Thread: My next move with hiboy's metamorphosis

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It's official, I'll be taking the plunge and switching from radial tires to old school Bias Plys.

Don't try to talk me out of it, I want to try them and then I'll decide if I can handle it or not.

I am going to need radials for the full feature movie I am goind to film next. (What, I DIDN'T TELL YOU ABOUT THAT YET?????) ... (more on it later)

I will be keeping my 15 inch wheels. I will go to a highest size or second to highest to fill my wheel well as much as possible. I know this will affect my RPMs etc...

I do not know what my gear ratio is. I HAVE A 350 AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION with three speeds. I do know my RPMs are always running pretty high. On the freeway at about 55 mph in third gear RPM run about 3K I think? Also when I launch, my 3rd gear comes in very very soon. My cars hardly ever stays in second gear for more than a couple seconds. Once in third gear you cannot ever get it to come back to second on its own unless you manually down shift. Would you guys be able to help me figure out (if there is an easy trick) what my gear ratio might approximately be? I suspect Cocker might be asking me about that when I call to pick rear tire size and order.

I understand a larger tire = lower RPM and it might actually work in my favor in my case. Is it going to affect my drag (launch) much? Meanning will my car still launch as fast? I love fast launches more than anything in the world. A quick street race (bad bad Faith!!) last week with a supped up ricer indicated my car is fast at launching. He was eating my dust. And he was trying hard ). Granted, racing with a ricer is like picking on the retarded cousin HAHA!

Two more questions:

1- WHITE WALLS? or BLACK WALLS?

2- and: cocker Bias ply front tire with slight wavy pattern for a better handling on turns OR traditional straight line pattern for a more period correct look and less handling...

Any words of advice (other than DON"T get bias plys) from anyone?

Thanks you all,

FAITH (heading out to work - yuk)

There is a simple math formula for determing the rear ratio. We need to know your RPMS at 60 mph ( true 60 ) and the height of your rear tires. ( How tall from the top of the tire at its highest point to the ground )

A taller tire will lower the overall gear ratio ... and could reduce the launch ... plus bias ply tires do not stick as well as radials ...

ALL non overdrive GM automatics have the same gear ratio in high ( 1 to 1 ) ... PowerGlide, Turbo 350 and Turbo 400's

You should know that your speedometer will be affected also ...

Originally Posted by HiboyGal

...................
1- WHITE WALLS? or BLACK WALLS?

2- and: cocker Bias ply front tire with slight wavy pattern for a better handling on turns OR traditional straight line pattern for a more period correct look and less handling...

Any words of advice (other than DON"T get bias plys) from anyone?

Thanks you all,

FAITH (heading out to work - yuk)

1-BLACK WALLS! Don't even think of white walls on that beautiful roadster.

2-ANY tread pattern that appears period.

JMO, but I think you will be back to radials before too long but, in the meantime, satisfy your curiosity.
Good luck! Jim

Have a friend who bought 4 bias ply with 3 inch wide whites, and he swapped them out for the radials. He has 4 almost new 15 inch 3 inch WW bias ply tires with rims and selling for $300 including rims. He didn't have them on a hiboy. I want to get tires of the same specifications, but not bias ply.

If you are interested or want to talk to him about his experience I can give you his number. He lives in Maryland so it won't be a local call, but could save you some money.

Going to bias tires? Make sure you are carrying some really good insurance on the car.... First time you get caught in the rain with bias tires on the roadster you will learn a whole new definition of "loose".... Oh yeah, even on dry pavement remember to slow down a bunch, going to have a lot of push in the front end. Also, gonna be a lot rougher of a ride, too. Other then that, bias ply tires are great!!!! Have fun.

In my opinion, ----"You'll be sorry". I had a 65 Mustang many, many, years ago, and when the tires wore out, I couldn't afford new ones. I went by a garage that sold tires, and a fellow offered me a set of bias ply tires for about 1/3 of the price of radials (which came on the car new). Being young and dumb, (as opposed to being old and dumb now) I took him up on the offer. The difference in ride and handling was absolutely incredible--WORSE, WORSE, WORSE!!!!---but---try it and see. I will be interested in your opinion of the difference.---Brian

I will go to a highest size or second to highest to fill my wheel well as much as possible.

I can't comment on the bias tires - I'm not that old -
Not really - I started driving in 1970 or so and never experimented.

