Willys Stonehenge

[1955CJ-5]

Well, it's sorta like Stonehenge....

Eternal, intriguing, mysterious...

Fall Equinox as viewed through the timeless Willys...

[johnrb3b]

Cool.
Very cool.

[Ryan_M]

Love it.....but what's the story with the white wheels and radial tires now?

[1955CJ-5]

I wondered if anyone would notice!! 10 points to the fellow in the back row!

Those are the 16"rims and radial tires off the CJ-5.....I've been shopping for a set of 16" rims for the 3a so I could put a set of radials on it....

I thought that before I got crazy and spent some $$ I should see if I like how it drives....

I do like it. Much quieter. I do very little off-road and what little I do is pretty tame(so far), so the tread is not a big factor....

[Ryan_M]

I would be curious to see how one runs and drives with radials...although I'm the type that would most likely suffer with originality than ride comfortably with something more modern.

Jpet did a really good NDT/radial tire comparison. If I were a winter road driver I would definitely switch to radials. Here's the video if you have never seen it.

[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzLBbCBXO6c[/media]

[1955CJ-5]

Well that was interesting......going in snow and ice doesn't bother me as much a being able to Stop in snow and ice....

Last year I brought the CJ-5 over on snow packed roads and it drove pretty well, but when I got to the driveway I locked the brakes up at about 8 mph just to see what it would do and I just did a 180* in the middle of the road....I guess the front brakes were set a little tighter than the rear!

One of the other reasons why I switched was to see how much noise the NDCC's were making.....it turned out that all that road noise/howling was from the tires and not from the diffs......of course now i can hear all those other little noises....

Someone told me that he liked radials because they had thicker sidewalls than bias ply and thus greater protection from rock cuts.....I don't know that much about tires.....

[Gunslinger]

I'm one of those guys with 16 inch wheels and radial tires, it will be difficult to go back to NDTs.  I drive it every month of the year  in Minneapolis, and the radials make it easy.  I drove,it across the lake last winter, no problems in the snow,or on ice.  And stopping,is a lot better.  Bought light truck mud and snows off of CL for 100 bucks for a set,of five.  One was bad but still came out, and they will never wear out by me.

[1955CJ-5]

I'm using 215/75 16r LT M&S rated. I think I bought them ~15 years ago for the CJ-5...They will rot before I wear them out. I'm not sure if I'll go back to the NDCC's full time either. i like the ride and the lower noise level of the radials.....but I need to find another set of wheels as the CJ-5 just looks wrong with those red 15" wheels..finding matching wheels is tough....