Yeah, LFE, the debate about radial vs bias has been talked about on every forum I have been on, and there are people who think one or the other is the only way to go. In fact, on CHR just a few months ago, Hiboygal was asking about putting bias on her '32 roadster because she was prepping it to look "older" for that movie she is doing. I, and a few other guys were telling her that we have run bias ply tires for years and love them, and some other guys were saying the car would handle like crap and be dangerous, etc.
She made the switch, and after driving it for a while reported back, and basically said none of the doom and gloom she had been warned about happened. She felt the car handled as well as before, and in some cases even better. On forums like the HAMB, where traditional tires and parts are used a lot, you will hear the guys there say the same things.
It is like anything else in hot rodding, a personal thing. I just personally like the looks of bias ply tires on a fenderless car due to the squareness and "look." Not that radials look horrible or anything, but to me the just appear to be more "modern."
I have driven pretty much exclusively on bias plys on modified cars for the past 40 years or maybe longer. Even some of the stock cars, like my GTO's have had bias plys, although it scares me to think of all the 130 mph passes I made on tires that were never meant to go that fast. I can't say I really noticed any ill-handling issues on hot dry roads, or ones that were rain soaked. The cars seemed to track and stop well.
I think you have hit it with the rim width vs tire width ratio. The 4.5 rims are a little skinny, and something like a 5:00 or 5:60 x 15 would seem to fit that width well. Another nice thing is that the bias plys of today are much better than the old ones.........more modern rubber and manufacturing techniques.
Don
