bias ply vs radial?

[tigercat]

i hava a 92 explorer sport 2wd and want to make it a mud truck so i got a 2 inch lift and now it is time for tires i looked at 33x14.00 15 boggers for the back and sigma powerking super highway lt for the front(very narrow tire). these tires are both bias ply. so when i went to the tire store the guy told me that i cant put bias ply tires on a explorer. so my question is why cant i and is there anything i can do to be able to use bias ply tires on a explorer?

 

[patrick112390]

honestly go tell that guy your gonna put tractor tires on your explorer if you want! but basically, after the whol firestone fiasco, everywhere that sells tires will not mount any tire thats bigger/smaller on an explorer

 

[little x]

I do, as do many members of the forum. I wouldn't recommend it for daily driving. If it's just an off road truck then go for it. They give better grip then radials. But they flat spot in no time. Meaning that if you let the truck sit for 8 hours at work, when you get back in the ride will be extremely bumpy like all the tires are WAY off balance (they are) for the first several miles. If you let it sit over-night it will take longer for the tires to heat up, and the bumpy/shaking ride will last longer. If you let it sit for a week or two in the middle of winter, be ready to shake for a LONG time.

Edit: you can always just take your wheels in and not tell them it's for an X. Heeps have the same bolt pattern.

 

[tigercat]

would there be any safety concerns that i need to worry about?

 

[wrigley_1285]

i'm kind of curious about what the difference is between bias ply and radial tires also. does one last longer? are they a different rubber hardness or softness? it the tread depth deeper/shallower? what causes the flat spots when you park your truck? which one is best for different conditions? and so on and so forth...

 

[patrick112390]

radials have plys that go in all directions i think... and bias ply are just straight around.... the main upsides of radials are no flat spotting (not nearly as much as bias...) and they tend to have less "squirm" on the road.... but when your running a 33'' tire on a 15 inch rim-theres not much you can do about squirm

 

[briwayjones]

Radials are more durable. The have cording that run around the tire and across the tire. Bias ply just runs around the tire tire I think, or maybe it's across. I don't remember but only in one direction. Radials have more flexible sidewalls and are more durable running at low air pressure. Bias plys don't like low pressure at all. Radials last longer and tend to hold their tread better.

 

[BLOODBANE]

honestly go tell that guy your gonna put tractor tires on your explorer if you want! but basically, after the whol firestone fiasco, everywhere that sells tires will not mount any tire thats bigger/smaller on an explorer

Find a different tire shop. As far as a daily driver goes I would recommend Radials(its what I have on the Explorer now), but for a mud truck BOGGERs are the only way to go.......

 

[briwayjones]

Find a different tire shop. As far as a daily driver goes I would recommend Radials(its what I have on the Explorer now), but for a mud truck BOGGERs are the only way to go.......

Do Boggers only come in Bias Ply?

 

[BLOODBANE]

Yea. And unless it gets super cold they really aren't bad(flat spots). You notice it and then it goes away. They wear fast on a DD though.....The 35's I bought in July were 250 a tire, When I priced them last month they were310........For a radial you might check out the Mickey Thompson Claws....

 

[JMan689]

They wear fast on a DD though

How long did yours last? I've heard them wearing down in 2k miles.

 

[BLOODBANE]

Mine were shot in 12000/15000 miles(about a year and a half)Really not bad for what they are, but a second set of tires really come in handy.

 

[little x]

Radials are more durable. Radials have more flexible sidewalls and are more durable running at low air pressure. Bias plys don't like low pressure at all.

I thought this was exactly opposite. Because the tread is much more flexible it allows the side walls to flex more, giving more grip as the tire "wraps" around rocks better. Also, most companies that make the same tire in both bias and radial make the bias with an extra side wall layer (much more durable).

 

[briwayjones]

I thought this was exactly opposite. Because the tread is much more flexible it allows the side walls to flex more, giving more grip as the tire "wraps" around rocks better. Also, most companies that make the same tire in both bias and radial make the bias with an extra side wall layer (much more durable).

