[Healeys] Shaved Michelin 180 15 XAS tires and the shuttle Shake

[Robert Begani]

I was about to ship my new tires with rims to Hendrix to have them shaved
and balanced.  However, the $300 each way cost via UPS made me look for a
local firm. I had tried before to find someone to shave the tires in Florida
with no results because the had no experience  with wire wheels. This time I
found that Amermac Tire Machines are used and searched for tire service
companies that had those machines.  Highway Tire in Palm, Fl had a website
that indicated they had experience so I called.  They indicated they had a
mechanic with 24 years of experience and had worked with wire wheels over
the years.  So I drove 120 miles across Florida with the tires in my van.  

 

They have an older machine which Mike can use to shave the tires on the car.
Instead, he  set it up on a box in front of an older Hunter balancing
machine to hold the tire and rim. Moreover, he was very careful to use the
correct dies so not to apply strong pressure on the wheel and damage the
splines.  He cut the new tire by slowly shaving of the rubber surface by
millimeters time after time until there was a flat surface meeting the road
surface.  Then he balanced the tires on another Hunter machine and showed me
that there were 2 tires which were perfect to put on the front, one tire
which is not perfect but ok for the rear and the last tire which showed the
rim was a more wobbly during the spinning and should always be on the rear.


 

I took them home and mounted them as recommended and went for a ride down
the Tamiami Trail.  Viola, no shake 55 - 65 mph.  In fact, the car when down
the road at all speeds with power surges up to 70 mph on a fairly smooth
road surface and on a rougher county road like a new modern roadster all the
way home.  If you have shake when driving your Healey, I highly recommend
shaving the tires.  Best $135.00 I spend on the car

 

Bob Begani

67 BJ8

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