Since I have owned this car it has had a tendency to act as if its front tires had a flat spot from sitting during winter, and when driving at around 35 mph on certain roads the left front fender & good would osculate up and down, and then come out of it as speed changed.

Also there has always been a vibration that crops around 60 mph that can be felt in seat of pants, and steering wheel. This winter I replaced the front U Joint which resulted in less commotion, but did not eliminate all vibrations.

After a 250 mile round trip to a car show on Sunday (I got a 3ed place in Convertibles class) I made up my mind to get to the bottom of this annoying vibration thing.

Today I took it to a tire shop for a front wheel balance which resulted in finding one front wheel was out of round, and tires were out of balance. The out of round accounts for the fender bounce and most likely the vibration at 60 mph.

I’ll most likely purchase a new Rally Wheel to get this thing running smoother. I just have to measure the wheel width; does one measure inside to inside or outer lip to outer lip? Currently R205/70x 14 tires are mounted on the rims.

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67' Dart GT Convertible; the old Chrysler Corp.
82' LeBaron Convertible; the new Chrysler Corp
07' 300 C AWD; Now by Fiat, the old new Chrysler LLC

I believe its measured inside to inside, based on thats where the bead of the tire fits. If you put wider tires, the sidewall will ballon out a bit, which looks kinda goofy but will save your rims from getting scratched if you get too close to the curb.

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70 Plymouth Valiant 4dr

Tire widths are measured inside of flange to inside of flange.

But luckily flanges (both aluminum and steel) are always about 1/2" thick.


So you can measure the wheel outside lip to outside lip and then subtract 1" from measurement ( round to nearest 1/2", 7 1/8" OD would be 6" ID)

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Ed
64 Valiant 225 / 904 / 42:1 manual steering / 9" drum brakes

Finding a good balance shop is tricky. My guy finally got a new machine, and it is wonderful. All my cars drive better now. I suspect the newer it is, the better. Also, you gotta get a guy running it who was not out partying the night before. I would swap back and front wheels and tires on the bouncing side for now.

Sam

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Sam: This place has latest computerized gizmo for balancing, or so they say. Also they only flagged one rim out of the four being out of round.
I did rotate front to back, back to front last fall after fitting new lower ball joints, than didn’t drive the car much before winter storage. To be honest I don’t recall much difference after rotation particularly after car sat all winter making flat spots in rubber. The current rear tires have about 3000 miles on them since the rotation. They still look a bit rough around the edges to play nice with front end.

I do recall the front end feeling tighter, clunk free, and less sloppy feeling after the repair. Also some pavement exacerbates this (for lack of a better term) basketball dribbling hood/ fender flexing sensation more so than a section of new pavement.

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67' Dart GT Convertible; the old Chrysler Corp.
82' LeBaron Convertible; the new Chrysler Corp
07' 300 C AWD; Now by Fiat, the old new Chrysler LLC

Check the code on the side wall for the age of the tire. 4 years old? Time for new tires. Storage for the winter might be done best on jack stands.

When I buy new tires I find out the manufacture date before they are installed.

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'72 Duster 198 stock cam, 3:23's Hookers on jack stands for 8 years in the driveway
'79 Maxivan 360 Offy Qjet Comp RV cam/rusting in the driveway.
93 D350 160HP Cummins Auto Dually Clubcab needs a injector pump
2005 Golden Couch Buick

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Tires were manufactured late 2007 and have about 17,000 mi on them. Car only sees sunlight when being driven, rest of the time it is in garage, or basement hidden from the poisonious rays of the sun.

Up north we don’t suffer the fast decomposition of tires like you do in the south. These skins will be worn out before they begin to rot.

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67' Dart GT Convertible; the old Chrysler Corp.
82' LeBaron Convertible; the new Chrysler Corp
07' 300 C AWD; Now by Fiat, the old new Chrysler LLC

Tires that sit on a rack in a warehouse are considered junk after 4 years. They delaminate. Talk to your tire guy.

Steel belted radials can really tear up some sheet metal.

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'72 Duster 198 stock cam, 3:23's Hookers on jack stands for 8 years in the driveway
'79 Maxivan 360 Offy Qjet Comp RV cam/rusting in the driveway.
93 D350 160HP Cummins Auto Dually Clubcab needs a injector pump
2005 Golden Couch Buick

I would say that a four year old unsold tire is dead stock, and could not be sold as new. That said, a four year old tire placed in service soon after its manufacture does not become unserviceable on the first day of the fifth year. Service life has to be longer than span between leap years, or government would have added an additional blinking light on everyone’s dashboard next the infernal mandated tire pressure watch dog…

Michelin sells tires with 90,000 mi tread warrantee; I don’t see how four year rule would work considering average yearly miles driven is around 12,500.

More informed info here, and here.

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67' Dart GT Convertible; the old Chrysler Corp.
82' LeBaron Convertible; the new Chrysler Corp
07' 300 C AWD; Now by Fiat, the old new Chrysler LLC