Good morning all,

My '64 has this vibration that comes and goes. I've had the tires balanced several times and the last has made the best improvement so far. The vibration is not consistent and since the last tire balance it occurs around 52 - 55 MPH according to the speedometer which may or may not be accurate. I tried checking for play in the wheel bearings and that seems fine. The shocks are fairly new. U-joints seems OK but I won't swear to it. Reproduction steel wheels also. My questions is can you all toss out some ideas for me to check from you own experiences. The fact that it comes and goes has thrown me off but I keep leaning toward the tires may just be crappy. Thanks in advance!

/Tracy

 

Are you feeling it in the steering wheel, your seat or actual front body movement? Could it be the brand of tire? Do you know what equipment they used to balance the tires? The equipment could be out dated. Is it happening on the SAME road? Does it occur with the tires cold or warm/hot? Dennis

 

Have you checked the drums/shoes...braking system for that matter.

Maybe shoe replacement or maybe the drums need to be turned/replaced?

 

Hello Dennis,

The last place that did the best job was Sears and the guy new to use the correct adapter when mounting the wheel on the balancer. As far as steering wheel, seat and body it's a little of all three. It's not bad but noticeable. It's not on any particular road and after the normal bounce from sitting all week or so when the tires get warmed up is when this vibration shows up. It's not consistent other that when it does occur it's in the 52 - 55 MPH range. I can push on past that and it goes away. Also I'm in 4th gear when it occurs. Thanks.

/Tracy

 

No, I haven't checked the brakes. When I first venture out I do get a pull to the right but after I hit the brakes once that doesn't happen for the remainder of the drive whether it's a short drive or a long one. The brakes are solid and stop the car well other than the pull to the right initially.

/Tracy

 

How about this, my car has a Saginaw 4 speed in it. Correct or not that's just what I have. 2nd gear rattles a bit and once in a while when I'm sitting still with the clutch peddle down I get a little squeal of a sound but if I work the clutch immediately it stops. I've been procrastinating on changing the transmission so is it possible that maybe there is a bearing in the transmission about to die?

/Tracy

 

You mention "normal bounce from sitting all week". Do you have radials or bias ply tires? The squeal is probably the throw out bearing. When you change the trans it might be a good idea to replace the clutch guts. Dennis

 

Radials. I probably shouldn't have said "normal" but after sitting for a week they do bounce slightly for a short distance. Crappy tires maybe?

/Tracy

 

"Crappy tires" could be. Some of the off brands sell for less for a reason. What is the name on the sidewall? Dennis

 

After sitting for only a week, radial tires should not "bounce". That kind of went the way of the Dodo bird when we got rid on nylon tires. Double check your air pressure. What manufacture of radials and how old are they?

 

I think we are getting to the cause. Dennis

 

Hancook Milage Plus II with less than. Not very old with maybe a couple thousand miles on them. I'll double check my pressure.

/Tracy

 

Tracy, those tires are good ones and not cheap. But I'm surprised about the bouncing. Have you switched them front to back? Dennis

 

They have about 33/34 psi in them. Yes, front to back, side to side. I'm wondering if I just have a bad one or set but would it intermit? I've never had one before that would come and go like this.

/Tracy

 

I have to reply to this thread because I have had the same 2 problems for the last 7 years and have not figured out what needs to be fixed with one of them. I've balanced my tires repeatedly at 2 different shops both with good equipment that has road force capabilities and that didn't cure the 50-55 mph shimmy. Had all the components in the front end checked and could find no problems. I also think the shimmy is intermittent but the closer I pay attention to it the more I realize it's just more evident at times but it's always there.

I also had an occasional pull when I first hit the brakes and at least I think I have that solved. I think I have front drums that are very slightly out of round. I've had them turned, but it didn't solve the problem.

What I ended up doing was to jack up the front of my car about once a week and adjust the star wheel adjusters until both wheels had exactly the same amount of drag. That seemed to work for a short while and then it would happen again. After about the third-fourth time I think I finally have them adjusted correctly because I no longer have the pull and it's been a while since I had to adjust the brakes.

I will replace the drums if it shows up again but I've been told that they are not always true either and should be checked straight out of the box. I don't think the kids that turn the drums do a good enough job or if they are even doing it correctly. I even had them do it again after the first time and they did tell me they were a little out and it was only about a week after they had turned them. I don't think there could be any change in just a week of maybe 100 miles or so. It seems like drums are something they just don't do enough to be good at it.

As far as the vibration/shimmy goes, I hope you figure it out because I have not been able to. I've had so many people look at my car and no one has come up with anything that has cured it. The car did the same thing when I bought it and it had different tires and wheels than it does now. I guess I could have a crappy tire again, but it seems unlikely. The tires are Sumitomo brand, I don’t know if these are considered junk or not but I feel like new tires and new wheels should have had some effect if that was my problem.

 

Go to www.gsp9700.com, use the locator tool there, and find the nearest shop/dealership to you that has a Hunter GSP9700 Road Force machine; take your car there and have the job done right. NOBODY else has a machine that will identify and deal with balance, radial and lateral runout, full road force, and diagnostics for corrections.

 

Thanks JohnZ! My uncles Ford dealership has one so I'll let them give it a try.

/Tracy

 

Most Discount Tire shops (all maybe) have the Hunter equipment JohnZ mentions...they are the only people that balance my wheels on my classics AND modern cars...

Our cars' old steel wheels are often not as true as they once might have been and take some coaxing to behave at speed.

 

I've received the same info from JohnZ about the Hunter machine and went to 2 different shops that had one and still cannot get rid of the problem. I really don't think it's the tires, but it does act just like a balance issue.

The only other thing I can think of is the drum itself is out of balance and I can't seem to find anyone that says they can check that. Long ago they had a machine that could just press up against the tire on your car and it would spin the entire rotating mass. It had an attachment that mounted on the rim and you could balance everything, not just the wheel and tire. I've been trying to find someone with that equipment for years, but no luck so far.

 

They quit making that machine about 50 years ago - I had one in my Shell station in 1961. It's not your drums - they have close to ZERO influence on the system's balance.