Issues with rallye wheels balancing?

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jrc4y4

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Got a 72 Scamp with 14X6 rallye wheels. Wheels are powdercoated black. I have had a long time vibration on the front that I figured was wheel related. When they balance the wheels they take off the centers, which have a good amount of weight to them. I have them put on the sticky weights rather than the ones on the lip in order to protect the lip. Then we throw the centers back on and put them on the car. I got new tires yesterday and was hoping the vibration would go away. It did not. Could this simply be because the wheel is being balanced without the center on? Has anyone else run into this? Do they even make an adaptor to put on the balancer that would go over the center cap? Thanks for any recommendations. Was planning on running it soon without the centers and seeing if that made a difference.
 
If you are sure it is the rims, I would suspect a bent rim. There is a way to figure it out, or go through a process of elimination. First, I would mount the rim on a balancer and spin and observe if there is a visible wobble, you can also hold a tire crayon right up to the edge of the tread and right as the crayon touches, it will touch the "high spot" first. Also, you can move the tire where the vibration is suspected around to isolate it. For example if you suspect the left front has the vibration, move it to the left rear, and see if the vibration changes.
 
Off the wall maybe but I had an issue with vibration on a 69 b body. Was drum brakes in front, the inner race was spinning in the hub causing it.
 
Hubs/rotors/drums can be off also. Where do you feel it, the steering wheel or the seat? Wheel imbalance should not be a problem as it would be balanced with the tires. Who is balancing the tires? Did they do the last job?
 
This issue happened before and after the new tires. Also in between switching tires I have had the drums turned, new shoes, and new races and bearings. Don't see any issues with steering. So I'm wondering if the wheel itself is bent. Gonna swap on some extra front wheels/tires I have and see if it goes away and go from there.

66fs yeah they did the last job but they're also the go to people for wheel/tire stuff. I've had other shops point me in their direction even though it meant they weren't getting the business. You can see the steering wheel shake as well as the hood.
 
This issue happened before and after the new tires. Also in between switching tires I have had the drums turned, new shoes, and new races and bearings. Don't see any issues with steering. So I'm wondering if the wheel itself is bent. Gonna swap on some extra front wheels/tires I have and see if it goes away and go from there.

66fs yeah they did the last job but they're also the go to people for wheel/tire stuff. I've had other shops point me in their direction even though it meant they weren't getting the business. You can see the steering wheel shake as well as the hood.
if a wheel or wheels are bent it should be apparent when they were balanced, especially since they must know you were complaining about balance. Like wise if the tires had a broken belt. Try to find a shop that can balance wheel/tire assemblies on the car. Maybe you need to do some investigating yourself with a dial indicator and a magnetic base. You can also jack up one corner at a time, and spin each wheel, looking for excessive runout on wheel beads, and tire sidewalls and treads.
 
Jack the car up and spin the tire with a brick or 2x4 laying beside the side wall, look for a change in clearance beside the sidewall and the stationary brick or 2x4, a bent rim will show itself real fast.
 
You can't balance them on a conventional balancing machine with he center caps on. Besides, any imbalance in the cap itself will not affect overall balance of the wheel/tire much at all due to the cap's weight being so far inboard (so close to the axis of rotation).
 
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Try to find a shop that can balance wheel/tire assemblies on the car.
I have always likes this idea. This is the reason I always return the customers wheel back to its original position. I have not seen this process in use since it was taught to me 35 years ago.
 
This issue happened before and after the new tires. Also in between switching tires I have had the drums turned, new shoes, and new races and bearings. Don't see any issues with steering. So I'm wondering if the wheel itself is bent. Gonna swap on some extra front wheels/tires I have and see if it goes away and go from there.

66fs yeah they did the last job but they're also the go to people for wheel/tire stuff. I've had other shops point me in their direction even though it meant they weren't getting the business. You can see the steering wheel shake as well as the hood.

Then the problem is in the front. Wheel bearings adjusted correctly? Ball joints and tie rods tight? You should have someone follow you and see what is happening. If it is that bad, it should be easy to see.
 
Swap on some other rims- like you said and see what happens
 
How much up and down or side to side movement is allowed? On one side, the rallye had a lot of up and down movement, but did not move side to side. They have brand new tires. On the same side, when running the original steel wheels with old tires, I had more side to side movement and a little bit of up and down but not as much as the rallyes. There was less vibration when running the old steelies with old tires up front as opposed to the rallyes with new tires. It doesn't seem to show it's head until highway speeds though.
 
Bearings were just replaced and tightened appropriately. We just checked the ball joints and they were tight.
 
check out the balance slug on a 9" drum. Its the size of a matchbook. Can you bribe them to check the drums on their machine? shouldnt be hard, just mount them up. I dont know if 10s had the weights.
 
check out the balance slug on a 9" drum. Its the size of a matchbook. Can you bribe them to check the drums on their machine? shouldnt be hard, just mount them up. I dont know if 10s had the weights.

You can balance a drum? Yeah it's got 9 inch drums up front with the weight on it. The rears do not have the weights on them.
 
Any wheel can be balanced....
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Insufficient caster can cause high speed shimmy. Loose idler arm too.
 
Process of elimination. If your wheels and tires are the same size, rotate them to the rear and see if the vibration changes places. I have had a bad u joint vibrate. I have a 15x7 on the rear of my 66 that vibrates but balances to zero. When the modifier welded the centers in they aren't perfect.
 
Jacked car up and looked closer. Wheels bent. Took them back to the shop and we looked at it on the balancer. Clearly bent. Too bad I just bought tires for them. Backs are bent too. I put like 50 miles on the tires. If I knew they were bent I would have bought 15s. Wonder if I can convince them to take them back since they could have or maybe should have noticed bent wheels? We will see.

Put on the original steel wheels and drove it. Shaking drastically minimized.
 
Jacked car up and looked closer. Wheels bent. Took them back to the shop and we looked at it on the balancer. Clearly bent. Too bad I just bought tires for them. Backs are bent too. I put like 50 miles on the tires. If I knew they were bent I would have bought 15s. Wonder if I can convince them to take them back since they could have or maybe should have noticed bent wheels? We will see.

Put on the original steel wheels and drove it. Shaking drastically minimized.
Steel wheels can be straightened. Almost a lost art.
The first step is to make sure the area where the wheel hits the hub is straight. That is done with a thick straight edge at different angles. It can be straightened with a big hammer and a blunt chisel type tool. 3/4 inch round stock would do.
 
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