[Amc-list] Old Tires

[JOE FULTON <piper_pa20@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

The list traffic is kinda slow so:

My 77 Gremlin is back on the road finally.  After a
series of back and forths with the DMV I finally got
my license plates yesterday.  The temporary sticker
expires today so I was dreading having to stand in
line again to get a temporary renewal.  

Now to the tires:  The car had some shimmy in the
steering at 60 mph and above.  I had only replaced the
front shocks and left the rest of the front suspension
alone since it looked good.  Even the strut rod
bushings appeared to be good.  So in preparation for
driving the car frequently, I took it to the local
front end alignment tech who works with a shop I
trust.  These guys know and understand old cars.  They
are hot-rodding a mid-50s Packard.  There was a 58
Mercury in the shop yesterday and both a 60s Camaro
and Chevelle were in the alignmnent bay ahead of my
Gremlin. 

I told the tech about the shimmy and asked him to
check for worn parts and list anything that he thought
needed replacement.  I would perform any needed
mainetance.  If there were no significant worn parts
and he thought the front would hold an alignment, go
ahead and do it.

When I picked up the car he said everything looked
really good.  He had corrected the toe-in and taken a
little slop out of the steering box.  He said the
shimmy was coming from the old tires I had on it.  The
rubber is very hard and there are flat spots.

The tires are Goodyear GT radials dating from the late
seventies or early 1980s.  They came to me on some old
Cragar wheels off of a 69 AMX I bought and have since
sold.  I had put them on the car even though I
realized they were old. They look is so period correct
for the car mounted on AMC ralley wheels. The tread
depth is like a new tire and I wasn't worried about
the condition of the rubber because of the light
weight of the Gremlin and the fact that I live alone
and wouldn't have anyone else to worry about in the
car.

But in order to have a comfortable (and admittedly
safer ride) it looks like I'll be investing in tires.

Joe Fulton
Salinas, CA 
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