pace. Biased tire set #1. Nuisance speed buzzer set at 85 rain or shine. That is the kind of car that gets sold to a novice buyer and they can't believe how much money they are spending after the purchase. Sometimes they make too many trips to the well after the purchase and Mama puts her foot down. They stay in the garage under the lawn furniture...... more often than you think. Almost two years ago I bought a very complicated BMW. Two days ago I was watching a video about one being restored. The mechanic said "Be prepared to spend $3,000 to $4,000 on service annually. My wife was in the next room and heard that. She teased me later. I said "No, no, no, that's taking it to the dealer. It only costs me a third without paying labor". I average $600 to $800 per car anyway (just should have less). Point is, cars will have all those misbehavior's if you aren't sinking some into them every year. I am guessing some years the highest expense was on polish. And it don't work that way. Bernie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron65 Posted October 6, 2019 Share Posted October 6, 2019 2 hours ago, 60FlatTop said: Point is, cars will have all those misbehavior's if you aren't sinking some into them every year. I am guessing some years the highest expense was on polish. And it don't work that way. Today I was replacing a right rear wheel cylinder in my '65 Skylark, remembering that I did that job when I bought the car in 2003. Time flies! Then, the gas tank vent hose started seeping. I'd NEVER replaced that, and it was ancient. While I was under there, I noticed that the main hose from the sender to the fuel line was spongy. I may have done that a while back, but I replaced it again today. It was an engaging two hours. Times that by 9 (my total number of cars), and I can understand why I feel like I'm always working on a car! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
padgett Posted October 7, 2019 Share Posted October 7, 2019 These daze I normally figure about $1500 AFTER I acquire a new car. A decent set of tires is about $800 and a battery (AGM) is a buck and a half. An inexpensive set of sheepskin seat covers is about a Benjamin so past a large already. This also clutters up the garage (have too many stacks of tires and wheels). Oh well is only one more car I am watching but have had several that just "appeared". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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