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Good afternoon DeSoto guys and gals,
Since I put the wire wheels on my '59 Firesweep, the car has a vibration above 55 mph till about 65 mph - then levels out and will start back at around 70 mph and stays with me up to any speed above that. The tires were road force balanced immediately after installing the tires on the rims and inflating to 28 psi. These tires are fairly new (about 4 years old going by the date code) 800 x 14 Goodyear Super Cushion bias plys probably from Coker. I know they were rough when they were on the stock rims but figured I'd wait to have them balanced with the wire wheels and after the alignment.
I have read about these "balancing beads" that go into the tire through the valve stem and supposedly are good to 75 mph. Has anyone tried these? If so, what were your results? My other concern is the tires may have flat spotted over the years and maybe just need to be run more on hot days. I did check for roundness and did find there is some minor out-of-roundness but I suspect all tires aren't perfectly round. Maybe I'm wrong and I haven't had bias plys since my '69 Charger 8 years ago but I can't remember that they were as rough as these. I did put them on new though and know they didn't sit long enough to flat spot.
I just got the car about 3 months ago so I have no clue how the previous owner cared for the tires. I always inflate mine to about 45 psi when it sits for any length of time in order to lessen or even prevent flat spotting and have had excellent results.
Thanks,
Fred
"It's delightful, it's delovely, it's DeSoto"
I had to play around with inner wheel weights and make 3 trips to the shop but in the end I had success.
Good luck to you but I really think you need a great wheel balancing pro who understands your setup
Hi again,
Out of desperation I put 4 oz. of balancing beads in each tire to make a 300 mile round trip to the Show-Me Mopars car show in Columbia, MO today.
Let me tell you - these things really work! The vibration was almost totally GONE! So if anyone else is having the issues I had, go on line and get some of these. Mine were about 1/2 the price I could buy them for locally - cost me $38.00 that included everything needed to put the beads in the tires and the proper filtering Schrader valves.
"It's delightful, it's delovely, it's DeSoto"
Fred
"It's delightful, it's delovely, it's DeSoto"
Since you have wire wheels did anyone ever check the tension on the spokes on each wheel. The wheels need to be true just light a bicycle wheel. If spokes are loose then they are flexing and that is not good.
I have done a lot of Bicycle repairs and have rebuild bicycle wheels but you will need a very good tire ships that knows wire wheels.
Just a thought.
Also since you have bias ply tires try this trick to stop the flat spots. Get some old pieces of carpet and put a large enough piece under each tire. I have done this on my 39 Desoto and I do not get flat spots. A local car museum informed me of this trick and they drive their cars and this has solve the flat spot issue for them.
Rich HArtung
Desoto1939@aol.com
Thanks rich. I did have the spokes checked just to be sure all was well and they were. However, I didn't know about putting old carpet under the tires - sounds like a simple and effective precautionary measure. I always increase the tire pressure to around 45 psi when the car sits for any extended period of time.
The balancing beads did an extraordinary job in comparison to what it was like before I put them in the tires. I highly recommend them if anyone is having a problem - for the money, they are darn well worth it.
"It's delightful, it's delovely, it's DeSoto"
"It's delightful, it's delovely, it's DeSoto"
