Goodyear Billboards balancing

[MaSnaka]

Has anybody else experienced balancing difficulties with BB's?

3rd trip to the tire shop for balancing, dynamic balancing method, weights on inside and outside edge of wheel, on a Hunter Roadforce machine. I find the tire spinning has a lot of visible wave and wobble in the tread. It's not the wheel. There is a bump or hop too. I'm not sure what it means but the shop said there is a reading of 58lbs. and 69 lbs. of road force in the rear tires. Said low 20's would be considered acceptable but not above that.

The original vender says it is extremely rare to have a bad set of tires. They are in the process of contacting Goodyear, I am waiting for a reply.

Has anybody else had this problem? The car is vibrating and shaking way too much.

Help?

Thanks, John

[Dinobyte]

Would you have gone with the BB's knowing you would have this issue?

[RICK LAKE]

MaSnaka John are they a bias or radial tire. There are some things that need to be checked first. Mark the tire and the rim before checking anything. First the wheel needs to be broken down and spun without the tire. Find out what the added weight is needed to 0 balance the rim. Write this down and check both lateral and radial run out on the rim. It should be less than .050" If the rim is OK reassembly the wheel and check tire for radial run out on the thread if the radial is more than .050" out, you need to find the high spot on the tire and the low spot on the rim and assembly. This will get you the lowest lateral and radial runout. I forgot to ask you, how long has the car been sitting on theses tires? If you have flat spots, you are going to have a vibration in the car until the tire heats up expectationly if sitting in the same spot for a long time. Concrete is the worst for giving flat spots to bias tires. If the car is going to sit for weeks, jack it off the ground and put jack stands under the suspension. Where are you feeling the vibration in the car? your hands, your butt, your back? Does it come and go at different speeds?? Is it possible you have abad shock in the car? John there are too many ideas for this. Those Good year tire are really for racing. They do look good on any cobra. Send me a private e-mail with a number to call you at and time or call me after 8:00pm est time to talk about this. 732-254-3536 Rick Lake Ps there are too many things you may need to check. If you have a Jag rearend,end play for the stub shafts, how much play is in the front bearings, and the list goes on. We will talk. Rick John you are on line, send me a number to call you at.

[PatBuckley]

Originally Posted by MaSnaka

Has anybody else experienced balancing difficulties with BB's?

3rd trip to the tire shop for balancing, dynamic balancing method, weights on inside and outside edge of wheel, on a Hunter Roadforce machine. I find the tire spinning has a lot of visible wave and wobble in the tread. It's not the wheel. There is a bump or hop too. I'm not sure what it means but the shop said there is a reading of 58lbs. and 69 lbs. of road force in the rear tires. Said low 20's would be considered acceptable but not above that.

The original vender says it is extremely rare to have a bad set of tires. They are in the process of contacting Goodyear, I am waiting for a reply.

Has anybody else had this problem? The car is vibrating and shaking way too much.

Help?

Thanks, John

John -

Are the tires made in the USA or in Argentina? It will say so on the sidewall.

[vettestr]

You are working with your tire dealer and would like to know what they recommend and what the outcome is so please post. I am sure no tire expert but have mounted and run many slicks over the years. I don't know if the way we did slicks will help with your BB or not. We would check the balance and check 4 run out on just the wheel (no tire mounted). Any weight needed to zero the wheel would be welded inside the rim.

The tire circumference measurement would be checked until a close matched set was found. After mounting and setting tire pressure the circumference. was checked again, you can stretch a small tire with pressure.in the sun. Wheels are bubble balanced and weights taped in place as needed. The burnouts and chirppies knocked off any high spots to make them round. Flat spots come out pretty quick too.

[1985 CCX]

They do flat spot!!!!!!!
If they can't heat up, do to time of year, they will feel out of balance. When I balanceed mine the service shop said they were having issues. Once on the raod they were fine at speed or around town, of course heated.....

I put the car on stands for the winter to avoid extended flat spots first time out.

[Bob In Ct]

They're not out of balance, they're just not round!

It is possible to balance even a square tire. You're probably having trouble because the tire is either not round and/or not dynamically round. BFGs are famous for this.

Just because it's in balance does not mean it will roll well.

Bob

[Excaliber]

I never heard of radial 'Bill Boards', I suspect there all bias ply. It would not suprise me if in fact they weren't perfect tires, they have been some issues with some batches. Perhaps thats why Pat is asking where they were made. Interesting question regarding a flat spot, which of course these tires are famous for if they sit for any length of time. They get 'round' within a few miles so to me it's no big deal. BUT, would a flat spot from sitting throw off the balance and tire dynamics during testing? Seems like it would.

[MaSnaka]

Ok, This is where I'm at so far. Apparently Goodyear has agreed to replace two tires only. Which two? The rears are by far the worse so I will opt for that change. The tires do say "Made in USA". The Vibrations seem to be more the whole car than just the steering wheel. I can tell you that I can feel what seems to be flat spotting from parking the car. This is very minor and goes away after a few miles of normal driving. This is not the same as what I have been experiencing. Maybe some good smokey burnouts would round out these tires but quite honestly I have never done that before. I am convinced it is not a shock issue in that the shocks were all replaced with new coilovers almost a year ago and I did not have the problems until I changed out the tires. I thought going to the Goodyears would be an upgrade from the BFG TA radials I had before. That hasn't been the case. I hope to have this resolved next week. I will keep you all posted with my results.

From all the great reviews of the GY tires I should be happy and I'm not. Looks yes-performance no.

Thanks for all the sugesstions and help.