However on tire size -

Engine RPMs remain the same.
Wheel RPMs will be reduced at any given speed (as they cover more ground per axle rotation)

Larger tire diameter will reduce acceleration to some extent.
Whether or not you feel it is another matter - and top end will get better!

Moving from 29" tires to 32" , assuming a 3.55 drive gear would yield -

29/32 X 3.55 = .8787... X 3.55 = 3.11.
That would be your 'perceived' rear-end ratio.

I believe your speed will also indicate a slower than actual speed as your tires cover more ground per transmission/drive shaft revolution.

If there is no way to identify the rearend ratio you could jack up the rear end, put transmission in neutral, block one wheel so it won't rotate, mark the driveshaft and count revolutions while helper rotates the other wheel one full revolution then multiply driveshaft rotations x2, thats assuming you have open rearend. To tell if you have open rear or trac loc jack up rear with both wheels off ground trans in neutral, rotate one rear wheel if the other spins in opposite direction you have open rear if they spin in the same direction you have trac loc. if you have trac loc you don't have to do the 2x multiplication but both wheels need to be off the ground and spin equally in the same direction. To figure the ratio a little more accurately you could rotate the rear wheel 10 full rotations, multiply driveshft revs x2 then divide by 10.
Example for open rear: 10 rotations of rear wheel=18.65 rotations of driveshaft. 18.65 x2 = 37.3 /10 = 3.73 rear ratio.
On the bias side I agree with what others have posted, they may have nostalgic look but at a great sacrafice to safety and handling, especially on these cars that are not great in that department anyway. The story in one of your other posts of having to hit the brakes hard to dodge some jerk that pulled in front of you comes to mind. . . . . ok, ok so you're not going to pay attention. . . . I like blacks.

I say do it... I want to do the same thing myself... My deuce is my first "street rod", but I have had repro bias plys on many musclecars, including my "other" Deuce, a 70 Yenko Nova. They have all driven just fine... maybe not as well as radials, but by no means as horrid as everyone claims. Unless the difference between radials and bias ply is much different on a hot rod as compared to a musclecar, the difference is not enough to worry about, and the look of bias plys over radials is like night and day...no, its more dramatic than that even.

I really don't have an opinion on one or the other..... But I do have a friend in Long Beach that owns Performance Plus so after you get a price from Croker give him a call and see if he can give you a better deal......
His name is Hank tell him Randy told you to call........ BTW if he's not in your best bet is to ask when he'll be in and call back


MM64

Faith: As Joeybsyc said, Bias tires are by "no means as horrid as everyone claims."

I grew up with them. I lived through the years when Radials failed routinely untill they learned to phosphate the steel wire to make the rubber adhear.

You will notice that they have a definite threshold then sliding around corners where radials let go progressively.

When you park over night, they have a "lump-lump-lump" for a few blocks untill they warm up. Heh, in winter it does get annoying.....

Go for it. It will give your ride a little old time flavor. MIZ

Yeah, run em. Have a ball!!!! I can't even conceive of how "look" could possibly convince me to go back to bias tires.... Heck, go all the "way back" and run an enclosed driveline with a broken off shank from a Craftsman screwdriver substituted for the axle spline key!!!! Then, throw out the seat belts and use a blue flame wrench to get more drop in the front axle!!! Any of us who lived through these things are totally clueless as to how "horrid" they are!!!!! Just a bunch of old geezers with bad memories, I guess!!!!

I mean heck, the "right look" is far more important then your own or safety or the safety of others on the highway....

Just about everything about street rodding is about "the look". If it wasn't, we'd just drive what everyone else drives. There's no question everything about modern cars is safer and more comfortable in just about every way... If thats what's most important to you, you should be driving a Camry. I'm all for safety in hotrods, I just don't understand where everyone got the idea that bias ply tires are so terrible and unsafe.

The horror stories about bias plys are BS IMO. Never have run anything else, never will. I've driven many times through blinding rains at highway speeds, and my '27 cornered like a sportscar too. I think radials on a fenderless car break up the "look."

As for size, I run 5:60 front, and L78-15 rears. You also want to order a narrower white wall on the front than the rear, or they look goofy. These sizes will give you a 26 inch front and 30 inch rear tire. Coker is where I shop.

Here is this combo on my kids T bucket we are building.


Don

Yeah, I'm brand new to this Hot Rodding deal and don't know a thing!!!