I am dealing with a bad vibration at about 55-60 mph. My pinion angle is down so I know I need to deal with that. Besides that, I decided to have my wheels re-balanced. Someone noticed that the wheel was "hopping". I looked closer and it was. I put them back on the car and set up my dial indicator and it showed between .035 & .040 radial run out. I thought that nothing over .015 was acceptable. Am I correct in ordering some new wheels?
Try another set of wheels on it first and see if the vibration is still there. If not then deal with the pinion angle and go from there Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Front or rear wheel? If front, are you absolutely sure all front end components are in very good condition? Did you check the runout of the wheel itself, at the tire bead surface...or did you check the runout of the tire at it's cir***ference? If the latter, you might try breaking down the bead and rotating the tire on the wheel 90 or 180 degrees and seem how much change you get. I wouldn't think .035" to .040" runout of the wheel and/or tire would cause a significant vibration. How were the wheels balanced.......dynamically (spin balanced) or statically? Also, are you running radial tires or bias ply? It is possible that you have a tire carc*** problem that doesn't show up on the balancer.
More likely to be the tires than the wheels, I've run some really bent wheels over the years that balance up just fine.
On my ranchero with 14" rims .025 caused a very bad pulsating vibration that was fixed with rims closer to .015. However with 15" rims on my shoeboxes ive had .030+ with no problem. Not sure what all factors into how much vibration you can feel but it can be a pain to track down.
Had a wheel bounce on my '55 ford. Found that the wheels were lug centric not hub centric and mounted the wheel off center. The center opening in the wheel was .12" bigger I diameter than the hub so it did not center itself. Need to lightly snug up the lug nuts and rotate wheel to make sure it is centered, the tighten the lug nuts. Expensive lesson for me, I bought new tires that were not needed.
Hi guys, and thanks for all the good advice. As advised, I'll just keep eliminating things. Thanks again, Rod
I spent a bunch of time and money chasing a similar problem on my 54 Chevy. Finally fixed it after someone here suggested that I might have brake drums that were out of balance. Sure enough, no balancing weights on the drums. I replaced them and, magically, the problem went away. Don't overlook ANYTHING that rotates.
Couple of things. 1 do u feel it in the steering wheel or seat? That will tell you which end. 2 if in the rear get it in the middle of the vibration & put it in nuetral & let off on the gas. If still there its most likly in the wheels & tires. If it goes away in nuetral then its drive train. If in the front end hav a different shop run a balance job on the front.
Yep drums would show up in nuetral. No offense but i would bet balance on wheels before drums. Most problems i see are wheel balance problems even after some local shops around here do it. Seems alot dont take the time to calibrate their machines. 1 local shop has proven that fact on numerous occations. We hav had customers come in with bad vibration problems even after jus havin their tires balanced and we send them to our prefered shop & 98% time problem solved. But i agree 100% drums can cause problems.
Before you replace the wheel, try it on the other side and see if you still get the same runout. It could be the hub/drum/axle.
The Jalopy Journal
