Hello Sunbeamers:
Thanks to all the suggestions I got from our great e-mail list, my
bumpy, unbalanced Tiger ride problem has finally been solved and fixed.
Fortunately, it did turn out to be wheel balance, not wheel or
suspension defects. That being said, though, I did get three or four
comments from on the list and off (Tom Hall, Rick at SS, etc.) who did
verify that LAT70's might be tougher to balance, and are prone to
bumpinesss above 65-70 MPH, exactly where mine started to shake the
steering wheel a lot. Above 75 or 80, the steering wheel shake and
bumping was very severe and intolerable. I had taken the Tiger to one
shop three times for re-balancing, and a second shop that did an on the
car "strobe" balance and they were both unable to find a cure.
Thanks to the suggestion of Terry Packer from the list, I visited the
hunter.com web site (read about how their machine fixes "unsolvable"
balance problems, and it does, it turns out) and with their on site
locator searched for a Los Angeles tire shop that uses their Hunter
GSP9700 balance machine, with which Terry said he'd had good success. He
is correct as the shop I found that uses it has completely cured my
problem. I'll give the referral in a minute with a caution. On the way
home from the shop this morning I briefly took it up to 85-90 MPH on my
new Pirellis (not much faster than average traffic on Interstate 405
today!) and not a bump or shake through the steering wheel at all. This
is the smoothest ride I've had from the Tiger since I bought it. Of
course I still feel normal Tiger road stuff, but the bumping and shaking
through the steering wheel is completely gone, even at high speeds.
The caution in my referral is that I bought the new tires last Wednesday
and the shop balanced them, and the balance problem was almost as bad
when I drove off as it had been originally with the old Michelins. I
brought it back in today and the shop manager personally did the
re-balace, with absolutely no hassle, by the way, found the original job
was off a bit, and corrected it with the excellent results I mentioned
above. You've apparently got to know how to use the Hunter machine, and
he obviously does. He had not done the job personally when I bought the
tires. I watched him do the job today and the machine gives a very
precise electronic report on where to place the weights, and simulates a
road load on the wheels to make things more accurate. When the LED
readout gets to 0.00, this means the wheel is perfectly balanced, and he
worked on all four until he got that readout on each one.
For LA area Tigers (and any other cars we own), here's the shop: Valley
Custom Tire & Auto, 11487 San Fernando Road, San Fernando, California.
(818)361-3755. Mike is the shop owner, and very friendly and helpful,
and his manager is Armando Pelayo, who did the perfect balance job. I
suggest you ask to have Armando do the balance for you personally, which
they said they'll be happy to do. About $10 a wheel and worth every
penny. Their pricing for my new Pirellis was very competitive too, if
you need tires. They also do alignment and brake work Mention to them
that I referred you, if you like. I have no connection to the shop,
other than they ended up doing a great job, which I appreciate.
Steve Sage
1967 MK1A
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