[TR] Wire Wheel Wear and Other Issues...

[Anthony Rhodes]

I would think that such wear would not happen with properly greased spines and tightened knock-offs

You were not specific, but I bet you have an IRS TR6.  Other sources of clunking are the half-shaft splines and the shock absorber mounting bolts.  

U-joints, six of them(!) can go bad and develop a click or a clunk.  On one of my cars 5 of 6 were BAD. Really bad!  The clicking/clunking was noticeable but not exceptional except for the super extra bad u-joint at the front of the drive shaft. That one was so bad I don’t know how it didn’t fall apart!  The rollers were in fragments!!

I have balanced my tires the old fashioned way on a bubble balance.  

Don’t just get the bubble “inside the ring”.  Get it dead center.  Then lift the wheel off the balancer, rotate the balancer a bit, and put it back down again.  Verify the bubble is still dead center.  

When I do it this way, I do not notice and out-of balance vibration.  Though wire wheels can go out of true.  

My center lock alloys feel perfectly balanced to me

-Tony 

> 
> On Aug 23, 2022, at 3:06 PM, triumphs-request at autox.team.net wrote:
> 
> Message: 1
> Date: Tue, 23 Aug 2022 09:26:47 -0400
> From: Rochlin Robert <rrochlin at comcast.net>
> To: "6pack at autox.team.net" <6pack at autox.team.net>, TR3 Triumphs
>    <triumphs at autox.team.net>
> Subject: [TR] Wire Wheel Wear and Other Issues...
> Message-ID: <3BBAEE06-2714-49AB-926C-ADCAC69837AF at comcast.net>
> Content-Type: text/plain;    charset=utf-8
> 
>    I have had an increasing ?clunk? from the rear right of my car this season.  I tracked it down to the splines on my wire wheel being worn and allowing radial play on the wheel hub.  Since getting the wires about 20 years ago I?ve been good about keeping them tight on the wheels and am a bit puzzled as to why there seems to be such wear after less than 40,000 miles. 
>    This brings me to my next issue.  I?m having trouble finding a tire shop , that after I swap the spare for the worn wheel can balance wire wheels properly.  The one place that I was sure could properly balance the wheels, Her Majesty?s Auto Service in Swansea MA. seems to have gone out of business and I can?t seem to goggle another local place that has the adapters to accurately balance the wire wheels. Any assistance in finding a Massachusetts  tire shop that could do the work  would be appreciated.
>    Best,
>    Bob
>    ?72 TR6