First, this is a very helpful list -- I joined it a couple of months ago
when I bought my Tiger and have received a lot of good information.
Thanks to all for the good posts.
A couple of months ago there was a discussion on front end vibration
which exactly described my situation. The general recommendation was
wheel balancing first. I "interviewed" a couple of shops over the
phone, as I did not want a high school kid at the local Chevron handling
my LAT70s and found a local shop which did a lot of Corvette and Porsche
work, and had a special tire machine with teflon pads where the wheel is
contacted.. One of the wheels was a slow leaker, which I understand was
not unusual, so I had them put 4 tubes in, then spin balance them. The
results are astounding. No front end shake anymore and much smoother
drive. Plus no more 'flat' surprises. Thanks for the advice. I also
spent some time underneath and gave everything a good tightening up.
Re: the discussion on California front license plates - Mine too is a
California black plate car where the front plate was lost. Reporting it
to DMV would result in the surrender of the black plate and replacement
with the new modern plate design. Not a big deal, but I would just as
soon leave it original. And yes, the front plate law is enforced on
occasion, as they tagged my wifes Thunderbird for the same infraction.
A couple of suggestions; the former owner of my car took off the rear
plate, put in a computer scanner, made an image of it, took it into
Photoshop and touched it up by blacking out the rear registration
stickers, then printed the image on a good quality color printer on
decent thickness stock. He then trimmed it down and put it behind a
clear plastic license plate frame on the front. It looks really good
from a distance until you get right up on it and see that it is "flat".
Another solution - there is a guy in Hemmings (Darryl) listed under
Services who advertises that he can replicate any license plate. I
phoned him and he uses the existing plate as a mold and forms a plastic
duplicate from it, which he then paints and finishes. About $40 plus
shipping. His ad says his work is at Pebble Beach and Hershey. I plan
to try it this winter when I won't be driving the car. His number is
(570) 451-1600. I don't know if either of these solutions are
technically legal, but my guess is that if it looks decent they will
probably ignore it.
Doug Babcock
Alameda, CA
B9471598
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