texastillie

Had a weird moment in the wagon yesterday, and wanted to see if any of you fine folks might have had a similar experience...

Over the last couple of days, I'd noticed some "shimmy" in the wheel, as though the alignment was off - more obvious on highway off-ramps, with a decent curve to them. I figured I'd take the old man into the shop, to see what was shaking... well, at least until yesterday. I was heading down the highway at about 55, and heard a distinct rumble on the front passenger side. Pulled over, had a look, and figured it might have been something in the road I'd run over - possibly dislodged. I started up again, and moved along the shoulder slowly, gradually accelerating - then BUMP - and I pulled over again, stopping in earnest.

I hopped out, and saw that the tire tread had completely sheered off of the passenger tire, exposing the steel belt. The tire itself was still inflated, and fortunately there is no damage to the wagon's body - but I'd never seen anything like it. I called my sweetie, who basically grew up in his dad's repair shop, and he said, "You're pretty damned lucky, you know". In other words, it could have been a full-on blowout.

Hard to say what caused this - I will tell you that the tire was a spare, and god only knows how old the thing was. Luckily I had a full-size, new spare in the well... unluckily, it's not a whitewall, so it sticks out like a damned sore thumb. So much for continuity in appearance...

Any of you all had this happen? Never seen anything like it. Edited to add that, sure enough, the shimmy is gone now...

texastillie

I have the said tire in my spare well - I'll be sure to take pics when I get the chance. It's weird as all get out, to say the least...

Oh, and by the way, RM - I met up with a 1948 Roadmaster at a recent car show - it was a HONEY. The owner, an older fellow, found it in a field and fell in love - spent about $30,000 restoring it. I thought about you, and how much you love these things...

POPIMPIN CUSTOMS I.N.C

yeah i also came back from my little towns annual 1 time a year car show and saw a late 40's early 50s roadmaster and thought of u immediatly roadmonster ( that and there was a huge lack of lt1 power there :eek: ) but on a good note this is the first time since i was a little kid and ive been going to this car show for around 5-10 years and there was a beautiful purple 1996 (?) impala ss this is the first time ive ever seen one in my town let alone the car show!!!! i was happy and i voted for it lol even though there were way better cars ( among them a 1930's mercedes priced in the millions )

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4 B BODIES
2 SOLD CAPRICES
1995 9C1 UNDERCOVER CAR WHITE ON IMPALA SS'S muff delete/ hollowed cats / I.N.C. REP TILL I DIE
1991 CAPRICE CLASSIC 350 160,000 CUSTOM 20'S STOCK 2 TONE
1991 caprice 305 payed $600 sold 4 $1200
1965 OLDSMOBILE STARFIRE 425 BIG BLOCK 375+- HORSES SMASHES ON FORDS

77Impala

I have had that happen on an old Ford Granada that I once had. It did need an alignment and would throw the tire tread quite easily. Yours may be just from a very old tire.

Keep an eye on the tread wear pattern and also if been on the hwy see by feeling the tires if any is hotter than the others-a good quick way to tell that you have a problem developing.

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cbmikey

I've also seen the same thing happen before. It's been either crappy tires or an alignment problem.

Most places (around here anyway) do free alignment checks, get your land yacht in fast and get it checked!