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I recently got a set of clean 240 Turbo wheels with Pirelli P8000s on them (directional tires). Not exactly top of the line, but a decent deal from a friend of mine and certainly better than the old steel 14" I had. At least, so I thought. Put them on my M46-equipped 245.
I've had the things on my car for about three weeks now -- just about 400 miles I've put on them. I've noticed a shudder that seems to get worse at 60-65mph, it dies and then it comes back for another 5 mph window around 80.
I took it into a reputable shop for an alignment. They brought in the left toe a bit, but the car continues to pull to the right. They said it was probably a bum tire -- that when it was being manufactured, there was probably a QC issue with the steel belting or the tread. Usually, they just swap left and right to see if this takes care of it, but since these were directional tires they didn't do that. Kinda irked me that they didn't try to diagnose it better.
So tonight I swapped RF (suspect tire) and RR figuring that even if a tire were that bad, if it were moved to the back, it would be slightly less noticeable as it would not have direct input on the steering. Guess what... shaky shaky got worse. Then I swapped LF and LR and it still stayed bad, though it doesn't seem to pull to the right as badly. Now around 40 mph or so, on deceleration, it almost seems like it's wandering. Hopefully, this is just my imagination.
I do not recall having this problem with my 14s.
So, what the hell is going on? Bum tires? Bad rims? My buddy had them on his car before he sold them to me and he said they were great. He also took them in to be sure that they were true and round.
My fear is that I have another problem in my steering that just happened to manifest itself (what the hell, I just had to replace the whole wiring harness for what started out as a simple starter problem three weeks ago; this would be about par right now). The shudder feels like I'm driving over a triple-caution water bar at full speed (or maybe a cattle guard or lots of bot dots or re-entering the earth's atmosphere from outer space too fast, etc) in the speed windows I mentioned before. You actually see the steering wheel move on a nice smooth road. Could I have a loose tie rod or something? Failing ball joint?
I do need to replace my tranny mount, but I can't imagine that driveshaft wobble could be this severe.
I'm lost. Pissed off, too. My car was smooth and nice before, just rolled a bit in turns with the 14s. Of course, they were Michelins, too. Grrrr.
I still have the 14s and another car with crappy (but fairly smooth) turbo rims/tires. Tomorrow I will put the 14s back on. If the smooth ride comes back, then it's on with the other turbo rims. If they're smooth, then I get my big stick and my bad attitude out of the hall closet. If the ride still sucks with the other tire sets, I don't know what to do.
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