Factory rims on a 1949 P18 S. Deluxe conv.

[STX123]

I’m going to be putting on new tires soon, and was wondering if these factory rims can ever be balanced perfectly, or do they all seem to have some sort of a slight wobble to them? Trying to balance the old set a while ago, it looked like all the rims seemed just a little off. Normal, or look into new rims also? 

[Bob Riding]

I went through 17 16” wheels to find 4 good ones. I took them to my cousin’s tire shop and they put them on the spin-balancer. Not sure how you would straighten a bent wheel...

[STX123]

Thank you. 

[rekbender]

When I was doing frame straightening, we had a local shop that straightened bent wheels, both steel and alloy. It was surprising what he could save - as I remember the cost was $50.00 to $150.00. There is probably someone locally that could check your wheels and straighten them if necessary.  With the tires off the wheels, you could mount them on a balancer or a front spindle and spin the wheel. You will see the wobble if it's much more the 1/16". On steel wheels, sometimes the outer edge of the lip where the tire mounts isn't truly concentric, but if you dial indicate the inner surface where the tire mounts, the run out isn't as bad. In the old days, we would spin the front wheels, look for wobble, and mark the extremes in run out, and then mount the camber/caster gauge between the extremes. We did this on every wheel as many steel wheels had some wobble. The wheels on my P18 weren't perfect, a couple maybe out 1/8", but the reproduction bias ply tires really weren't round and had wobble. You can rotate the tire on the wheel  to find where it runs most true. The best thing to do next is have the tire trued on a tire lathe or shaver. This will make the tire truly round,  produce the smoothest ride, and increase tire life. As a bonus, a trued tire will often require less weight to balance. I trued the tires on my wobbly wheels and just static balanced them. The car is smooth as silk at 60. Balancing will not correct an out of round tire.

[Plymouthy Adams]

price is still about 100 for to straighten and repair an alloy wheel in my area....to add refinish is approx. another 50.00 and up depending on materials needed to match factory...

[STX123]

Thanks for the suggestions. I will see if I can find a place that can look at the rims. I was thinking about radials to maybe soften the ride a bit too. 

[BobT-47P15]

Radials will definitely improve the ride and more important the handling.  My old bias ply tires wanted to follow the

ruts and grooves in the road......the radials will remove most of that.  They are harder to turn at very slow speeds

or while stopped.  If there is some play in the front end, they will probably help lessen that.  

[Plymouthy Adams]

radials will not improve handling unless you align the car for the characteristic that is inherent in the radial design...add positive caster....if you leave it neutral caster...it will be a wally road walker

[STX123]

Thank you. I will mention to alignment shop when I get to that point. Right now it’s Wally and his whole family when driving down the road. Lol. I had the steering box rebuilt, put new attachment bolts, sleeves, and really important, is that rubber gasket that goes between steering box and frame. That helped a lot. Hoping new radials will improve it more.