Shimmy Shimmy , Shaka Shake

[VWNate1]

My Metropolitan Coupe has had a nagging shimmy at certain speeds and pavements for many a year now , I've adjusted the steering box and replaced the idler , replaced all the front wheel bearings , peaked & tweaked the front suspension every way I could and reduced it to nil but never quite got rid of until now ~ after the So. Cal. TT Run where I shredded both front tires and blew out a front brake cylinder , I tore into it once again and this time I checked the wheels , one turned up bent by almost 1/4" and the other had been run with loose lug nuts by some long ago DPO so I binned them both and procured two good ones , then I had all 5 wheels powder coated and installed two new Kuhmo 155R13" tires and re-did the brakes , shoes and cylinders complete .

VIOLA ! it's now as smooth as silk and the steering effort has been sharply reduced too .

I can hardly wait to get it up in the canyons again and see how these new tires handle ~ Michelin stopped making the 155R13" tires it needs up front , bummer that .

[Steve Simmons]

...after the So. Cal. TT Run where I shredded both front tires and blew out a front brake cylinder

Glad you weren't killed!

[VWNate1]

Me Too !

Interestingly the Metropolitan was going 65 MPH in a tight , blind LH corner when the right front tire blew out and it was still quite stable , I simply slowed down and Motored On *slowly* to the next place where I could safely change the tire .

The brakes never quit , they just began using an ounce of brake fluid every week so I decided to repair them at the same time after the tire blew .

Once I had that wheel off , I saw the (35 year old cheap) paint was all bubbled from the brake fluid leaking on it and decided what the hey , I'll have all these old chipped up wheels re done at the same time .

I also found some nice , old stock American Made Dill brand metal valve stems and fitted them too .

So , now I have four brandy new good quality tires (and a nice spare with lots of tread) , freshly painted wheels with new valve stems that shouldn't leak and all new brake shoes , cylinders including master cylinder and brake light switch plus I replaced all the flex hoses , I hope it's good to go for a while yet .

[Steve Simmons]

Ok, I was picturing all of this happening at once - two tires blown out and sudden complete brake failure.

I'm surprised the car was so stable in that turn with a blown tire. If it were the other tire then I'd say that makes sense because it probably wouldn't be touching the ground anyway.

[VWNate1]

Yeah well ;

When I finally paid close attention to the front end , the LF tire had the outer edge of the trad ripped off and was showing a bit of steel cord all the way 'round it .

The RF tire , OTOH , still had plenty of tread except for where it separated and " goose egged "

just before it went BANG ! .

I still have both shredded tires and bum wheels in my back yard , will hold onto them until I find a few more 13" Midget wheels as oddly enough , some bastard jumped my fence and kippered off with 7 or 8 good used Metropolitan wheels , three had good tires and were from my '60 Met DHC

I cannot figure out this for the life of me .

[Steve Simmons]

Gotta watch out for those roving Metropolitan gangs.

[CJ Steak]

I actually DID have two tires blow out on me *simultaneously* in one turn.

I was in my '71 TR6 that I had just bought a week before. It had some 20+ year old red lines on it, that seemed to be ok for "just in town" driving.

Well.... one of my buddies lives in this fairly desolate subdivision with a great main road towards the back. It was around 2 in the morning and we decided to have fun sliding the TR around some corners where they hadn't built houses yet. The first corner we came to was fine with the tail sliding out like I wanted, the second corner I heard a woosh and the car spun around a full 360 degrees LOL. What was funny was he was looking up at the stars when it happened.

To this day when he tells that story he says, "The stars looked really cool as they rotated around 360 degrees"... haha...

I was able to drive the car the half mile back to his house with the two flats. The next day I got tires and no more blowouts.

[Jimmy]

Okay, so NOW do you guys understand why I replace my tires every four years, regardless of how "new" they look, or even if they've never been used?

Thank you Ford and Firestone for making it better known that tires do age...and then fail.

By the way, the "best used by" date does not apply to bias ply tires.

[Steve Simmons]

Cool, so I don't' need new tires for my truck then!

[Jimmy]

Not really, unless there's a lot of cracking in the carcass.
But it does look as if your retread should be glued back on.

[Martin Keller]

Cool, so I don't' need new tires for my truck then!

But is that not a VW tire and wheel in that photo.

[Steve Simmons]

Wrong continent!