Here's a new Tiger question I've been struggling with.
I have not been able to get my original LAT70 wheels balanced properly.
At least I think it's the wheel balancing. Above 70-75 MPH, I get
serious bumping (that back and forth movement typical of bad wheel
balancing) from the steering wheel. It is progressively worse as speed
increases. On heavy acceleration, as I'm getting past 65-85 MPH and
getting ready to head toward the red line and pop it into 5th for
continued fun with speed, the steering wheel vibration and bumping gets
intolerable.
I've had the wheels both computer balanced off the car and strobe
balanced on the car. The strobe balance job was marginally better, but
only marginally. Still way too much steering wheel bumping. Both shops
said the job they did should result in a relatively smooth ride. Wrong,
unfortunately. I also just had the front tires flipped on their rims,
swapped wheels front to back, and re-balanced (off the car), and there's
no improvement. Maybe a bit worse, actually.
I have Michelin 175-70-13 tires on the car, all the bushings in the
front suspension have been replaced with new (rubber), along with new
upper and lower ball joints. I got under the front of the car with a
wrench last night to make sure nothing was obviously loose, which it
wasn't as far as I could see. Also, I run Spax adjustable shocks. I've
tried them at various settings and this seems to make no difference,
better or worse. Also, I have wheel locks on the wheels. Could those
make them impossible to balance properly? The tire shops I've talked to
don't think so, though.
A conversation I had today with someone who should know suggested that
there is an inherant vibration problem with LAT 70s in that they're not
offset properly from the hubs and my experience may be common with these
wheels. I hope that's not the case. I like the LAT70 look. I got an
excellent suggestion from a lister that I should temporarily swap wheels
with another Tiger that rides smoothly, which is ultimately what I may
have to talk someone into letting me try
Has anyone out there had a similar problem with LAT70s (or any other
wheels), and if it's a design problem with them, is there any fix that
can be done? I had my previous Tiger well over 100MPH a few times and it
ran smoothly with no steering wheel bumping at all at those speeds. That
car had cheap after market mags, by the way, but I ran it with Pirellis,
not Michelins, for what it's worth.
As usual, any help and suggestions will be appreciated.
Steve Sage
1967 MK1A
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