Which is stronger, bias or radial?

[Polaris]

Looking at IROK's in the very near future. Last weekend I took a hunk out of the sidewall, right down to the cord, on my Pro Comp muds. So in tire shopping, I'd like to choose which has the stronger sidewall. Thanks for any input!

 

[pauly383]

Generally the number of sidewalls plys denotes strength. If two tires have the EXACT same amount of sidewall plys, then the bias tire would be stronger. /forums/images/graemlins/k5.gif

 

[84_Chevy_K10]

Bias without question is stronger no matter what tire you choose.

 

[84gmcjimmy]

Bias's!

 

[Polaris]

That was the answer I was hoping for, but it still leaves me wondering why?

 

[84gmcjimmy]

Bias are built for heavy off-road use. Radials are made for off-road use and DD.

 

[BlazerGuy]

http://www.michelingc.com/na_eng/News/85.html

http://www.rsracing.com/tech-tire.htm

http://www.off-road.com/chevy/tsl-bogger/

http://rocktoroad.com/so02spectires.html

 

[rjfguitar]

To be more technical...Radials have belts that run long ways in the tire so it has less rolling resistance, wobbles less, runs cooler, and rides better. The down side is that with the belts running the rotation of the tire...the sidewalls don't flex as well as a bias tire.
With a bias tire the cords run side to side. This is why they are so good offroad because they can "bend" to the shape of trail obstacles better when aired down. The sidewalls are stronger usually because of the direction of the cords, the main reason swampers have such tough sidewalls is mainly because they have 6-10 plys and they are thick, not just because they are bias ply. /forums/images/graemlins/thumb.gif

 

[84gmcjimmy]

There we go, smart people /forums/images/graemlins/bow.gif

 

[tRustyK5]

An aired down radial has way more sidewall flex than a bias ply. My old 36" TSL's didn't show any sidewall bulge even as low as 7 psi, and my new 40's are the same. A radial at 7 psi is considered flat, or damn close to it.

As for thick sidewalls...not really. For thick sidewalls you need to go to Michellin's. I've seen a TSL cut up, and the sidewall is no more than 1/4"-3/8" thick. The Michellin was easily twice as thick.

The bias is tougher than the radial, but it's also rougher riding, has more rolling resistance, and will be wore out that much quicker.

Rene

 

[Triaged]

Radial plys go from bead to bead across the tire.
Bias plys also go from bead to bead but do it at an overlapping angle (one goes one way the next goes the other) making a cross hatch pattern.

Bias tires (unless we are talking about wrinkle wall slicks) generally have stiffer side walls. They also all have the same # of plys in the sidewall as the tread where radials have more plys on the tread and less on the sidewall.