Aaron Widmar
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What’s the Difference Between Radial Ply & Bias Ply Tires?

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Choosing the best tire type for your car

What’s the Difference Between Radial Ply & Bias Ply Tires rubber tread
What’s the difference between radial ply and bias ply on a car tire?
Photo: The News Wheel

When you’re buying new tires for your car, there are more factors to consider than just the correct size. Should you order seasonal or year-round tires? Regular or performance design? Which brand? Radial ply or bias ply?

Radial ply and bias ply refer to the construction of the tire and its internal engineering. These are the differences and how they impact each type’s performance.


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Understanding plies and tire construction

A vehicle tire isn’t just a solid hunk of rubber. It consists of particular components meticulously engineered to provide the best performance while maximizing longevity and durability.  The primary component contributing to a tire’s strength is a web of plies. A ply is a rubber-coated fabric cable inside the tire.

How radial ply and bias ply differ, therefore, is in the layout of those plies. Bias tires consist of crisscrossing layers of plies stacked atop each other at alternating angles of 30-40 degrees. Bias ply run the width of the tire, from side to side, in straight lines, but they’re reinforced with a layer of steel cords.


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How do radial and bias ply tires perform differently?

Bias tires are solid and robust, able to withstand a lot of force and weight without being damaged or punctured. But, they do tend to wear down faster and need replacing more often. Luckily, they tend to be cheaper than radial tires. Most people use bias tires for off-road driving, utility trucks, and other all-terrain or heavy-duty machinery. They’re also common on historically accurate classic cars and modern sports cars that race at drag strips (but not at tracks, since bias ply tires don’t perform well along curves).

Radial ply tires tend to last longer and won’t wear down as fast. They also run smoothly and more consistently on concrete — able to flex and accommodate bumps in the road so you’re not jostled around — and stay cooler from friction. That makes them suitable for long-distance driving on highways and daily driving on passenger vehicles.

In most cases, you’ll order radial ply tires for your car, SUV, or pickup truck. But if you have a heavy-duty truck, a trailer, or a special custom car, you’ll want to talk about your options with a tire retailer.