[Tigers] Vibration report

[Steve Laifman]

Tom & Mark,

"Back-in-the-day", as they now say, my 1954 Jaguar XK120M had finally 
wore down the Dunlop treads after 10K miles. I had them re-capped with 
the original "*Dunlop Racing*" block tread.  They had a tire lathe they 
used to round the tire, as most retreads (and some new tires) were not 
actually round!

When I left, and got on the freeway, I heard sirens behind me.  Well, 
either I'm going to get a ticket again (cops hated sports cars) or there 
is a fire ahead.  To my surprise the emergency vehicles did not come by, 
but appeared to be going at freeway speed.  I found out that as I slowed 
down to exit, the sirens faded into the distance! 

Well, I found out that the "sirens" were my "block racing treads" tires 
screaming on the road!  :-D      (lol)

Lasted a lot longer than the original "natural rubber" tire tread, and 
rode smoothly if you ignore the sirens!

While I do not recommend retreads, many new tires aren't round, so it is 
worthwhile to make them "round" with a lathe.  The miles you lose to 
tread removal are nothing compared to an unbalance able wheel wear.  My 
"Michelin X" radials (later) were really good.

Steve

___
Steve Laifman
Editor - TigersUnited.com



Thomas Witt wrote:
> Mark,
> <--- snip --->
>
>   Flat spots can be hard to see, but sure can be felt.  I bought a set of 
> wheels/tires at Pick A Part recently for my Turbo Pinto.  Seemed like a good 
> deal until I drove on the tires. Running the pressure low and trying to 
> squeeze the flat spot out didn't work, nor did over inflating them.  Being 
> cheap like I am, I jacked the back of my car and with the wheel spinning 
> heald my power planner to it. Well..., it made for a lot of thin rubber 
> debris, but I still had the "thwamp."
>
> As a side note to "lead weights:"  I remember years ago when horizontal 
> bubble levels were used for balancing that the guy would move the tire 
> around the rim BEFORE mounting to minimize the amount of weights needed. 
> With most modern balances that hold the tire vertical I doubt they do it 
> now.
> Tom