ClassicCar

What Ken said !! Hudson Dave sells them. Richie.

I'm with Ken and Diamondback too. Have them on both Hudsons (47 & 51) and love them. Staying nice and white, and rolling smooth.

Those tires in the picture are Coker Classics, good luck with those......I certainly didn't have good luck with mine, neither did Walt Mordenti, Dave Sollon, and many others. Our Coker Classics all suffer catastrophic tread separations at less than 10,000 miles, mine took a $#*T at less than 3000 miles. A bad waste of $$$.

Sorry you guys had bad experiences. My experiences are the other side of the coin. I have them on all my classics--and that would number about ten. I had them on the car that I raced on the Bonneville Salt Flats and set a new speed record for a stock 52 Hornet and then drove the car to California twice. Did about 12,000 miles that summer. I work with Big O tires in my area and never have had a problem.

Paul- I've been running standard radials since 05 on stock riveted stepdown wheels with no tubes and no leaks...

I need wide whites for the 33 Terraplane this year, are the Diamondback tires available for those applications?

I put radials on my 49 Commodore. Great at high speeds, harsh ride low speeds. I went with a new set of Goodyear Supercushions from Lucas, with 4 1/4 wide whites. They are OK at high speeds, and great around town, and look good.

Kelsey tire company
http://www.kelseytire.com/pages/antique&classictires.html

Yes, when you hit the road that has cement laid and is not level, you will never have the steering wheel move in your hand. Bias ply tires will throw from side to side. Put Radials on and enjoy better steering. Walt.

I drove the same car ('50C6 sedan) from Escondido, CA to Nashville, TN to the 1999 HET national with bias ply tires - it was terrifying!

Well, Some one answered, "what do you plan on using the car for?" . I had a set of BFG Silvertowns(bias) for 20 years. Two years ago I replaced them. Great tire for occasional fun drives and authenticity( as I use my Hornet), but crumby for parallel road defects. But... unless you plan on changing the radial tires every 6-7 years you risk belt failure in a radial from sitting and inside out deteriation. Lets hear the guys with radials talk about tire failure on trips. You know who you are.Then how many with bias ply tires had failure , not due to a road hazard. If you drive your Hudson 6 or 7000 miles a year radials may be worth it. I don't. I put on less than 1000 per year, and with that radials need to be rotated off before their time & that is costly. Advisory: a slight change in alignment is probably a good idea with radials as well. Just last month my daughter complained that her 2003 Impala was pulling right. Why with only 6000 miles(4 years) on her radials a front tire belt was blistered and ready to blow. Same thing on my friends Perrellis tire blew costing $8000 in body work when the belts tore apart the fender well. If I want a car to handle like a new 2012 Vette I'll buy a Vette. Sorry guys that's my IMO.

I have 7.60 15 Universal WWW's on my Hornet, and it trams along all the road ridges, but it steers nice and easy, and rides well. I'm not replacing them because I don't use it that much, and they are only 1/4 worn yet. I think the biggest problem with them is the very rounded cross-section, with very small footprint On the Jet I have 6.40 15 Dunlop C49 cross plies, and it rides handles and steers perfect. I tried it on 185/15 radials and it was a dog, harsh riding and heavy to steer. To each their own! I think the Hornet would be much better on 7.10's with a wide tread pattern, but I've got to wear the present ones out first.

Ron S "But... unless you plan on changing the radial tires every 6-7 years you risk belt failure in a radial from sitting and inside out deteriation."

What is there about the construction of a radial ply tyre that makes it more prone to deterioration from these causes than a bias ply tyre?

The following is not a bias vs radial argument. Additionally, I am not a tire engineer, but here is the skinny as it has been put to me to answer the question about radial deterioration vs. bias ply deterioration (this is really only useful for those folks who only drive their cars a few thousand miles a year or less . . . doesn't include Walt! ):

The #1 Radial Commandment: RADIALS HAVE TO BE EXERCISED

Radials that are not exercised deteriorate due to three main reasons:

1. Radials get "tighter" as they roll down the road. The actually develop a "memory" of sorts and the cables which make up the belt get tighter and stronger as they travel down the road. This "memory" means that a RH or passenger side tire MUST stay on the RH side of the car and vice-versa for a LH tire. Which, by the way is why one should never rotate radial tires by swapping sides. Radials always stay on the same side when rotating (Bias plies get swapped side to side for even wear). If a LH radial gets swapped to the RH side (or vice versa), it will "unwind", so to speak and come unglued, or more literally, come flying apart and destroy your beltline trim, and whatever else is in the way. Idle tires will loosen up over time.

2. Radials have thinner walls than bias plies, which is notable by the "paunch" on the bottom of the radial when the tire on the car is touching the ground. Parked cars with radials or bias plies will develop flat spots in the tire from long spells of idleness. Noticeable by the "thump, thump, thump" when driving, bias ply flat spots will even out and go away. Radials they will not, but will eventually develop "bubbles", followed by the aforementioned "flying apart".

3. Because of 1. & 2. above, non-exercised radials loosen up, so to speak and literally dry-rot from the inside out. All of which, can be avoided by exercising your radials.

I've always been of the mind (concerning Hudsons), that bias was for show, radials were for go. Here in the near future, I hope to be buying the convertible's tires and have always known that I would be buying radials as I plan on driving the car. However, as of late, I am firmly in the middle of the fence and am now completely undecided.

Bob, I hope Russell addressed your question. I have a friend in the UK that is in the Jaguar Registry. He advised me of a safety requirement to replace radials( virtually all tires in Europe) every 6 years in UK. Pricey! Is there a similar requirement down under or NZ ?

Walt here; I have 215/75R-15 on my 53 Hornet and get 80,000 miles, then change them, and the tire store want to know why am I changing them, they are not down to the wear bar yet. I run38 front and 36 pounds rear set cold and we enjoy the ride. I drive them 500 miles a day when crossing the country. Tires are all about on how you use them. What's good for me is not good for someone else. Too each his own.

you mean you have a Hudson, and don't drive it?? Walt.

What about blown rims with radials due to increased side pressure. Is this a myth or what?

About the time I was deciding to go with bias, I heard about another guy who blew a rim on the way to the Pitt Nat. Scared me a little.

Apparently Walt doesn't have a problem and he drives more miles than anybody. And some of us, have been known for re-defining the speed limit with these Hudsons.

Im sure the fact it would easily smoke both rear tires had nothing to do with the failure -

Heh, heh, heh! L-)

My rims are Hudson 5 inch originals, have a total of 230,000 miles and never a problem. Those that put bigger tires on are the problem. Mine are mounted tube less and like I stated with my air pressure. That is why Hudson used 51/2 inch rims on hard tops and conv to go 1 size bigger. 215 is the biggest you can mount on the 5 inch rim. Those that split is because they are rusted and metal is thin. Walt.

I'm going to re-ieterate, but only once.

RADIALS MUST BE EXERCISED

For those of you that exercise your radials, THERE IS NO PROBLEM. It's when you DON'T exercise them, that problems can delvelop.


(P.S. Psssst! Same goes for the rest of your car!! Hint, hint. Nudge, nudge.)