John

[Excaliber]

Performance? GY's are FAR superior to the 'dangerous' TA's. A hassle getting a good set of GY's? Yeah it can be. When it comes to traction, wet or dry TA's can't hold a candle to the Bill Boards. I consider the TA's 'dangerous' because of their LACK of traction, especially in a corner where they will break away much quicker than the Gy's, and without warning.

[Power Surge]

My Billboards are complete junk, in the sense of roundness and balance. I bought them brand new from Penske East Coast and they were very badly out of round, and took huge amounts of weight to balance. Oh, plus the sidewalls were dry cracked. These were brand new, and not even tires that sat around, as I had to wait for them to come off backorder when they made more.

I was told by Penske that's how they are, dry cracked and all. I can't imagine a "racing" tire being that poorly made, but that's how mine came.

[Power Surge]

Originally Posted by MaSnaka

Ok, This is where I'm at so far. Apparently Goodyear has agreed to replace two tires only. Which two? The rears are by far the worse so I will opt for that change. The tires do say "Made in USA". The Vibrations seem to be more the whole car than just the steering wheel. I can tell you that I can feel what seems to be flat spotting from parking the car. This is very minor and goes away after a few miles of normal driving. This is not the same as what I have been experiencing. Maybe some good smokey burnouts would round out these tires but quite honestly I have never done that before. I am convinced it is not a shock issue in that the shocks were all replaced with new coilovers almost a year ago and I did not have the problems until I changed out the tires. I thought going to the Goodyears would be an upgrade from the BFG TA radials I had before. That hasn't been the case. I hope to have this resolved next week. I will keep you all posted with my results.

From all the great reviews of the GY tires I should be happy and I'm not. Looks yes-performance no.

Thanks for all the sugesstions and help.

John

Obvously you've not come across any of my posts on them, I had the same issues.

When I tried to balance them for the first time, they were SO bad I just gave up and installed them as is. The car shook so bad over 70mph that it would shake the windshield and body panels loose.

I recently gave balancing them another shot after 7k miles of use. They still took a lot of weight, but are now balanced, and the car is plenty smooth over 70mph. They're still badly out of round when you spin them on the balancer though.

[Excaliber]

Mine work great! Minimum wieght for balancing, no vibration at 130. But I'll admit, I got 'lucky'. They are, after all, little more than a canvas bag with rubber on the outside. They DON'T have the additives of a modern tire to keep the dry cracking from happening on the sidewall, which means they have a short shelf life compared to modern tires. They DO flat spot. So WHY do I run them? Great traction just might save my life, and probably all ready has. Plus, they look cool. Certainly not for everyone and a real pain in the butt when you get a bad set (which seems to happen a fair amount of the time). "Racing" tires, use one season,throw away, that pretty well sums up the GY's.

[RedBarchetta]

It's threads like this that made me choose DOT drag radials and forget about how great the GYs look on our cars. GY is so stupid for giving the finger to a rather strong niche market for 15" performance tires that have the look of the 60's. I'll go now.

-Dean

[Excaliber]

I worry about how those drag radials do under hard cornering? That is my primary concern for 'good traction', I want the car to stick in the corners. So, whats the deal with these drag radials and handling?

Secondary: What ARE our options for a 15" tire that fits 10" wide rims (NOT TA's)?

[RedBarchetta]

Originally Posted by Excaliber

I worry about how those drag radials do under hard cornering? That is my primary concern for 'good traction', I want the car to stick in the corners. So, whats the deal with these drag radials and handling?

Secondary: What ARE our options for a 15" tire that fits 10" wide rims (NOT TA's)?

You pump them up to 30-32psi and the stiffer sidewall allows them to grip extremely well in the corners. Of course, you need to get them warm before attempting aggressive driving. They will tear up during hot laps on a track, so they don't last long in true road racing circumstances.

My rear Trigos were stretched inward one inch to 10.5" (actually new inner halves were machine welded to the original rim) and I'm running a MT 325/50 (see gallery). It's a LOT of tire, but I don't get squirrely in 2-3 shifts any more, and the 1-2 is hardly a full revolution or two. The only set-back is that the 325/50 is a tall tire and measures about 27.5-27.7" on the car. 27" would be simply ideal, so ask MT to make it in a 325/45-15.

[Excaliber]

Gettin' squirrely in 2nd! Man that happened to me at the drag strip one day. Made a PERFECT shift into 2nd, really nailed it nicely, freakin' Bill Boards broke loose and the car was 'dancing' all over the track. 9.0 pucker factor! Any less traction than what I had and I might have lost it!

[RICK LAKE]

Ernie There are about 6 companies with 15" tires The only problem is the speed ratings are all in the 105 range. Dunlop GT Qualifier 295/50R15 $100.00, GY EagleII tires 295/50R15 $125.00, Mikey Thompson sell 4 different styles of tires. The ET street radials come in 315/60R15,295/65R15,325/50R15. Hoosier also sell DOT Quick time tires in many sizes. The look of a GY billboard tires looks great on any cobra. You guys know you can always buy another tire more to your liking, put the Black wall side out, and stencil in the letters on the tires. Takes about 15 minutes per tire after you make the stencil. Just a Thought. Rick L.

[jmimac351]

Originally Posted by RICK LAKE

You guys know you can always buy another tire more to your liking, put the Black wall side out, and stencil in the letters on the tires. Takes about 15 minutes per tire after you make the stencil. Just a Thought. Rick L.

That's illegal. Man law.

[jmimac351]

I bought my BBs from the distributor in Daytona. They mounted them for me but the balancing machine was at a race that day. I haven't had them balanced yet. They seem fine around town but get up to 80mph or so and they do vibrate quite a bit. Go figure.