I think maybe they make them with the extra layer on the sidewall since they are not reinforced as well as radials the help give them more strength.

My dad has had 10 ton trailers for 30 years and up until the most recent one they used bias ply tires. The bias plys would not last very well, they would loose their tread, and have structural tire failures and get bubbles in so forth in them. The radials sidewalls flex noticeably more and doesn't have the trouble with them not lasting and loosing tread and getting bubbles and such.

 

[tigercat]

what im saying is are they safe to put on my x or will the decrease safety?

 

[BLOODBANE]

Other than a loss of lateral traction(extreme conditions)at times, I have never had a problem running BOGGERS. I wouldn't air down to single digits(I have had mine to 10psi once) without beadlocks. But otherwise if your rims are in good shape, and they are balanced you should be good to go.

 

[HahnsB2]

radials have plys that go in all directions i think... and bias ply are just straight around.... the main upsides of radials are no flat spotting (not nearly as much as bias...) and they tend to have less "squirm" on the road.... but when your running a 33'' tire on a 15 inch rim-theres not much you can do about squirm

You've got it backwards. Bias Ply have sidewall plys in all directions, radials the all go in the same direction from the center of the tire outward.

Bias plys flatspot, wiggle around on the road, yet off road the sidewalls are so stiff from so many ply the don't flex as well, but the strength gained is well worth it I think. FWIW I don't use my LTBs on the street much, my BFG MTs ride a whole lot better.

 

[hilton850]

I agree with HahnsB2. Radials have all plies running in the same direction...that's what makes the sidewall more flexible. I think at low pressures on the trail it's a toss up between bias ply and radials...given the same tire at the same pressure. Bias are more durable when it comes to puncture resistance but radials are more flexible. Where lots of people run into trouble with bias ply tires is the air pressure on the highway. If you let the air pressure get too low in a bias ply tire they will build up lots of internal heat from the thick sidewalls flexing (which ironically is the same problem they had with the firestone radials on these rigs...evidently this was a design/manufacturing issue for firestone). If they get hot enough then chunks of tread will come off as briwayjones said about the trailer tires. On the trail the speeds are so much slower the heat does not build up in the tires at low pressures so it's not an issue. Just keep plenty of air in them when you're on the pavement and you should be fine.

 

[little x]

^^ That's odd. I have 34x10.5 LTB's and I only run them at 26 psi on the road. Any more then that and I just ride on the center section without any wear on the outside/inside of the tread. Actually I would like to drop it lower to get a more even tread wear, but the ride is just too sluggish, and 26 psi is where I landed in the 'gray' area between tread wear and handling . But I guess my truck never goes over 55, in fact it only sees speeds that fast once a month or less.

 

[hilton850]

I guess I didn't explain very well about running plenty of pressure in bias ply tires in my last post. basically you don't want much sidewall bulge. A radial tire deals with the sidewall bulge much better because the sidewalls are generally thinner and more flexible and don't build up heat that makes tires come apart. If you're running bigger than stock tires you can get away with running less pressure basically because of the bigger footprint on the ground. I could get into all the technical stuff but would take me a little while to try to explain it. If those tires on on your rig like to run at 26 psi then that's where I'd run them....I'm not saying you need 80 psi in the tires when you're on the road...just need enough to minimize the sidewall bulge and as little x said, to make the tires wear evenly (not only riding on the center of the tread). little x has a good point...you may have to experiment a little with tire pressure to get the wear pattern right because what it really boils down to is how much weight is on the tires.

That being said, if you compare a given tire size...say 33 x 12.50 - 15...a properly inflated bias ply will have less sidewall bulge than a properly inflated radial...apples to apples which usually means a little more air pressure for the bias ply. I realize this is one of those subjects that is debatable and this is just my opinion based on what I've learned and my experiences with both different types of tires.

To answer tigercat's question about safety...I believe bias ply tires are just as safe as radial tires. If they're DOT approved then they've passed all the same tests.