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TR2/3/3A Tire balance

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Stevenry

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I’m wondering, and hoping, that a very abrupt asphalt patch I hit at about 35 miles an hour yesterday in my TR2 may have knocked a wheel weight off a tire. Is this likely? The car has been running pretty smooth up to 75 mph, and had done so earlier in the day. After the asphalt patch incident, I had a noticeable shake and shimmy begin at about 55 mph on a sweeping freeway on/off ramp which continued above that speed. I just ordered a cone set for proper balancing at my local tire shop. Of course they all say they can balance wire wheels, but my limited experience has been more miss than hit. I’m also going to crawl under the car as soon as my son gets his Volvo 240 wagon out of the garage. Any suggestions on what I should be looking for that might not be obvious that could cause the sudden shimmy and shake? Thanks

Steve
 
Steve,
If you purchased the cone set that has ceramic cones versus steel cones, make sure the shop doesn't pound the "locker" when they tighten the wheel. I did mine at an internal shop at a driver's school where I worked and the chief mechanic and I still managed to crack one of the ceramic cones. We duct taped it together and didn't tighten it so much after that.
Good luck!
 
Thanks for the good tip Jim. I went for a short test drive today. Steers the same under shimmy speed, and tracks straight with no pulling or shaking with heavy braking. No new sounds or rattles beyond normal, so my fingers are crossed I lost a weight. Mad Dog - will a broken belt be visible with the tire on the wheel aired up? I’ll probably get it up and wheels off tomorrow. Thanks

Steve
 
Losing a wheel weight seems unlikely to me. Knocking a wheel out of true, especially wire wheel, is more likely. It's easy to check: jack up the car, put a dial gauge on the wheel, and spin it. Then, you can re-true it by loosening or tightening spokes.

Back in my early days, when I didn't have a dial micrometer, I would just rig up a wire so it barely scraped the wheel rim at high points. Then I could easily see the low points. I trued a lot of wire wheels that way.
 
Yes I will check the wheels to make sure they are still true. They are 72 spoke, and were true when I put new tires on. I’ll also check trueness of the tread on each. Thanks

Steve
 
+1...loosing a weight is possible, but wires don't handle pot holes very well. I just spin mine at every oil change and watch closely at the edge of the rim. It is pretty obvious if the wheel is warped. I have a late model Corvette that came with weak wheels from the factory. They would bend anytime you hit an expansion joint in the freeway. I went through 7 wheels before I got rid of them for stronger wheels. In every case I could spin the wheel and see the bend at the edge of the rim easily.
 
I hate to leave threads unresolved. The wheels are not out of round more than the 32th or so of an inch when I put new tires on about 6 months ago. Even that might be dents in the rim edges. Neither did I find anything obviously broken with the suspension, other than the already worn bushings on the rear shock links (next project). I did find a tire shop that the local (1 hour away in Tacoma WA) British car shop sends all their tire work to. They’ve apparently been doing wire wheels for decades, and fine tune the balancing with the wheels on the car. I’ll make an appointment when it looks like it won’t be raining. Speaking of which, we had 21/2 days of glorious weather in the Pacific Northwest so I took the top off. I put it back on today so no one blames me when it starts raining again tomorrow.

Steve
 
Like a steel wheel ,wire wheels can be damaged. However, "knocked out of true" is a myth.
60 or 72 spoke wheels have two planes of spokes and the fellow band itself is NOT affected
by spoke adjustments.It is bent or, it is not bent. It is very much different from a bicycle wheel.
If you have 48 spokes they are very easy to damage (single plane)and should be regularly inspected
for loose or broken spokes, but again is the band bent? Tight spokes will not true it up. If it
wobbles it is a bent band(rim) and must be replaced.
Mad dog
 
You did not mention the age of the tires,but I suspect a slipped belt.If they are over 10 or 12
years old , refresh them.
Mad dog
 
I live in Tacoma kinda, University place is next to Tacoma. Are you taking the car to Kimballs on Pacific? Anyways makes sure the tire did not get knock out of the bead on the rim where it seats. Just eye ball the bead around the tire and make sure the bead is seated on the rim and watch your fingers do not touch it because it could pop back in because the tire wants to get back on the rim.

I went to kimballs once and spent 30.00 a tire to have the tire individually spin on their machine. They found the tire that was causing the problem charged me and told me the problem was something like MD is saying and told me to get a new tire to match the rest.

I stopped at another tire shop I knew without the fancy stuff and this young smart Mexican man showed me that the tire bead was the problem and fixes it with a belt deal around the tire filled with air. for free

Steve
 
Hi Steve,

It’s T & T Point S. It’s where Brooklands British Car sends wheels for balancing. Thanks for the tip about the bead. While none of my wheels were out of round, running the pointer I set up on the tread surfaces did show one tread surface out of round not quite 1/8 inch. I’m not sure what that meant, and hope it isn’t a sign of a broken steel belt. That tire was also down about 10 lbs pressure. I thought I had a flat once, and what happened was another pothole apparently knocked the air between the tube and tire out, either through the bead or valve stem grommet. When I put new tubes and tires on the wheels about 6 months ago, the grommets were tossed by the place that took the old tires off, so I made do with some soft Toyota PVC fittings that worked. It was a very tight fit, and I had to lube the valve stems to get them all the way through.

Maybe this pothole did the same thing, but also knocked the tire off the bead and out of round. How to get it back on properly? Deflate and reinflate if I can’t find a guy with the belt deal? The tires have only been on about 6 months.

Steve
 
I think Matt at Brooklands is the only British car place around and it sounds like you know them; he has owned it sense the seventies, so he must know something. I have not been there for 30 years.

T & T on south Tacoma way is where the young guy fixed my wheel. There a good shop. I thought they would not put a wire wheel on a car for insurance reasons, but would mount them and you have to put the tire on the car. The good thing about T&T is their front end alignment lift is small enough to fit a tr2 on and that is why Matt probably go there

You are probably in good hands with both of them. I am leaving town for a couple of weeks ,but will be back in late April and I could give you my 2 cents.

Steve
 
I haven’t had to take my car to Brooklands yet (knock on wood), but talking to them there and at T & T left me more comfortable than Les Schwab, who won’t take wire wheels off or put them on a car. Thanks for the vote of confidence. Now just to wait for a dry day.

Steve
 
Shout out to T & T Tire Point S in Tacoma. The place to go if you’re close enough. I must have just thrown a wheel weight. They balanced all 4 off and then on the car, and it’s running smoother than ever. It was a rough ride up the freeway to their shop at 55; a smooth 70 home.

Steve
 
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