hello everyone im looking for some advice my 1981 c3 has devloped a front tire wobble. i have jacked the car up and checked all the normal spots tie-rods steeringbox cross linksballjoints everything seems tight. but when i drive the car people in front of me tell me my tires are very wobbly could a thrown weight on the front wheels cause this or should i look elsware. i do feel it in the steering wheel also. thanks

 

Well,..... steering knuckles, ball joints, wheel bearings, a loose A-frame ( highly unlikely ), is about all there is to the front. A missing weight will make a tire 'bump', not wobble.
Have ya checked your lug nuts?

 

One other thing,....
make sure ya don't have a broken or cracked rim.

 

Or a bent wheel. Try spinning them with the front end jacked up to see. Also might let someone drive it by while you look at it or drive along side and see what you can see. If all your suspension and steering linkage is tite, then I'm betting on a bent wheel or loose wheel bears. Or maybe like C3 says, loose lug nuts.

 

i have the stock factory mags is there a tourque setting for these? i believe i just snugged up on them when i had the wheels off.
thanks

 

Hopefully you have the correct lug nuts for the factory rims too. I agree with the above posts. Loose wheels, bent rims and loose wheel bearings all come to mind. How old are the tires? they may be way out of balance or even out of round.....

[sm=icon_cheers.gif]

 

Can't say for sure what the factory torque is but it's usually higher than steel wheels. Somewhere around 90-100 ft-lbs.

 

Sounds more like a slipped belt to me then anything else. Go to a good tire shop and have them spin your wheels on the balancer, and that should find the problem. If all of your front end components are tight, what else is there? Lug nut torque has to be WAY off, like falling off,to cause a real shake like you explain.

 

you can jack the car up so the wheel is just off the ground and spin it. See if it keeps the same distance off the ground. If the tire is bad you will see the bump in the tire. Look at it from the front and the side. If it's that bad you will see it. Should spin nice and straight.

 

I might lean toward Texas' jim diagnosis. I had a tire with a bad belt in it on the right front of my 72. Experienced the same thing you are. Looked at every possible scenario until someone told me to switch my front tire with the rears. Voila!!! Problem solved. Check it out just to be sure.