Driving On Ply Tires

[Stewart A.]

I have been driving my 1960 Vette to work and back most days now. I have been blessed in my car purchase that it came with a set of standard ply tyres, I've never had the chance to dive on rag tyres before. I think the best way to describe driving on them, would be to deflate your radial tyres to around 10 psi. It's fine in straight lines but don't dare change direction. The side walls just don't have comparable strength to steel belts. There is a 1/4 mile category in the states called F.A.S.T. ( factory authentic stock tyres). It's a muscle car catagory and the rules stipulate they must use stock factory ply tyres that the cars come out with. These cars are now pulling around high 10's with only 6 -7 inch ply tyres on the rear. Better them than me.
I had a nice stretch of quiet road last night so I pulled over and tried a couple of full 1/4 mile passes. After the tyres finally gripped in second I managed to get around 115- 120 mph before backing off. I was not game enough to push it any harder top end but the tyres were great not nervous at high end speed and they hold on when braking very hard as well. Just don't turn to hard in them they will let you down, and as for the wet just don't drive your car it's just to dangerous it's like driving on ice.
Is anyone else driving on ply tyres regularly. Stewy

[Bruce B.]

Re: Driving On Ply Tires

I have a set of BF Goodrich bias ply tires on my 57 and the car drives nicely, in a straight line. They are the original 670 15 size and are inflated to 35 PSI.
I will replace them after I get the car judged if I decide to keep the car.
I have 3 other early Corvettes and since I drive them frequently they have been changed to radial tires. They ride better, steer better and are no doubt much safer.
If you drive a lot which it seens you do, I would invest in a nice set of P205 75 R15 tires for your 60 Corvette.

[Stewart A.]

Re: Driving On Ply Tires

Yep I'm looking into a set of radials as we speak. Stewy

[Stuart F.]

Re: Driving On Ply Tires

Night and Day. I'd never go back, specially if I want to keep living.

Stu Fox

[Bruce B.]

Re: Driving On Ply Tires

Stu,
Where are you located in Australia?
I shipped a lot of parts to a guy with a 58 Corvette in ****ara Perth 6065 Western Australia.
Bruce B

[Richard S.]

Re: Driving On Ply Tires

stewy; i've driven with bias ply tires on my 64 f.i. with 4:11 gears for about 10 years. have gone thru 3 sets,can only get 8 to 10,000 miles on a set. freeway driving they tend to follow the overlaps in the road and when it rains look out, those pedestrian paint stripes are really slippery. but i like the way they look and would not put radials on it. richard

[Dale S.]

Re: Driving On Ply Tires

I am not saying radials are not better, But I was a traveling salesman, My first set of radials were Michelin on a 71 Caprice. (150.00 pricey). I put on a lot of miles on rayon tires. 48 Desoto, 55 Ply, 58 Ford. 59 Ford, 61 Ford, 62 Ford, 64 1/2 Mustang, 67 Corvette, 68 Impala, 71 Caprice. If they were that bad I would be dead. Stu, you know the road from Calsbad N.M to El Paso Texas (you could make good time, Lots of open highway in southern N.M in the 1950,60, and 70's. I sure would not run a 100 MPH on 2 lane old 66 at night anymore either. Dale

[Stewart A.]

Re: Driving On Ply Tires

Bruce Perth is a zillion miles from me. It's on the West Coast surrounded by desert. Very isolated city with the best beaches and weather on the planet. It's real Aussie out back there. The road into it is called the Nullahbor and it is the longest stretch of road ever. longroad.jpg The road goes for 1672 miles of desert it's a shocker.
But if you like you can send me lots of C1 parts too if you would like to. Stewy

[Stewart A.]

Re: Driving On Ply Tires

I have driven my rag tire car in the wet once and once only. I could not get any speed it just spun 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th. I just rolled and when I needed to get going I just spun the wheels in all 4 gears again and rolled when I got some speed up. Never ever, ever again I could have wiped the car off. Stewy

[Stuart F.]

