Hi, Today I had a meet at an airfield up by me and there's a long stretch of road. I decided to open her up. I got up to 80 something and the car was shaking like an earthquake was occurring. The whole front end and i'm pretty sure back end was shaking from left to right. Does anyone know why this is occurring?

 

Wheel balancing - no one balances wheels past 35 mph - figuring the balance will suffice for double that - but it never does. I mean double check your lug nuts for tight, etc.

 

Could it be that i'm running on stock gatorback tires as well? By no means are they in bad condition but they are 25 yrs old.

 

That could be a possibility because I hear that those tires suck so maybe but I agree with camaronewbie about checking all the lugnuts and making sure you tighten them in the "star" pattern.

 

Sounds like a recipe for disaster, Greek. Whether the tires are at fault or not, you need to replace them. For that matter, what else in the front end is 25 years old?

JamesC

 

Everything on the car is stock.(Nothing has been changed but hoses,fluids,etc). It was garaged for it's whole life, wasn't moved or started for 13 yrs tho. I'm looking for new tires but every set is 700 something with wheel alignment; a little too much for what i want to pay for it,

 

First thing you have to do, is get new tires. Coming in here and telling us all about "all stock" isn't going to impress the tires and turn them from triangles into circles.

Those were crappy tires when they were new. Haven't gotten any better in the time since.

Tires last about 4-5 years on average, MAYBE 7 if they're garage-kept. Sounds like .... well, you do the math.

Yes tires are expensive. Welcome to car ownership. Get used to it.

Again, coming in here and telling us here all about "budget" and such, will fail to impress the tires and heal them. They are notoriously indifferent to such things. They simply do not care. They will go right on being how they are, no matter how insistently you protest about "stock" and "expensive". Sux, but that's just the way it is. Nothing anybody here can do about it.

Time to realize that if you want the car not to ride like Fred Flintsone owns it, and not risk having a tire POP at the most inopportune moment, your'e just going to have to suck it up and visit the tire store.

 

Greek - look at Kumho Esta AST from tirerack.com. Set of 4 for $324 + $60 shipping - should get mounted/balanced locally for $60 easy - thats a grand total of $450. I've had these 2 years now, and they still look new (tread wear), and ride really nice for the money.

 

I got the Kumho Ecsta ASX from Discount Tire. They are slightly more expensive than the AST's, but I think they're worth it. Ride and handling are both good, and they are holding up very well.

A lot of Corvette guys are using Kumho tires also. You can't go wrong with them.