Tires are "choppy"

snidehockey · Oct 23, 2008

I got my front tires balanced today and they said that the tires were "choppy"

The guy at the register was a real blowhard who was telling me about how he drifts in his accord. Anyway he said the tech who did the balancing noticed a slight "choppiness" in the fronts where the outside wear fluctuated I guess...he also mentioned cupping and feathering but aren't these all different things. I know that feathering is what early 350z's had problems w/.

I'm not really familiar w/ these terms...

bhuff30 · Oct 23, 2008

Does he drift in reverse or did he do a rear wheel drive conversion?

snidehockey said:
The guy at the register was a real blowhard who was telling me about how he drifts in his accord...

Feathering is the result of the toe being out of spec, either not set correctly or a suspension part is allowing play. Cupping is different, and quite possibly showing that there is something loose allowing play in your suspension.

Was it both front tires or only 1? You should probably check the tie rod ends, hubs, and ball joints for anything loose. When the bearing in my hub was going out, I got some feathering and accelerated tire wear.

This should give you a better explanation of the terms than I could: http://www.procarcare.com/includes/content/resourcecenter/encyclopedia/ch25/25readtirewear.html

Stark77 · Oct 23, 2008

LOL I was just about to ask how drifting in a front wheel drive car works - he must have seen it work in the Fast and Furious.

COramprat · Oct 23, 2008

Choppy could also refer to a tire out of balance.

jomull55 · Oct 24, 2008

i bet he just uses his e-brake to drift, then turns on his rocket boosters (flames out exhaust like on 2 fast 2 furious) to power through the corner.

SVT32VDOHC · Oct 24, 2008

Don't listen to that bonehead. Why do sales people "out do" customers??? Who cares about your Accord Mr. Salesperson....anyways...

IF the tires are choppy, you can feel it. Just run your hand back and forth on the tire, and you'll feel a rough, or uneven tread. It could be an alignment and it could just be the tire itself. What brand are they? Cheap tires go bad well before their "mileage rating" because you get what you pay for.

Dragstr05 · Oct 24, 2008

Sounds like an alignment issue to me. Most of the time its toe that causes the condition you are describing.

snidehockey · Oct 24, 2008

yeah this guy was killing me...I had to listen to like 4 stories that were just total "ricer" topic material on here.

He pointed out his accord (oh my word, what a piece) told me how he's talkin to his contact at Aamco to 'beef up the transmission internals' and put in a stage 2 clutch...

I also had the pleasure of hearing about his Amsoil fully synthetic oil change regiment.

It was one of those situations where I just kept my mouth shut and acted like I didn't know anything about cars etc.

Anyway, the tires are a no name brand 'sceptor' but are only about 5,000 miles old. The reason I took it in for balancing was that it would sometimes vibrate at about 60, but never pulled left or right.

As it turns out they were out of balance by "1.75"...I dunno what that measurement is, but I saw it on the balancer screen...then it went to 0.00 when he added the weight.

bhuff30 · Oct 24, 2008

the 1.75 is ounces of weight they had to apply to the wheel to balance it. That's quite a bit.

SVT32VDOHC · Oct 24, 2008

I've had cheap tires go bad on cars with good alignments in 5,000 miles or less.

I would get an alignment first, because it might be off and ride the tires out till they need replacing. No need to spend hundreds on new tires, then ruin them because it only needed a 40 dollar alignment.

Dragstr05 · Oct 24, 2008

bhuff30 said:
the 1.75 is ounces of weight they had to apply to the wheel to balance it. That's quite a bit.

Junk tires=require more weight to balance (most of the time) and dont wear as well.

My all time favorite tire to work with is michelin. They mount easy, tend to require less weight to balance, and wear really well. Most customers however opt for the cheaper tire because the michelins cost so much.

LaserSVT · Oct 24, 2008

Mabey that was grams

Has any body thought of worn struts? My 96 was doing that too and my struts were blown. New struts (whole Eibach kit) and it was just fine afterwards

Mustang5L5 · Oct 24, 2008

You get what you pay for with tires. I've had cheap or old tires go bad quickly on me without being worn.

BTW, what the hell sort of technical term is "choppy"?

Put the wheel with the heavier weights on the rear. The rear axle can absorb more vibration than the fronts can.

I hate tire change places. It's "usually" full of wanna-be mechanics and import enthusiasts. I usually just take my wheels off, take the center caps off and just drop them off in a pickup truck. The last time i got tires though one guy recognized the wheels as Mustang wheels and really hooked me up. It has it's good points and bad points I guess.....but i hate the fact that I can't mount my own wheels....it's the only thing i've never done on my own cars.

snidehockey · Oct 24, 2008

the only reason I have them is because that brand of tire is what was on the car when I got it used...then I had an accident and the repair shop said they had to replace the tires due to low tread and put the same brand on but brand new.

Anyway, yeah I HATE those places, but wheel balancing etc is one of those things ya just can't do yourself. I mean I just replaced the engine and tranny by myself...but unfortunately their tools keep them in business, not their knowledge or maturity.

The last time I was at this place this one fat douche felt that because I was watching him (like a hawk) he needed to tell me about how he races Mustangs all the time...in his civic hatchback w/ non matching body panels...and a "future engine swap" of course. That always gets me...how every POS ricer has HUGE future plans lol.

98COBRA281 · Oct 24, 2008

Mustang5L5 said:
I hate tire change places. It's "usually" full of wanna-be mechanics and import enthusiasts. I usually just take my wheels off, take the center caps off and just drop them off in a pickup truck. The last time i got tires though one guy recognized the wheels as Mustang wheels and really hooked me up. It has it's good points and bad points I guess.....but i hate the fact that I can't mount my own wheels....it's the only thing i've never done on my own cars.

X10000000

when i got my alignment done, the guy took it out and was romping it all around the backstreet near the shop, i was like WTF were you doing, he was like "taking it for a test drive"

Tires are "choppy"

snidehockey

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bhuff30

Stark77

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COramprat

...I can take it. I think.

jomull55

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SVT32VDOHC

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snidehockey

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bhuff30

SVT32VDOHC

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