TR First drive impressions and questions!

OK......Here is the outcome, or should I say the "buffeting" cure!

WOW...........I have a totally different TR!

I had the tires and wheels load balanced on some new state of the art Hunter balancer, by people who understood what the hell I was trying to achieve. The proper term for the balancing I believe is "load balancing". What takes place is the tire and wheel are spun and the diameter of the tire and wheel are plotted to determine the "high/low portion of the wheel/tire combination. (This is done while a pre-determined load is applied to the spinning tire). In this case 800 lbs to the front tires and 1000 to the rear tires. These figures were computed, figuring that the TR weighs 3600 lbs. and that the weight distribution at rest is approx. 1600 lbs. on the front and 2000 at the rear. After this the tire bead is broken from the wheel and the low part of the wheel is lined up with the high spot of the tire. Trust me the wheels, as well as the tires are not "perfectly" round. The measurement is in lbs.. I guess an easy way of explaining is if you look at the wheel and/or tire as being like a cam......the "out of roundness" being that it appears as a "lobe" on a cam and where that high spot is, exerts pressure, or where it is low it releases pressure which is computed and then you align the high with the low spot. Have I confused everyone yet? The actual measurements were as follows;
Drivers side front was 33 lbs. out of round. What you are trying to achieve is a weight below 25 lbs. So after re-aligning the wheel and tire........15 lbs. was achieved. The passenger front was well within the 25 lbs. or less. I was told by the technician that the driver would be hard pressed to be able to feel anything under 25 lbs.. The driver rear was fine at 13 lbs. and then the biggy was the passenger side rear at 44 lbs.. It was corrected to 24 lbs. and we put all four wheels and tires back on the TR. But first I opted for the tires to be purged of air and nitrogen was pumped into the tires at 34 PSI front/ 36 PSI rear. Nitrogen will not expand, nor contract, (raising and lowering tire pressures as they heat up or cool......always at the pressure prescribed......no fluctuation). Well first realize that I had two tire/wheel combinations that were whacked at a diagonal from each other, ie. driver front/passenger rear.

What an amazing difference .........immediately.........slow speeds, at highway speeds and as of this date up to 150 MPH....smooth as glass, rock solid on the road. Absolutely astonishing the difference...the TR drives completely different, in a very positive fashion!

I am very pleased.......... balancing and nitrogen came to a very inexpensive $80 total for four tire/wheel combinations. And to top it off I was invited back, for 2 more complete procedures at NO charge to correct the balances even further as the tires and wheels "settle in"...........I am very happy with the results and suggest this to any and all F-car owners. Hell I have an appointment on Friday to get all six tires and wheels done on my Chevy dually, it's that amazing!

Kerry ...the happy TR driver...........now!!

 

The shop that did mine was suggested to me by the "big" tire store in town........A little out of the way place.

Wait I have and idea.............I'll Be Back......................

 

Well here ya go.................this is a link to the manufacturer of the machine that did my tires and wheels. There is a tab in the top right corner to locate a machine in your area! How's that for service..............

http://www.gsp9700.com


Kerry

 

Just repeating what I was told (by the saleman).............DOH! Well then I have $10 worth of nitrogen in my tires and I am proud to be nitrogen only inflated.......there I justified it to myself, I feel better.........LOL.......Kerry