Technical Tire truing/shaving in Connecticut, I got a guy.

Hi all,
While putting up with the run out on my Coker repop bias ply tires I searched all over for a place that still does tire truing and found a place to do them.

David at Major Tire, 80 Century drive, Stratford, CT. Hooked me up today, $40.00 a tire. He runs a tire shop that still does truing, makes racing go kart tires, ice racing tires and even still does retread tires with a contract for the postal service doing tires for the local delivery vans.

I haven’t got the tires back on the car yet, this week but you could see how out of round they were and I’m looking forward to driving the car.

Cliff Ramsdell

 

Wow good to know thanks

 

Thank you Cliff. Great to know.
Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Always good to know of another guy doing it! I know a guy locally who has one of the machines but I’m pretty sure it’s just sat in a shed for ten years and not been put into use

 

Truing like that is a common practice for truck and trailer tires. Any big truck tire place would likely have the gear to do it. I used one in my area for the fronts on my Avatar ride. Worked good for awhile. I have a theory that the fronts go "out of round" easily on light cars like rods much same as as motorcycle front tires do. Lots of little bounces and jounces make them wear unevenly (perhaps too soft shocks?) and they get out of round at some point.

 

BF Goodrich sponsored a race series and all the cars ran there tires. The trick was to shave the tires down to 25 or 30 percent tread, there was an article in HOTROD or CAR CRAFT about it.
This was 45 years ago?

 

Hi Cliff ,
I’m tickled for you,,,,,and I’m sure you are as well .
There is a tire store here that still does that,,,,,,their machine is identical to that one .
If anyone in Middle Tennessee needs that work done,,,,let me know .
The young man is a third generation owner of that shop,,,,,his granddaddy started it,,,,his dad took it over,,,,,(,he died from cancer a few years ago) ,,,,,and now the youngest one is keeping the tradition alive .

Tommy

 

Southern California https://www.coggstires.com/Tire-Services/Tire-Truing

 

Guy in Berlin, CT., about the center of the state does them also.

 

There's at least one place in the Twin Cities that does that. Or did. Was no big deal to shave the new tires to ~ 25% when we were autocrossing - but I wasn't paying for the tires or the work. Now, all I can think of is the waste in miles ending up on the floor, + the waste in $$$ from some careless asshole/asshat company that doesn't care enough to make round tires. Of course, I rack up ~ 12.5k/yr just going to & from work, & can get ~ 3-4 6mo seasons from each set of std + snow tire sets. Maybe not being Scrooge McDuck is having it's effect... . On the other hand, actual round tires are a very nice thing.
Marcus...

 

I worked in a big truck shop and we trued up tires. Some were so bad, even as new or caps, there were places where it really took serious meat off.

 

@Cliff Ramsdell , what were the handling characteristics prior to shaving, or could you just see the out of round. Nice job . We have a set of 550 x 16 (yes coker) that have a visual out of round. As yet don’t know of any one in NZ that can shave tires.

 

I'll just add to this post for those who might need tires shaved around the Chicago area.
Im just North of rt80, and I have a machine of my own that I would be glad to help others out
with their out of roundness.... regards, Steve

 

I had a vibration that came in at around 45 mph and carried thru to almost 60. You could see the front tires “bouncing “ on the road.

Tires were visually out of round, I measured them and found .085” and .090” out of round on both fronts. Rears were better at .045” for both.

The guy doing the tires said it was a mold issue since the amount was the same. He explained that a tire that’s not true runs hotter because it doesn’t run smoothly down the road and the bouncing on the road builds tire heat.

I’m going to check the run out once I reinstall them prior to driving and clock them on the hubs to get the best run out numbers.

Cliff Ramsdell

 

Capped truck tires had to be the worst, up to 20" tires on semis and large box trucks. Most drivers/companies put up with the harsh ride and kept the speeds down.

 

Thank you! That is 2 hours from my house and worth the drive!

