radial vs bias ply

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scremn

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I bought a set of Mickey Thompson Sportsman tires for my car last
year and not real happy with the ride. The tires are bias ply and as
far as suspension i have super stock springs and drag shocks on the
car. It is a 4-speed and the frame is tied. Rear tires are 29-15.50-15
and front are 26-7.50-15.I am considering buying a set of MT S/R
radials and wanted some opinions whether the tires would improve
the ride of the car. I know radials do ride better, but with the way
the car is set up, will it improve the ride enough to my liking. Thanks
for your input.
 
Bad ride is subjective.

Tell us, what about the ride do you not like.

We need to know where you are now and where you want to be.


It will most likely drive better with radials (but may not ride much better). Without more info I can't tell you if it will get you where you want to be.
 
Okay,
I am your guinea pig.

I just put the sportsman s/r's on my barracuda.

I have a four speed, ss springs, drag shocks, basically everything you described.

I had M/T sportsman pros in the rear and radials on the front.

My sportsman pros had a bouncy ride on the street not to mention alot of side to side sway especially on uneven roads.

Now I have the S/R radials on the back and the ride quality on the street has greatly improved.
I took it for 120 mile round trip yesterday for the first trip with the wheels and the handling greatly improved, feels like a totally different car.

I hope they are much better in the rain as the sportsmans would hydroplane badly even at super slow speeds.

The only thing I don't like is that the S/R radials did not come with the 12.5 inch tread pattern because I really liked the look of the fat tires in the back and I lost about 2 inches of tread width with the S/R's, but I think the ride quality outweighs the look so it did not take me long to fall in love with these tires.

The tires I bought are 30x12R15LT.

The only regret I have is that I should have got the 28x12.00R15LT's because the 30's are kinda tall, but still not much of a difference but for some reason I thought the 28's would look too small so I went with the 30's.

If I could swap them for 28's I would.

The suckers are not cheap so after I save some more money, I'm gonna get a set for the front wheels and go with a wider tread pattern for better handling although the car handles pretty darn good with the skinnies on the front but I have a really beefy front end as well.

Hope I answered your questions.

If you want any more info just shoot me a P/M.

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Quote: My sportsman pros had a bouncy ride on the street not to mention alot of side to side sway especially on uneven roads.

Spaz, the swaying part could be because you were running bias ply and radials at the same time, something you should never do.
 
demon seed said:
Quote: My sportsman pros had a bouncy ride on the street not to mention alot of side to side sway especially on uneven roads.

Spaz, the swaying part could be because you were running bias ply and radials at the same time, something you should never do.
Click to expand...

Yeah, you are correct, but I also had the bouncy feeling from the rear as well and it is no longer there, but I know what you said is absolutey right.

I also has a set of my buddies sportsman bias tires on the front for a while and I still had the same feel that I did with radials on the front.
 
Thanks for the replys fellas. I should have mentioned the bounce, but
for some reason, i brainlocked. Looks like i will be selling the Sportsmans
and buying some S/R radials really soon. By the way, Cudaspaz, I really
like your car.
 
scremn said:
Thanks for the replys fellas. I should have mentioned the bounce, but
for some reason, i brainlocked. Looks like i will be selling the Sportsmans
and buying some S/R radials really soon. By the way, Cudaspaz, I really
like your car.
Click to expand...

Glad you like it.

You should have no problem selling the sportsman tires here.

Let us know what size tires you go with, and post the pics of your car so we can see the goodies. LOL.
 
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