I guess this falls under tech? To start off, I put different tires on my roadster this year. I had them balanced, but it felt like the car was fighting the balance at high speeds. Looking at the front tires, it appeared they had some runout, so I contributed that to the vibration/shake I was fighting. I called around the SE Detroit area, even Warholak Tire (he said they stopped doing it), and couldn't find anyone who could shave tires. So, I did the next best thing and bought a machine so I could do it myself...... I practiced on an old 4.50/4.75-16 that came off my 5w. Those tires are notoriously out of round, so it was a good one to cut my teeth on. Luckily, Amermac makes the same machine today, so I was able to read the manual as a guide, but it was pretty simple to get the hang of. I then moved onto my roadster tires. Surprising, the rears were more out of round than the fronts. I got all four shaved, and took the car out for a test drive. The road near my house is a 50mph speed limit, and it was immediately clear that the car had a completely different attitude to it. It was silky smooth (and it wasn't terrible before). I ventured up to 70-75mph, and had some minor shake - though greatly improved - but I assumed the tires needed to be rebalanced after the shave. I made a stop at my local tire store the next day, had them lug-centric balanced, and confirmed the car was great at highway speeds. I've driven on bias tires a lot, and for whatever reason haven't fought out of roundess until this exact set. At the very least, I'm set of shaving any of my future tires! I put together a quick photo summary of the operation, and some video...... The machine: I mounted up my other 4.50/4.75-16 lug-centrically on the spindle, and then centered the tire in the machine. This is very important since then machine cuts a symmetric arch (like most bias tires have in the tread):
I did a quick runout measurement, and this tire had about 1/16" radial runout: I adjusted the swing arms to make the cutting blade follow the arc of the tire tread. It's a bit of a tuning exercise, but you can get it dialed in prior to cutting anything. At this point, it was time to start cutting. I don't cut deeper than 0.030", and finish up somewhere near a 0.010" cut to provide a smoother cut.
And that's it! You can see some slight burrs, but these burn off in couple miles on the street. I've been taking a red scotch brite and finishing the tire by hand afterward while it's still being driven on the machine. I do it more or less to pull any remaining burrs off and to provide a uniform color: Just like with metal machining, the chips always appear to larger than what actually came off! Finally, here's the tires on my roadster that I did last week. The treads get a normal looking wear pattern on them after a few miles:
A sophisticated hot rodder. I like it ! I never gave it a thought. Just put my teeth back in and go for another shakey ride.
I'd send this video to Corky and ask for a refund on the amount of tread/mileage lost to shaving his out of round expensive tires. I can't believe with today's technology, that a decent ROUND bias ply tire can't be engineered and manufactured....rant over.
Come on Larry - aren't you old enough to remember when tire stores sold shaving as an option for your newly mounted bias tires?
I gotta tell ya, this was one of the most interesting threads in a long time. So cool to see how that machine does it.........just a big lathe ! Thanks for taking the time to post all of that. Don
You could, but I don't know if it's necessary since you're truing the tire anyway. It could save some of the depth of cut I guess.....
It almost looked like there was a flat spot on the tire. Did these sit in the same position for a long time with the weight of the car on them?
Shaving tires used to be common. Hell my cousin even had the tires on his racing bicycle shaved and balanced. I think that on a bigger heavier car the roundness of a tire is less noticeable than on a lighter car. it is a service that is becoming harder and harder to find. On our old heaps a lot of the time road vibrations also come from the drums and hubs being out of balance. I always suggest that if the tires are round and the heap is still bouncing ay speed that balancing with the wheels on the car is the next step. Also a service that is dieing.
I had a set done on my 33 Ford years ago, the OK Tire shop in Lee's Summit MO. Long gone now, but he mounted the tire on a roller and spun it while putting a lot of pressure on the tire. The tire was petty hot by then and easier to cut I was told but the old guy also said that he mostly did that to get the "set" in the tire the way it runs down the road. Hot. I actually bought one of these machines, different brand and configuration, we thought we cut our own wide whites with it, just a thought, too busy to work on that project too.
That tire has been laying face up in my basement for about a year. On something that has been sitting, you need to warm up the tires by driving on them for a while, or using a warmer to make sure the flat spots fall out.
Nice thread. I have the same machine,but I also purchased a old tire balancer where you can balance your wheels on the car.
Good thread! One tip for you guys that don't have your own machine - stock car builders still shave tires. If you have a track anywhere near you, someone in the area is doing tire shaving. I found one near me (when I couldn't find a tire shop to do it) and he only charged me $10 a tire! He laughed as he did them and said "that took 300 miles of the tires!".
Sometimes if you find a big truck shop they still have a tire shaver. It was also popular with the big old romper stomper trucks ( you know the kind that Bubba drives) not so long ago. maybe another place to look if you don't have your own machine.
I worked for a Ford dealership that had a shaving machine. We found a place that sold "seconds" that were too out of round to sell. We bought a bunch thinking we were cutting a fat hog, but by the time we got them round, half the tread was gone on one side. The machine was great for doing reasonably round tires though.
I too tried this in my general area, and found no one who did it anymore.....it seems like it is mostly a dead act
Man... If you ever doubted bias ply's were junk, here's your answer. I'll stick with the radial "bias look" clones and call it done. -Radial Ron
There's no guarantee that radials are round either. I've shaved them. Tire truing is part of the deluxe method of prepping new tires/rims as well as correcting flaws (cupping, flat spots, rounded tread blocks etc.) in tires with miles on them. In today's hurry hurry world most buyers will accept tire corrections done with weights and most dealers prefer to quickly apply the weights and roll em out.
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