 

Hello,

During our time of owning and driving our fast Chevy sedans, the 58 Impala, the 65 El Camino and the 327 powered sedan delivery, we had those new to fairly new tires checked and shaved for getting as close to the true round as possible. We knew that a little vibration was noticeable around similar speeds and rpms. Even after a good wheel balance and alignment for the front end. It was there and we both felt it when driving. Most passengers did not feel it, but being in the cars for the majority of the time, it got old very fast.

Starting with the 58 Impala, we needed to be able to go down the dragstrip straight and fast, without any wobbles in the steering or suspension. It was aligned and the wheel balance was done, but something was not right. Our friend in Los Angeles knew what the problem was and sent us to his “guy” in the tire truing and shaving business. When we arrived, the guy took it for a drive and came back to tell us the tires were not round… “What? They are new or close to brand new…” He chuckled at that statement.

When he mounted the tire/rim on his machine, rotated it slowly, with his pointer, we could now see the tire in its real state. On the car, not noticeable, but off the car, it definitely stood out. It was out of round. So, he started his procedure and we were amazed at how much rubber shavings were dropping to the floor. All we could think was how many miles were being used up on those tires.

But, when he finished the first one, nothing hit the marker scribe as it was hand rotated to see if it needed any more shaving. Now it was round. As he was doing the other tires, after each one, we took it next door to get the balancing done. The tire guy said that the balancing was good enough to get us back home and to the wheel alignment guy, to finish up the complete alignment and balancing job.

Jnaki

The next car was not until after we sold the 58 Impala in 1965. The new El Camino did not have as much of a vibration from the beginning so, I let it run its course until the tires needed replacing. But, when I bought the wide Inglewood Tire Company Posatraction Tires, by the time I got home, it was a “shaky” proposition. So, I headed up to Los Angeles to get the same guy to do the same technique on the 5 tires.

Each set of tires in the coming years got the truing treatment and it was money saved in the long run. No vibration for 125k miles until I sold it 10 years later.

The final tire shaving was done on our 327 powered 40 Ford Sedan Delivery. The whole hot rod looked nice, sounded nice and drove like a beat up jalopy. Freeway speeds were a nightmare, but around town it was somewhat normal. But most of our driving was on the open highway with consistent speeds and the tire vibration and shakes were not going to do the job. So, one last time to the local wheel alignment guy that took the whole front end apart, replaced things with new suspension parts, steering parts and even with his expert alignment, still had the wobbles at higher speeds.

So, the next step after months of work was the local tire shaving/truing place near his alignment shop. after spending months of work, us driving around and then going back for more work was getting better every time. After the final tire truing and saying good bye to all of that rubber on the floor, the new balancing, alignment procedure fixed the steering problems and now at any speed, no wobbles, or handling problems.

After our annual Thanksgiving family get together, we drove the 40 Ford Sedan Delivery loaded in the back with dinner goodies and a nicely cooked turkey strapped down in the back cave. No jiggles, bumps, shakes or anything to make driving a chore. Our family chuckled at the sight of the red Ford Sedan Delivery parked in the driveway with the back loaded with food stuff.

Then, later on, it was hard to keep my wife from driving on her own errands (in this “New” sedan delivery) and visits to friends as it handled like a dream, and with the blast of the A/C, she was all smiles…

It was all… “Good Vibrations…”

“Good, good, good, good vibrations

She's giving me the excitations

I'm pickin' up good vibrations…”

 

So let me get this right, you pay for over priced tires and then have to pay another 140 bucks so they are not out of round?

 

Having tires trued is scary to watch as I figured there's a lot of miles removed in the process. But the guy who did it told me the truing more than makes up for any rubber removed by having perfectly round tires that wear longer, and give a smoother ride. And from what I saw he was correct.
That was many years ago, and today I can't even find a place that does it anymore around here. Supposedly there was some law passed stating tires couldn't be cut because people were cutting deeper grooves to make worn out tires run a little longer. That law wasn't specific enough, so many guys sold their machines as they didn't want to get sideways with the state over cutting tread off tires.

 

Most anything from the aftermarket these days needs work, right?

