Driving a BB with original bias ply tires?
05-26-2003, 09:31 AM
#1
Burning Brakes
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Driving a BB with original bias ply tires?
I just was wondering how many guys are driving a 427 or 454 vette with the original or reproduction style bias ply F-70 tires. If so, it must be very hard to keep them from going up in smoke! Its no wonder that so many older vettes were put into a tree or a ditch. My car is so much better now with the 255-60's but at about 5000 rpm's I better be going straight....
05-26-2003, 11:55 AM
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Safety Car
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St. Jude Donor '08-'09-'10-'11-'12-'13-'14-'15
Re: (MNJack)
My guess would be "none" except for maybe the guy who slips on a set for NCRS judged shows. :) They would certainly hurt your 1/4 mile times! :lol: MJ
Driving with these tires can be an adventure at times. :steering:
05-26-2003, 03:00 PM
#7
Safety Car
Re: Driving a BB with original bias ply tires? (467-Ratman)
I used to race my big block car with the 215/70/15 BF Goodrich Radial TAs. No they aren't bias ply but it was sure an adventure.
The 28x11.5x15 Mickey Thompson ET Streets I have on the back are bias ply. Let me tell you, pulling out to pass someone is definitely a "white knuckled" experience. The tire sure do hook up great from a dead stop though :) .
The 28x11.5x15 Mickey Thompson ET Streets I have on the back are bias ply. Let me tell you, pulling out to pass someone is definitely a "white knuckled" experience. The tire sure do hook up great from a dead stop though :) .
05-26-2003, 05:43 PM
#9
Melting Slicks
Re: Driving a BB with original bias ply tires?
I just was wondering how many guys are driving a 427 or 454 vette with the original or reproduction style bias ply F-70 tires. If so, it must be very hard to keep them from going up in smoke!
Currently available reproduction tires, depending upon the manufacturer, can appear very close to the originals. Of course like everything else on these cars, the tires were date coded and someone with knowledge of the codes can identify them in short order... Along with the variations in appearance noted earlier. My personal opinion is that it is not very enjoyable to drive a car with the reproduction tires. The car will want to wander a bit in straight line driving (even with the correct alignment settings for the old tires) and the tires have a tendancy to flat spot if the car is left sitting for an appreciable length of time. The sidewalls are not nearly as stiff as today's high performance tires so handling will suffer a bit in this regard too.
Having said that, the guys running in the "pure stock" drag racing events don't seem to have a whole lot of trouble getting their cars to hook up at the strip using the old bias ply tires. The quicker big block cars tyically clock high 1.8/low 1.90 sixty foot times with elapsed times in the low 12s... Not too bad for cars with full factory exhaust (and just goes to show what a good driver and a lot of practice can accomplish). I would imagine there are a few people on this forum who wouldn't mind turning those times... Even if their car was stock... :)
In any case, radial tires are almost certainly a better choice for a street driven car.
Regards,
05-26-2003, 06:52 PM
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Re: Driving a BB with original bias ply tires? (Rowdy Rat)
From personal experience, the sooner I get those tires off of my car, the better. The handling is terrible. Even driving down a straight, freshly paved road, the car wants to wander. But have other priorities first.
05-26-2003, 08:19 PM
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Re: Driving a BB with original bias ply tires? (Rowdy Rat)
Having said that, the guys running in the "pure stock" drag racing events don't seem to have a whole lot of trouble getting their cars to hook up at the strip using the old bias ply tires. The quicker big block cars tyically clock high 1.8/low 1.90 sixty foot times with elapsed times in the low 12s... Not too bad for cars with full factory exhaust (and just goes to show what a good driver and a lot of practice can accomplish). I would imagine there are a few people on this forum who wouldn't mind turning those times... Even if their car was stock... :)
The only Vette in the show was a 72 LT-1 coupe running 13.9s.
05-27-2003, 04:39 AM
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Re: Driving a BB with original bias ply tires? (72 Stingray)
a little off topic for this thread, but ive got a relative thats into these things. hes running a block bored 60 over. as far as i understand you can bore and stroke to whatever your block can take, and if the car had a certain engine as an option you can run it even if your particular car didnt have it when it rolled off the showroom. nitrous/cheater systems are a big NO-NO. ive gotten some pictures and things(somewhere :lol: ) of the ZL-1 camaro, and i guess he just had to prove that camaros of that year could be bought with the ZL-1 and then poof! you can drop a ZL-1 in and it will be "stock." i think it would be a blast to see a "L-88" or "ZL-1" vette run in this. in particular i like the sticker in the back of the
ZL-1 camaro window-
YOUR HEMI WONT RUN WITH THIS
--------------ZL-1--------------------
[Modified by Yellow79, 9:44 AM 5/27/2003]
ZL-1 camaro window-
YOUR HEMI WONT RUN WITH THIS
--------------ZL-1--------------------
[Modified by Yellow79, 9:44 AM 5/27/2003]
