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A cross-section of a tire. Number 12 indicates the radial ply. Numbers 14 and 16 are bias plies. A radial tire (more properly, a radial-ply tire) is a particular design of vehicular tire. In this design, the cord plies are arranged at 90 degrees to the direction of travel, or radially (from the center of the tire).
These standards include the parameters of radial force variation, lateral force variation, conicity, ply steer, radial run-out, lateral run-out, and sidewall bulge. Tire makers worldwide employ tire uniformity measurement as a way to identify poorly performing tires so they are not sold to the marketplace.
Increased fuel efficiency and tire mileage overcame the higher price of radial construction. According to a 1976 study, more police departments used steel or fabric radial-ply tires than belted bias-ply and bias or cross-ply tires for their pursuit cars. [15] Goodyear Polyglas tires are now manufactured for owners of period cars. [16]
[48] [49] [26] Radial tires are also seldom seen in diameters of greater than 42 inches, as such tires are difficult to make. [50] Bias tire (bias-ply, or cross-ply) construction utilizes body ply cords that extend diagonally from bead to bead, usually at angles in the range of 30 to 40 degrees from the direction of travel. [51]
B: bias belt (where the sidewalls are the same material as the tread, leading to a rigid ride) D: diagonal; R: radial; if omitted, it is a cross-ply tire; The R in a radial tire may be preceded by an optional letter indicating the speed rating of the tire according to a deprecated naming system.
Goodyear is the only one of the five biggest tire firms among US tire manufacturers in 1970 to remain independent into the 21st century. Goodyear's success was partly due to the challenge posed by radial tire technology, and the varied responses. [18] At the time, the entire US tire industry produced the older bias-ply technology. Estimates to ...
Radial tires were introduced to the U.S. market by rivals B.F. Goodrich and Michelin in the late 1960s, and Firestone lacked their own radial tire. The first radial tire developed and produced by Firestone was the ill-fated Firestone 500 radial. Manufacturing of the new tire was performed on equipment designed to manufacture bias-ply tires. [41]
Although wide whitewalls are virtually nonexistent as a factory option on modern automobiles, they are still manufactured in original bias-ply or radial form by specialty outlets such as Diamondback Classic tires, Coker Tire and Vogue Tyre. The last car available in the United Kingdom with whitewall tires was the Kia Pride.