radial & bias tires

[captden29]

i have radial tires on my 54 windsor that are at least 5 years old and i think could be much older. the other day i got a flat and had it fixed. i did not drive on the flat as it happened while parked. after putting it back on, as i drove the car started to get a violent shaking which turned out to be the tire that went flat being deformed.before the flat it seemed fine. what can happen to a tire to cause that just by going flat? can the cords be destroyed? i have no clue. now my dillema is that i cannot afford new tires. i do have 2 good bias ply tires and was wondering if i put them both on the rear or both on the front will that be ok? i have heard that you cannot mix them. any info on this would be apprciated. thanks, dennis

[Guest rockabillybassman]

Bad karma to mix them, but if you really have to, put the radials on the back. This way you will drive to the capabilities of the bias plys.

[Normspeed]

I've heard that mixing them gives bad steering characteristics on wet roads. Sounds like the plies just separated on the old radial. Might have already been going bad before the flat. Maybe a local tire shop would have a decent used take-off radial in the size you need.

[Tony_Urwin]

I don't know where you live, but I see cheap, used tires on Craigslist.com.

[Dennis Hemingway]

I did that once on a Honda Civic I put radials on the front and bias plys on the rear and every time I turned a corner it felt like the rear wanted to pass the front.

Dennis:eek:

[bob westphal]

I would give it a try until you can afford radials on both ends. I did!

You guys can say all you want about horrors of mixing ply designs but I haven't seen any problems. I have been using radials on the front with bias on the back on my P-15 for over a year. It handles basically the same as all bias on wet or dry pavement with no cornering problems. It will give very slight darts from longitudinal highway seams or ruts just like a full bias set. Maybe on a newer type suspension it might make a difference but I certainly don't see any on this old car. Someday when I get rich I'll put radials on back. Until then I'm enjoying driving the old pot. Limited funding and ingenuity is what made this hobby.

[Norm's Coupe]

i have radial tires on my 54 windsor that are at least 5 years old and i think could be much older. the other day i got a flat and had it fixed. i did not drive on the flat as it happened while parked. after putting it back on, as i drove the car started to get a violent shaking which turned out to be the tire that went flat being deformed.before the flat it seemed fine. what can happen to a tire to cause that just by going flat? can the cords be destroyed? i have no clue. now my dillema is that i cannot afford new tires. i do have 2 good bias ply tires and was wondering if i put them both on the rear or both on the front will that be ok? i have heard that you cannot mix them. any info on this would be apprciated. thanks, dennis

Dennis,

I've had radials start acting that way without even having a flat before hand, and on a car with less than about 3,000 miles on it. That was on a company car back in the 70's. Was on the freeway when one of the wheels hit the joint in the road as I was going to change lanes. All of a sudden the steering wheel jerked out of my hands completely and sent the car out of control. It was really violent. When I tried to grab the steering wheel to get it back under control, the wheel turned so hard it lifted me out of the seat and forced my head into the roof of the car. I finally got the car under control by just hitting the steering wheel gently while slowing down slowly. Was a real scare at the time (during rush hour traffic). Had it not been for a semi blocking the road behind me, I'm sure I would have been in a bad accident.

When I took the car into the dealer right after that, the said it was due to a bad tire on one of the front wheels. The way they explained it is the steel belts can sometimes move in the tire. When that happens it throws it off. So, my guess is that by your car having a flat on that one tire, it caused one of those steel belts to shift and threw the tire off balance. You should be able to just replace that one tire and be good to go. That is provided the other tire tread on the opposite side isn't worn too much. In any case, you should be able to just buy two new tires and solve the problem. Simply hitting a bad bump or hole in the road can cause a belt to shift like that too.

[Brendan D25]

Besides being unsafe to mix nylon, bias-ply tires with radials, isn't it also illegal?

[Norm's Coupe]

Besides being unsafe to mix nylon, bias-ply tires with radials, isn't it also illegal?

It's not illegal to mix the two types of tires on a vehicle. However, because it could cause the vehicle to pull from one side to another, tire dealers will not mix the two. It's only against the tire dealers/manufacturers policy to not mix them. For that reason tire dealers cannot do it.

[captden29]

after weighing the responses i feel that the mix of the 2 types is a bad idea. i probably would be nervous everytime i drive the car. i am tryting to save money but this is probably not the way to do it. i thank everyone for the help. dennis

[greg g]

Just a thought, how come yer not supposed to mix radials and bias plys but the skinny little, temp spare is a bias ply tire and shorter to boot. I have run all sorts of combinations due to terminal frugality. I have found that most cars are designed to be primarily understeer biased. So to maintain this bias, it best to put the tires with the least traction potential on the front. So with thie in mind bias on the front and the radials on the back will likely be the most stable platform. If you were poundung freeways and or road racing, the mix is not a recommended situation but for consevative dry day smooth road operation at moderate speeds it shouldn't be a problem.

[1just4don]

Go find a used tire of same size on garage sales,shopper papers,junk yard,service stations for about 10-15 bucks and be done with it. IF it wears thin before the others do,,,find another,,,IF it lasts as long as others,,,buy a whole set next time. I have been running scabs on a newer pickup for years,mix and match,,(treads and brands of tire,,,NOT sizes or belted-or non),,,it works just fine and no problems. Think I would put the matched pair up front and the mismatched pair on rear,,,long as the tire diameter is about the same!! Oh and by the way,,,IF your spare is biased and tires are belted,,,buy a pair thats matched,then put the pair on and the good off tire is now your spare!! I dont think belted bias combo on same car is good. Might not give probs in GOOD weather and easy driving,,,but it only takes once!! And bad weather is abrubt sometimes!! Like getting on new asphalt that is slippery when wet,,bad enough without that mix,,,