Re: Driving On Ply Tires

With my last set of bias ply tires, the wife and I went to the lake front in Chicago to participate in a Chevy commercial shoot. They had us parked like entrants in a car show with people milling about. Those of us with convertibles were asked to drop our tops. On about the 20th take we got a brief shower, and most of us classic car nuts shouted "CUT!!", but they wanted to do one more take with the cars and pavement all wet, after which they were kind enough to attack our cars with dirty towels to dry them off (kill, kill!). That was enough for me, so I requested release and payoff as the weather was lookin bad. They gave me my $200.00 bucks and off I went on the long drive home through Chicago. A few blocks out it began to rain in earnest. I had to make a quick turn in traffic to get on the street that takes us to the Ike expressway. I barely blipped it and proceeded to do a 360 right in the middle of a busy intersection. Luckly, no contact, just a big scare. My wipers decided to quit working as well so the trip home in work break traffic was quite an experience. My wife has never gone for another ride in the Vette since then (good? Bad?), and I decided then that I had to get radials, to hell with the show car scene.

My last convincing episode was one last ride before shipping the car to our new home in Florida. I went out and ran up through the gears (100 mph +). Upon return to my garage, I noticed some noise and vibrations. On inspection, I saw big chucks of the treads were missing out of two tires. What more evidence did I need?

Stu Fox

[Jim L.]

Re: Driving On Ply Tires

I have a 67 corvette which has bias ply tires and I would like to switch to radials for better handling etc. What size radials would be the best for me to purchase? I have looked online at Coker tires and there are quite a few sizes available. Is Coker a good place to go or would a national brand be just as good?

Thanks

Jim Leonard

[John H.]

Re: Driving On Ply Tires

Jim -

Judging-wise, either 205/75 or 215/70 are acceptable (with the usual standard deductions) as the service replacement size for the original 7.75-15; the 205/75's will have zero rubbing issues with stock wheels.

Coker reproduction radials are made in an old Michelin plant in Mexico; I've had two sets over the years that weren't round and took excessive weight to balance, so I don't recommend them. I prefer high-volume tires made in a modern tire factory.

[Francis F.]

Re: Driving On Ply Tires

yea I can vouch for John's post,coker tires I got for my 60 (wide whites)look just great but the tire guys had to use a lot of lead to keep em on the road

[Jim L.]

Re: Driving On Ply Tires

Thanks to all who responded to my initial post. I'll definitely stay away from Coker, particularly since there are numerous mass produced tires made by reputable manufacturers as opposed to the Mexican plant. As recommended I'll go with the 205-75R15's so I don't have any rubbing problems.
Can't wait to get the new tires as it's sometimes pretty scary with the bias ply tires.

Thanks again

Jim

[Clark K.]

Re: Driving On Bias-Ply Tires

The bias-ply tires look great on the cars that came with them. Nothing beats them for period-correct appearance. With that written, anyone who wants to run at high speeds or run at any speed on wet roads NEEDS to upgrade to radials.

I do not drive my car when the roads are wet. But, there was one time when it rained while I was driving home from a car show. (Insert primal scream, here) The car is "squirelly" (to use a Texas phrase) in the wet with these tires. And, yes, on dry pavement, they "try to follow" the road grooves.

I am going to hazard a guess and write that the chap who had chunks of his bias-ply tires come off was running old tires, perhaps ten years old or more. Once any tire gets that old, place them in the recycling bin for safety reasons. Here is a link that may be useful: http://resources.coker.com/tire-tech...ial-tires.html

My concours-winning Sting Ray is a rare Red/Red '65 L76 (327/365) coupe with factory A/C. Since the bias-ply tires the car now wears came with the car, I have accepted them. I am in the process of taking my car all the way to a National level Top Flight (car earned Chapter Top Flight 4/09 with 96.2%). These tires will stay on until I have achieved my goal. Then, as soon as my goal is reached, off with the bias-ply tires and on with the radials. But, I may decide to buy another set of wheels just for the radials. -Clark