Re: Steering play and a hot under dash light bulb unit

Posted by West Peterson On 2009/11/12 20:46:44

Non issue for me. I still didn't see anything that said radials were more safe. My car is far from a trailer queen, and I don't hesitate to take it on a 1,000-mile weekend trip (most of the time traveling at 75mph) and the last thing on my mind while driving is "I sure wish this thing had radials." In fact, most the time I'm thinking, "Why would anyone put radials on a car that handles this well." My father, who owns a similar car, put radials on his. There is very little difference in the handling qualities between the two. He is very sorry he made the move, especially after finding out that his front end did, indeed, need rebuilding.

I'll stand by my point that if your entire steering and suspension has been properly restored, you'll be very happy with the way your car handles. Braking, on the other hand, is much better with radial tires. Drive accordingly. Drive safely. Don't make the car drive for you, because you'll probably end up "over driving" your car's capabilities with a false sense of security that you can stop paying attention now that your car has radial tires.

Perhaps the difference is in prewar cars vs postwar cars. I have no experience with postwar cars, but from what I've heard, chassis quality went to hell in a hand-bag in the 1950s.