Yall keep all that white stuff to the west....

 

Good afternoon to N. Carolina folks...enjoy your day.

 

Copied this from my build thread. Some wanted a video, here ya go



Today I had an appointment at Massey's Wheel Alignment in Selma NC to have my tires trued and high speed balanced. The tires were pretty out of round, you know what mil-spec means right? Made by the lowest bidder LOL

So the truing process is pretty cool. Basically a machine is butted up to the tire, turns the tire and shaves it while it rotates. This takes the wheel and tire both into account and creates a perfectly round and flat surface.

While many say that truing a tire wastes rubber and costs money, the owner of Massey's, Bernice Parker (pronounced Burn-iss) likes to educate people about the process. Truing a tire only removes rubber down to the lowest natural point of the tread. The tire is only as good as this lowest point anyway, so the truing process simply matches the rest of the tire to this point. A true tire runs cooler, this means longer tread life and helps the tire to resist heat related damage. A true tire does not bounce, this helps to limit cupping and scalloped tread. It also helps prolong suspension component life. Finally, a true and properly balanced tire rides smooth and is a joy to drive. No matter how much weight you use, you cannot fix an out of round tire with balance weights.

High speed computer balance is similar to regular computer balance except the high speed part. The tire is spun up very fast, I would say 3 times as fast as a regular tire balancer spins. It measures and predicts accurately the imbalance and required weight. The proof is in the driving and it drives great. I had the tires dynamically balanced. This places weight on the inside and the outside of the wheel. While a wheel weight is ugly, a vibrating tire is uglier.

My truck is a new animal. The tires were not terrible before, but they did vibrate and shake at times and at certain speeds. Now, it is perfect. I mean Lincoln smooth. No trace of a vibration in the steering wheel. My review mirror is still and my butt is not getting a Goodyear massage. My wife was amazed at the difference and said it was $115 well spent. When your wife says that, you know you got a good service for a good deal.

This is something you should really consider if your truck has large off road tires that you can't seem to balance properly or seem to have the shakes no matter what you do. Honestly the difference is mind blowing. I never thought these tires would ride like this. Best money I have spent on any mod or repair.


View from the bay, waiting to be pulled into the building. About 25* here today.





A fleet of truing machines. The owner says they are rarely silent and in fact, there were 3 other vehicles there today while I was in the shop which also received the service.





Video 1 of the truing process. Just getting started. Notice the long area of no contact and then the cutting. This is beginning the process of getting the big 37 round.





Video 2. Getting into the meat.





Not much weight for a 37, 2 were like this, 2 required more.





This one is ready to go. Surface is slightly grainy but will quickly look normal after a few hundred miles.





Brutus looks happy doesn't he?! Smooth tires and some liquid dinner.

 

Wife bought it 15 years ago as a Christmas gift.
The foothills rock...

 

I had one trued many years ago and when he was done cutting he held a brick on the tire while still rotating and it came out smooth.

 

Hello, Tim.
I'll be outside every three hrs. tonight knocking the snow and sleet off the boat cover...

 

Well, ice and snow here. Looks like a good day to surf the net and watch a movie.

 

Mother Nature let me down again.
We do have quite a bit of sleet on the ground, but none of this 4"s of snow to be seen.
I lived in Missouri for almost 50 years and was really looking forward to a good snow.
But, I also had a monster of a snow blower, the generator would power the entire house, and by September there were always at least two chords of seasoned hardwood split and stacked and covered near the house.


Y'all stay safe n warm.

 

Rain and sleet, nothing stuck except on the trees here.

 

Just the ground covered, not much on the truck either.

 

Hard to tell how much snow we had with all the sleet packed on top. 1.5 inches, rock hard with some really dry snow on the bottom.

 

Staying inside.
I do have to take the wife to work at 12. She is a county supervisor and has to be there

 

Thanks for sharing the photos and information about tire truing. Good stuff.


Bob, It rarely snows around here. Mostly a good icing every now and then. We have about an inch of ice on the roads here but it's hardly covering the yard. The kids on the 4 wheelers are doing a fine job of clearing the streets for us.

Yall be safe. Have a good week.

 

We got about a 1/2" of solid ice with some ice pellets under that. Should be much worse in the morning after the little melting we had today. Made it to town and back with no trouble. It IS slick though. A boy in a Wrangler gave me a thumbs up. A dude about my age in a Dodge Dually all bro'd out gave me a sneer LOL

 

Bro'd out!!! Lol!

I cleared the daily driver off just in case I needed or decided to go anywhere. The jeep was in the garage. but mostly I've ju been doing the work from home thing.

Thinking about firing up the heat out in the shop, and doing the back brakes on the 350, and changing the diff fluid. Let's see how motivated I get.

Oh anyone picked up steel around here, is there a good place to go? I think the hardware store is a little overpriced.