Warning! Mounting Tires...

[maurice wade]

I just wanted to alert everyone about the experience I had at my local tire shop. I ordered five Goodyear Eagles, P205 70 R 16" tires. I ordered one tire, had it put on my spare just to see how it fit. No problems with tire size, so I went ahead and ordered the remaining four. I made an appointment to have the tires put on. I was able to watch the work being done, and I thought everything was going great until it was time to balance the tires. The tires would not balance. I walked over to the machine to look at the tire and rim. I noticed the center ring on the rim was bent. I told the manager the air operated tire changer was the problem. He first did not agree with me, he thought about it for a second, and yelled to the tire jockey to stop mounting the rest of my tires. They had already mounted four tires, and all rims were bent. I thought the situation over, and said the only thing we could do is get out the big hammer. We were successful in straighting out the wheels so they would balance. My suggestion is to find a person with a manual tire changer that will not bend the rims as the powerful air and hydraulic ones do. I thought if I watched the tires being put on I could save myself the grief of something bad happening, but it did anyway. By the way I cannot believe how the car handles now that I have the radials. The car even turnes much easier. No darting all over the road when hitting a groove or bump in the road. MW:)

[dezeldoc]

They should have used a mag wheel machine, not the type that has the center post. on the mag style, it breaks the bead off the machine then grabs by the edge of the rim and turns the rim not the bar. they are a far better machine to use but take more work and are slower so a lot of guys don't like to use them as much. had they used this maching their would have been no damage.

[maurice wade]

Yea, they did try the machine, and had no success in mounting the tire.

[JIPJOBXX]

Do you notice any less vibration at certain speeds?

[Plymouthy Adams]

It is hard to find a tire shop/seeler these days that will cater to the old stuff and some aftrermarket wheels as they cannot make the money if it slow tehm down to a slow and steady cautionary speed...I still have my Coats manual changer..I use if for all rims, even the very small hole late model mags fits..I did have to weld a couple extra threads to screw the hold down on the rim but all is right with the world...did 6 tires just last week mount and balance..

IF you are in a club ask if someone owns one in your area..or look to some of the local shops that cater to race track oriented cars..these puppies still use the older equipment..also some farmers/farm equipt repair shops have one sitting around

[Dodgeb4ya]

It is hard to find a tire shop/seeler these days that will cater to the old stuff and some aftrermarket wheels as they cannot make the money if it slow tehm down to a slow and steady cautionary speed...I still have my Coats manual changer..I use if for all rims, even the very small hole late model mags fits..I did have to weld a couple extra threads to screw the hold down on the rim but all is right with the world...did 6 tires just last week mount and balance..

IF you are in a club ask if someone owns one in your area..or look to some of the local shops that cater to race track oriented cars..these puppies still use the older equipment..also some farmers/farm equipt repair shops have one sitting around

I use my old 60's air operated "Coats 1010" machine slowly and carefully to mount the old MoPar rims. It works pretty good. But-also can bend the centers and have, but I just remounted the wheel on the drum and it straightened the rim back to true. Gotta watch how fast you're on the pedal!

Bob

[Rodney Bullock]

I learned a while back that these 60 plus year old wheels we have are no balanced. There is a shop that can true your steel wheels for a small price. These steel wheels we use (stock) have been hit on curbs, driven on dirt roads and stacked in junk yards for years. All my wheels before they are painted are tried and trued. An with the right tire pressure, shocks and alignment these cars ride nice, well radials will ride better however that's not original:) I want to ride 1940's style that's just me:rolleyes:

[JIPJOBXX]

I'm thinking about buying a set of tires for my Dodge but I would like to get an idea of what profile they would look like on my Dodge. I like my skinny tires but they are old bias-plys and think it would drive and ride better with

Goodyear Eagles, P205 70 R 16" tires plus it might just help out with a vibration problem I have.

Thanks Jon

[maurice wade]

Like I said before with the new tires on the car, it has no vibration at any speed, and the car turns like it has power steering. I thought with the radials the turning would be a little harder but it is not. I to like the looks of the original tire, but I also like the safety, and reliability of the radial tire. It's kind of like riding a motorcycle with worn out tires. One cannot keep from worrying about blowing one out. I would hate to try and keep a car in control with a blowout on bias tires. Yea, my next project is to find me a manual tire changer, and do the work myself. MW

[pflaming]

Good thread, new information to keep in mind when I get new tires.

Their is a new Italian tire out called the "Dago". Dago through the rud, the snow and the ice and when dago flat dago 'wop, wop, wop! Don't know how well they balance.

[Reg Evans]

I've been buying tires since the mid 60's for various old cars and never paid attention to what type of machine they were using to mount the tires with. I'm not aware of any of the rims being bent by the machines they were using either. I do try and position myself in the shop so I can eyeball the rim and tire while it is spinning on the balancing machine to see if there is any excess wobble.

Lately I've been going to Les Schwab and Big O. What type of machine should I look out for again ?

[Plymouthy Adams]

Reg..it is not so much the machine that is the problem..it is the user and time is money....some of the totally automatic hydraulic ones need be used a bit more carefully...the newer rims are designed with more positive offset due to front wheel drive operation and the bar/rotor may put an undue angle on the thinner flatter steel rims of yesteryear...and watch for shift due to dpeth of thread on cneter stab not low enouugh..