bias ply tires

GOW

GOW

Senior Member
any one have advice/opinion on how many hours or distance would you drive a 1940 sedan with new bias ply tires and tubes at highway speeds 55-60 mph. do I need to worry about heat build up in the tubes.and popping...I remember when it was a trip to drive 50 miles ...and the days when flat tires were common......any thoughts?
 
I have Bias ply tires on my 36 pickup, I have driven it 200 miles in one day, that is the most in one day and had no trouble. I was in Tahoe at the Grand national and asked people who drove there cars if they had any trouble, and the trouble was mechanical if they had any. no tire trouble
 
I have only ever run bias ply on Old Henry and have taken many long road trips driving all day hundreds of miles with no problems. Just make sure the air pressure is right on. I did ruin a tire once on a trip when it leaked way down and I didn't realize it until it was too late. It just went out of round. I still used it the rest of the trip and Coker replaced it for free when I got home.
 
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I have driven my Firestone/Coker bias ply tires well over 500 miles a day on several occasions. The Bias ply tires built today use modern materials in the original molds. The only real difference between the radials and modern bias ply's are the driving characteristics.
The Great Race is finishing today, many of the contestants have made the journey from St.Paul Minnesota to Mobile Alabama using bias ply tires.... drive em!
 
I drove near 100,000 miles over 20 years and only ever put my spare on to use it before it went hard and ruined, and we have pretty hot temperatures here in Northern Australia. Keep your air pressures spot on and drive it!!
(obviously different sets of bias tyres, but never had a flat)
 
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Twenty two years ago I drove our '39 CS from Long Island, NY to Tampa, Florida on a set of 6.50x16 Goodyear’s that were at least ten years old at the time...:eek: The car had a 6.00x16 spare but I never had to use it.:) Now I run 6.00x16 Radial tires without tubes on the '39 CS, a much nicer ride and the total elimination of the "Bias Tire Boogie".:D Go ahead and drive the tires & wheels off of the '40.:cool:
 
Only issue I had back in the day was trying to save a few bucks on 2 ply bias tires . Bad move ......4 ply bias ( I liked Allstate ) were very reliable .

T
 
I drove my 34 3w from California to Kentucky and back on Firestone Bias ply tires without any trouble. I put 40k miles on that car with the same tires....
 
In August 1992 I drove my 39 Mercury coupe from Atlanta, Ga to Coeur dAlene, Idaho and back on 600:16 bias ply tires. I also drove that same Mercury Coupe, on the same tires, from Dearborn, MI to Atlanta, GA, straight through, at 65 to 70 MPH, only stopping for gas, meals and potty breaks. 800 miles in one day. My buddy Jerry Grayson was right with me all the way in his 39 Standard Coupe. Both of us on 6:00X16 bias ply tires. No problems at all.
 
I'm still driving on my old real Firestones 670 x 15 (+15 yrs old) w/ tubes. They are better than the new ones, and will probably last forever. I can't believe what I see at the car shows now days - tires that are 5-6 years old with cracks! That sucks!
 
Here's me in September 2006 inflating the old bias ply tires of Old Henry after he'd sat outside by the side of mom's house for 31 years. As you can see, they were all sunk in the ground and had been flat for 30 years. All 4 tires inflated just fine and I ran the car on them during the restoration process for a year before replacing them with new white wall bias ply tires.

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The nices part of Bias ply tires is: you can run then on the railroad tracks. The radials will fall off, the bias ply wrap around.
 
I don't think my bias ply tires would wrap since the centers on mine are 59" and railroad tracks are only 56½".:rolleyes:
 
I'm on the fence about this, I was sold on getting radials with smoothie rims and putting disc brakes on up front but it may be easier and cheaper to just fix what I have. I have a set of 30+ year old Riverside 525-550-17s on right now for rolling the truck around. Since I don't really expect to go on the highway like I originally planned, it may stop and drive fine with the hydraulic brakes and new bias tires. Still though, I want it safe since I live in a heavy populated area.
 
blu dice the car I used for the Tahoe meet had bias tyres put on iyt 35 year ago they are firestone ww now the funny thing about these tyres is that they where made in new Zealand and exported up to states if you have some old tyres chech the inside of them to where they made firestore ev entuly took the moulds to s/America don't know where they are now
 
52merc said:
blu dice the car I used for the Tahoe meet had bias tyres put on iyt 35 year ago they are firestone ww now the funny thing about these tyres is that they where made in new Zealand and exported up to states if you have some old tyres chech the inside of them to where they made firestore ev entuly took the moulds to s/America don't know where they are now
Click to expand...

I think Coker has the molds now, but I don't think they make them like they were made in the old days - they just don't last anymore. I never thought to look to see where these tires were made-just assumed they were made here.
 
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