 

Round is round.
Balanced is balanced.
Round ≠ balanced
Balanced ≠ round
(when mounted centered within .010" or so just like they will be when mounted on the car.)

 

Never have a street tire shaved,that has sat a long time on a parked car. Prep be for shaving,lay tire in the sun or hot room with about 15+ extra PSI over running PSI, to get tire ,so any flat spot from standing parked on a car to be as gone as it canbe. Only then can shaving be done to make it as round as pos. After tire must be balanced.
For racing in class were rule said"Street tires only" cutting away most of tread was trick.= more round and liter,better bit.

 

Your half right, I had to pay $140.00 for the truing. I didn’t buy the tires they were a gift.

The sad part is I waited to do it whether I paid for the tire or not.

Cliff Ramsdell

 

Dana,
Your correct. Instructions were to drive the car 10 miles to warm up and “round” the tires then when I got home to jack up the car right away and not let the car rest on the tires flat spotting them. He recommended additional air pressure but the warm temperatures are kind of hard to find in Connecticut these days leading into December.

Cliff Ramsdell

 

When I was 12/13 years old I went with my dad to get tires for something, off on the corner of the shop a guy is shaving a tire. I was mesmerized watching all the rubber being piled up. Someone came out yelling at the guy doing the work. “You have to put air in it you @$)/$$&”. I remember that like it was yesterday.

 

Learned a loooong time ago from an oldtimer in the front-end bidness who really knew his shit.... (bear in mind this was in the bias ply only days) air them up high, drive 'em about 500 miles, THEN true and balance them. Tires stretch and grow until they normalize, and you gotta let them do it. I know the Cokers and similar are made with new equipment and technology, but the very nature of the beasts is that they will change for a while. I can't prove it, but I suspect the same holds true for modern radials, just to a lesser degree.

 

Ok, tire update. Before truing the tires both front tires were in the .080" to .090" out of round the the rears were about .050". I mounted everything up on the car yesterday and before driving checked the run out. both rears were .010" to .012", great. The LF was .025" and the RF was .012". I clocked the left front about 120 degrees and got .012" to .014". Road test ready. I adjusted the tire pressures and hit the road. Within a quarter mile I could tell the difference and after a nice roar test of about 10 miles it was clear that this was a 98% improvement over how the car drove before.

I'm going to look at other factors on what else to improve like total caster and my toe in/out adjustment along with steering box adjustment for better road feel.

As for the tires and such, before at 45 mph or so the car a very noticeable shake/shimmy/bounce and the radiator would dance around, this is all gone and the car just cruised right through this point all the way to 60 mph before I noticed that I was traveling that quickly. I haven't taken it down the highway yet, maybe this week as other home projects and a decent shop cleaning needed to be done this holiday weekend along with a bedroom overhaul for our two little granddaughters for their visits with us.

So, was it worth removing some "life" to get a better ride, yes, 100%. would I do it again, Yes again. As stated its sad after paying good money for vintage tires you need to spend more but truing and match mounting tires is nothing new to the current makes of tires but is something that still my need to be done.

Cliff Ramsdell

 

I drove a semi for 40+ years. BIG tires. Lots to make them bounce. While living in Texarkana, TX in the early '80s I had a pair of new steer tires installed. Those rascals COULD NOT be smoothed out. An older guy, about the same as me now, mentioned truing. There was a shop in town that did that. The front end of the truck was jacked up and the tire spun in place. After determining the tire was seated correctly on the wheel. I never had a smoother riding truck.

Ben

 

What's funny is if radials were around in the 40's all the cool kids would have used them...looks don't matter

 

There's "balanced" and "aligned" meaning just barely meets minimum spec (performed by somebody who might not GAF, and he isn't paid very well, among other things)

And then there is the kind of maintenance performed by somebody that really knows what he is doing, and also takes the time to do a better job and exceed minimum standards. It's definitely an art as well as a science, it can all stack up and work against you, drums, wheels, tires, driveshaft, bearings etc. Might not notice it so much driving around town, but take a long road trip and you will. Any rotating assembly benefits from minimum vibration.