COMET CENTRAL

I guess I need to actually buy some tires before I can put the car back on the ground. I had 225/75/15 on the rear before. I thought they looked great as far as filling the opening, but they were a huge pain getting on and off. So, got some new wheels, 15x6, and I'm thinking of a 225/70, I know not a huge difference but I think between the tire and the different Wheel, it'll work. The question now is, do I go back with just some radial tire, or would it be worth the cool factor to put a G70 bias ply on it? You know to go with the old school hot rod look. Size is the same, just not sure about ride quality vs radial. Price seems backwards, bias ply is higher? maybe just the ones Ive looked at so far. What are your thoughts?

225/70 is a shorter tire than a 225/75. is that what you want? I'm thinking you wanted a little bit more narrow. the tire size goes like this; the 225/75 is 225 millimeters wide & the side wall is 75 % of that 225mm ,,,, so 225mm = 8 55/64'' wide & 168.75mm = 6 41/64'' side wall height. but this doesnt tell you your diameter. Confusing? well that just your old tire so imagine trying to figure out what to go to, that's why most people use tire calculators. I like this one the best because it not only gives you the numbers of 2 different sizes for comparison you can get a visual on a profile & straight on over in the upper right corner ,just click the side by side bttons above the little tire icons to change it the view. You can enter any size tire & click calculate to find the perfect size for you. Pretty sure it Jim that showed us this calculator,,thanks again Jim, I love this one!!!!
https://www.tacomaworld.com/tirecalc?ti ... -225-70r15

Hey Poboy. Thanks. I think I'm good on the size. A little shorter will be fine, the width is fine, and my hope is the combo of the narrower rim and slightly shorter tire will make it easier to get on and off AND look almost the same as it does now, fit-wise. Old school look of bias ply or a radial of some kind, that's where I'm stuck.

rjones35 wrote:Old school look of bias ply or a radial of some kind, that's where I'm stuck.

You said you went to 15x6 wheels, which I assume are narrower than the wheels you had on it. Each 1/2" reduction in rim width will reduce the tire width by 0.2" for the same tire.
I'm not surprised that bias tires cost more than radials since they are primarily produced as specialty tires for restoration use. Not a big market, and volume dictates price, so you're paying an up-charge for the bias tires. As to which is better, it depends on your application. If it's going to be a daily driver or cruiser of any distance, you'll probably want the ride quality and safety of the radial. If you plan to use the car primarily to show, take to local cruise-ins and the occasional trip to the ice cream parlor, the bias tires would work fine. JMO, of course.
Jim

Thanks Jim. Probably won't be a daily driver, but I would like to think I could hop in and drive to wherever and not have to worry about tires. Sounds like radials would be the way to go, drive ability and cost win!!

radials are what's on mine,and my comet has been driven many many miles ,I tried bias back in he 90's,,the ride is in the radials........jmo....pop..{14x6 {all 4} 215 70 frt 225 70 on rear....

Got 13 inch rims on Scarlett, tires have been a pain to find. What are bias?

go to YAHOO,TYPE IN BIAS TIRE AND CLICK AND SCROLL DOWN TO THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN RADIAL AND BIAS,,that is some good info ........come to find out radial tires have been around since 1946.........

This is a good reference.

https://tiresize.com/height-chart/

popscomet wrote:radials are what's on mine,and my comet has been driven many many miles ,I tried bias back in he 90's,,the ride is in the radials........jmo....pop..{14x6 {all 4} 215 70 frt 225 70 on rear....

I think the only car I've ever had bias on was a pro street vega back in the day, and it wasn't much of a ride, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't totally because of the tires.

A buddy of a friend of mine has a shop here in Kansas City that sells a lot of used stuff, one of just a couple of what I would call "speed shops" left in town, he's having a big parking lot sale tomorrow. I'm gonna see if by chance he has some tires laying around. It's Accurate Performance in Kansas City, KS. if anybody is in town.

I'm anxious to get this car rolling again!!

WAS always told to never cross sides with a radial,frt to back,back to frt...on the same side !! was told today's radial's aren't that way...but being from the good ol days,,I still won't cross them....SO with this mind set,I will not buy used radial tires,cause I don't know for sure which side they were 1st run on...unless they have been marked...but that;s just OL POP....set in his ways !

popscomet wrote:WAS always told to never cross sides with a radial

That was the case back in the late 60's/early 70's when radials really began to be promoted. Casing separations were more prevalent then, and were attributed to cross-rotating the tires, which caused the tire to rotate in the opposite direction from its original "set". Whether it was that, or that separation failures were just more frequent on the earlier radials, design and quality improvements during the 70's brought the failure rate down to a "normal" level, whether x-rotating or not. The method I've used for decades is to move the front tires straight back and cross the back tires to the front. That way it takes four rotations for a tire to end up in the same position, which allows the tire to wear more evenly. I've only had one separation, and that was after an intimate encounter with a pothole. Can't rotate my Comet front to rear due to different sizes, so I'll just rotate them side to side when the time comes. It'll be a long time between rotations since I'm only putting pleasure miles on it.
Jim

Don't go bias in the front, you'll feel every groove in the road, I have a set that I run on one of my cars for a nostalgic super stock look and they jump all over the place at any amount of speed, the same car on the same roads with radials drives nice. I do run bias in the rear on a few with no ill effect. I look up tires on Summits site cause they have the dimensions listed and allow you to compare tires side by side. On a 49 Buick my brother built were the rear tires were hard to get on and off we had the axles drilled and tapped for studs (like on early VWs) and it added a lot of clearance to change tires.

I'd be curious of your back space to fit that tire and wheel combo on a 63, I assuming stock axle and wheel housings. I have trouble with 14X6.5s in the rear of mine.

Thanks! I think I've narrowed down the fronts to some 165/80/15 radials on 15x4 or 4.5 wheels. I think heightwise it'll be right on. The rear wheels I have on there now have 15x6 with 3.625 backspace according to Summit. I didn't measure them. Fit great with 225/70s. Not tons of clearance, but enough. I like the idea of drilling and tapping the axles, that would certainly simplify things.