Loyal - first let me say I don't currently own a RTV (or any utility vehicle) but actively shopping with the Kubota at the top of my list. I have been around tires for a long time in my job and deal with tire loads, pressures, tire wear, ride quality and everything else tire related on a daily basis. However, my experience is with bigger tires - mostly over the highway truck tires - 19.5" thru 24.5" bead diameters.
The basic construction differences between a radial and bias ply tire result in significant performance improvements for the radial. Essentially the way the tire casing ply (or body ply or plies) are oriented coupled with a tread area stabilized with separate belts on the radial allow the sidewall and tread to operate somewhat independent of each other. This means when the tire is exposed to a vertical or lateral force, the body ply takes the movement while the tread remains stable on the ground. In the world of automobile, light truck, and commercial truck tires, the huge improvement provided by radials is with tread life. There's a good reason if you are under 45 years of age or so, grew up in the US and never travelled to the developing world, you've probably never driven a car with a bias ply tire (and probably not any other vehicle outside of farm tractor, ATV, golf cart or lawnmower)!!
Along with the tread life improvement (which is really irrelevant for UTV tires I suppose) the other major improvement is vehicle handling with the radial tire tending to give a much better ride quality in both straight line and lateral movements. There are other factors where the radial is better - but I would expect (but do not absolutely know) vehicle handling would be the major factor on an RTV. Please don't take this to say bias tires are bad or unsafe - of course they are not. But, for me, I would choose a tire with radial construction over bias ply anytime given the chance.
And yes, I am a tire nerd. My wife reminds me of that often.
Great board here guys and a great topic. Thanks for letting me join in.
The basic construction differences between a radial and bias ply tire result in significant performance improvements for the radial. Essentially the way the tire casing ply (or body ply or plies) are oriented coupled with a tread area stabilized with separate belts on the radial allow the sidewall and tread to operate somewhat independent of each other. This means when the tire is exposed to a vertical or lateral force, the body ply takes the movement while the tread remains stable on the ground. In the world of automobile, light truck, and commercial truck tires, the huge improvement provided by radials is with tread life. There's a good reason if you are under 45 years of age or so, grew up in the US and never travelled to the developing world, you've probably never driven a car with a bias ply tire (and probably not any other vehicle outside of farm tractor, ATV, golf cart or lawnmower)!!
Along with the tread life improvement (which is really irrelevant for UTV tires I suppose) the other major improvement is vehicle handling with the radial tire tending to give a much better ride quality in both straight line and lateral movements. There are other factors where the radial is better - but I would expect (but do not absolutely know) vehicle handling would be the major factor on an RTV. Please don't take this to say bias tires are bad or unsafe - of course they are not. But, for me, I would choose a tire with radial construction over bias ply anytime given the chance.
And yes, I am a tire nerd. My wife reminds me of that often.
Great board here guys and a great topic. Thanks for letting me join in.
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