Does anybody know of someone in the New England area (Maine. NH, or Mass.) that shaves tires? I mean the kind of shaving, on the rims, to make them round. Not to remove the lettering. I'm sick and tired of my straight axle cars having a vibration at around 62 MPH. I know, I've heard it all, from tire beads to castor/camber etc. I really think the problem lies in the radials being out of round. I used to shave tires back at my brother's Sunoco station 40 years ago. Trying to find someone in New England who does it now, is tough.
Hardly anyone does it anywhere any more. Usually, if you can find an old truck tire place they still do it. Before I ran my car at the Billetproof drags I wanted to make sure everything was as good as it could be, so I had mine spin balanced on one of those machines that balances the whole rotating assembly. As soon as I left the tire place I could feel the difference in the steering wheel. The guy who did it (shown in picture below) said they didn't need shaved, just balanced. Don
Here's a video from a place in Allentown Pennsylvania that has the machine to do it. It's interesting to see. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdGMNl_xdW8 He also discusses balancing of wire wheels off the vehicle.
Not many places have those balancers anymore. The Ford dealer I worked at in the late 70s had one. Now everyone has a balancer that that can balance a wheel to 1/100 of an ounce off the vehicle. Doesn't do any good if the hub it bolts to isn't balanced.
Hey I have one of those tire machines in the "Engineman" video but dont have any hub mandrels. Does anyone have an instruction book or parts manual for one of these babies?
There is a person that has one on long Island I could probably get a phone number if you wish. You can get me at [email protected].
Long Island's quite a haul from here. The reason I want to shave them is, I've tried everything. I was reading on another site, that if the shimmy comes in at a certain speed, say 62 MPH, and you can drive out of it, it's the tires/rim out of round. If it's balancing, it will just get worse the faster you go. Well, mine comes in around 62 and goes away around 80 MPH. It's as smooth as glass at 80. It's the same for both street rods with straight axles. When you spin the tires you can see the tire/rim is slightly out of round. Some friends of mine in Florida have brand new tires shaved and balanced before they put them on the car. I was hoping someone in the local New England area had a shaving machine. I guess I could always travel at 80.
Um no.. I have ballanced tons of tires that did the same thing. It's worth a try. Probably cheaper than shaving too. Just make sure the shop calibrates their balancers and know what they are doing.
Shave them - it really makes a difference, really! I shaved my wife's new radials and never mentioned it. She actually commented a few days later that these were the smoothest tires she ever experienced.
I've been to 5 different places to have them balanced. They supposedly calibrate their machines daily. Some places get it better than others. I even had them "Road force" balanced. Road force is a very expensive balancer than finds the high spots, then you rotate the tire on the rim then re-balance them. It applies a lot of pressure against the tire while it's being balanced, like when you driving ( see link below) It was pretty good but still didn't get rid of it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efhgM2TcQpI
I'd like to find someone around here too. I've had the same problem on my '48 and try to either just go under 60mph or over 70mph to avoid the shakes.
i would check this guy out. if he can't i'm sure he knows who can Fritz's Tire & Timeless Classics (207) 985-7712
I just got a line on someone who might do it. My neighbor said, I guy where he works, gets his stock car racing tires shaved. I'm trying to get his phone number now. I want it done soon because I'm driving to the Nat's East in York, Pa. then we're driving to Back to the 50's in Minn. It will definitely make the 2-1/2 day ride out and back easier without the shake. I'll keep everyone posted.
Spiker give Kelly Tire in Putnam Ct. a call they do the on car balance and if anyone would know where to get tires shaved they would Dennis usually is the guy answering the phone and is "The answer man"Kelly's is the oldest and best tire shop in our are something like 60 years in the trade.
Well, here's the story. I found someone here in Maine that does it. Interstate Trailer Sales in Thompson, Maine, 1-207-725-6111. But, I'm not having it done to these tires. He recommended that I do a little testing and measuring and I found that both front tires on the truck have well over an 1/8th of an inch flat spot. I don't mean, I locked the brakes up flat spot, it looks like they were made that way. The rims seam fairly round but the tires are junk. I'm going to go out and by a good high quality brand name tire, he recommends BF Goodrich or Michelin's. These tires are Hercules and I'm starting to believe they're not that good of a tire for straight axles. I'll let you guys know how it is when I get the new tires. I still believe that shaving really helps on a lot of tires, if they're not perfectly round. But with my tires they'd have to shave off most of the tread.
I'd still have the new tires spun on the car as a lot of the hubs can be enough out of balance to cause a vibration.
Talk to the local stock car crowd, if they have classes running on any type of radial street tire, the will know what you want and where to fid them, I have a tire shaver and do a couple of hundred a season for other racers, it funds our racing. but unfortunantly I am to far away in central Saskatchewn for you.
Billy I have heard good things about the Diamond Backs. At least MUFF said he likes his. As I recall he said they balance really nice and easy. Steve
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