Tires Flatspotting

[Zinhead]

I'm getting alot of vibration from my steering wheel. I checked all the suspension components, and there is no play in the front end, all the joints look to be in good shape and the wheels are on tight. The PO let the car sit for a long time so I am thinking that the tires may have flat-spotted. I was going to get new tires in the spring, but was wondering if there was any way to check if the current tires have flat spots? Will driving the car get rid of flat spots?

While on the subject, what are best ways to prevent this from occuring other than putting the car on jackstands whenever it sits for extended periods?

[67GTV]

I would think that a local tire dealer could check your tires for flat spots. Keeping in mind that they're going to want to sell you a set, I'd ask to see the evidence.

I would not recommend storing your GTV up on jack stands for any length of time. I have seen many GTV's with obnoxiously high riding heights. I believe this method of storage causes the springs to stretch. If possible, just roll the car a few inches every month or so. If the space is not available (i.e. small garage) then jack her up, rotate the wheels then set her back down.

I wonder if wheel dollies would prevent flat spotting since most of them have a curved shape where the tires rest.

Here are a couple links I found for wheel dollies:
http://www.bargainjims.com/Images/Pr...e=VehicleDolly


http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=32052


http://www.speedwaymotors.com/produc...No=1&redirect=

[italcarguy]

did you have them balanced? it could be that there is an unbalanced wheel/tire? also, once i had a tire that was not seated correctly on the bead and was causing my car to vibrate in a straight line. it was wierd cuz it was not loosing air either. i had them dismount them and remount them and the problem was gone.

[Roadtrip]

Did you try rotating the tires, same side front to back? Have you gotten the tires up full temperature for a while? How about a different tire pressure?

Did you try and move the steering box are up and down. How about the idler arm up and down. How about the wheel bearings and brakes?

[Zinhead]

Thanks for the comments. The wheel dollies look ideal for stopping flat spotting. Tractor Supply has the best price at $45 for a set of two dolies. They look identical to the black dollies in the pictures.

When I had the car lifted, I checked all the suspension components from underneath the vehicle. Nothing was loose, and several of the pieces looked like they had been refurbished. I haven't checked the steering box or done anything with the tires yet, but that is next. The reason I think the tires have a flat spot is that when I push the vehicle around, sometimes it doesn't want to roll at all, while other times it wants to keep on rolling even if I am not pushing. My garage floor is flat, so.....

[Tito]

With modern radial tires flat spotting only occurs if the car has been sitting for a really really long time or if you have pretty soft high performance tires on your rig. This was a pretty common thing for bias ply in the good old days tho'. If you take your tires to the local tire dealer have him show you what it looks like when they spin balance them on the machine. Flat spots are pretty obvious. Also check your air pressure. On some low priced brands a little loss of air pressure with cause them to vibrate. If you have done all of this then the last step is to see if the wheels are true. The tires will have to be dismounted and then the wheels spun on a balancer to see if that is the problem. I hope that this helps. : )

[BigSwede]

Get them rebalanced, if that doesn't work inflate them to 4 bar and go for a fast highway drive to get rid of the flat spots.

I store my cars on jacks during the winter, just make sure that you put the jacks under the suspension i.e. under the front A-arms and the de-Dion on a transaxle car otherwise you will potentially ruin your shocks.

[Balocco211]

Have any Alfabb posters tried these to reduce winter storage flatspots?

http://www.tirecradle.com

[alfaromeo1green]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigSwede Get them rebalanced, if that doesn't work inflate them to 4 bar and go for a fast highway drive to get rid of the flat spots. I store my cars on jacks during the winter, just make sure that you put the jacks under the suspension i.e. under the front A-arms and the de-Dion on a transaxle car otherwise you will potentially ruin your shocks.

[Alex]

Nothing can be done to remedy a tire which has been flat-spotted due to locking up the wheels ... but couldn't imagine how you could lock the brakes for that long to achieve this. We're not talking hyper-sensitive F1 cars, after all.

I'd have the wheels and tyres rebalanced, you might find that some weights have fallen off. Vibrational 'harmonics' come and go at certain speeds and certain rev ranges. You could drive it at 75mph and perhaps find that the sound diminishes - but that doesn't mean you should simply drive it that fast all day long *lol*. This noise could be anything, tbh ... any one of the major drivetrain bearings etc. Does the noise/vibration increase if you're really going hard into a corner, for example?

[alfaromeo1green]

Alex,
Thanks for the input. I think I will have the tires balanced, and if they are shot, I have another set. BTW, there is only vibration, but no noise (other than the car shaking itself to pieces!!!). It is pretty massive vibration, and I've ruled out drivetrain stuff, I think, because it is road speed related, not engine speed related. It revs beautifully to redline, without donut-issues (it a GTV6 BTW). I will poke around underneath the car though, to look for other possible causes.
Thanks again!

[Tifosi]

Of course there's always the possibility of a broken belt in the tire.

That'll shake real good and make actual flatspots in the tread around the break over time.