Straightening an Aluminum wheel

The only vehicle I own which has front wheel drive (and also rear wheel drive) is my 1948 Willys Jeep.I don't think I want any front wheel drive only vehicles, I prefer rear wheel drive. cuhulin

Same here. My next vehicle will likely be a Subaru (AWD), but I never have bought into the whole FWD hype. Making the steering wheels also the driving wheels is just str8 up dangerous. The only time the "front wheel drive has superior traction!" argument is true is in a straight line at low speed. Any other time, the opposite is true.

But what do I know? I'm not an engineer.

-J

Easier to work on the drive train, but you don't have that engine weight over the drive wheels. I always put 3 or 4 hundred pound sacks of sand in the trunk of my RWD's cars when snow came along, and that worked wonders. Never got stuck, or had the back end breaking loose. Took about 500 lbs in the bed of my F-150 to make a notable difference. I never ever bought snow tires for any of my vehicles, and drove around many stuck cars in snow storms. Didn't pay any attention to what tires the stuck cars had on them. Of course if you drive a car onto a snowbank where the snow is holding the undercarriage up and not allowing the tires to grip, get out the shovel. Did that once because it was the only place to park and I wanted to get inside and sleep. Took me and a son an hour to dig it out the next day. Still haven't decided if I regret that move. Easiest way to get a RWD unstuck from snow and ice was not pushing and sliding on your feet, and getting a shot of slush whipped onto your face, but just get a few guys standing on the back bumper. Trouble is, I think bumpers disappeared faster than RWD. And then you are hauling around all that extra weight, costing gas.

--Vic

IME FWD often does have superior traction in terms of getting you moving in low traction conditions. However, the same can also be said of rear engine/RWD cars, e.g. VW Beetle, Porsche 911, Chevy Corvair etc.

I find FWD more difficult to *handle* in low traction conditions, although it is more "fail safe" - RWD cars may oversteer but FWD almost always understeer which is considered safer for unskilled drivers. (note: I know that this is not a fundamental characteristic of the two drive layouts, but merely how they are most often implemented.)

nate

That is an old ''Trick'', putting sand bags in the trunk, or the bed of pickup trucks. cuhulin

Nate Nagel wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@news1.newsguy.com:

Yes, that's more what they look like up here.

Snow, hard packed even isn't exactly known for transmitting sound very well. If there's no snow or ice on the road, you don't need snow tires. However here, anywhere but the major roads is covered in a layer of it for most of the winter.

yep, I remember living up north and roads simply were packed snow. Around here more often it's just slushy, the only reason you need snow tires is so that you can get around on those few days when there is actual snow on the ground - maybe a week or so out of the year. Unfortunately, you don't know when those days are going to be so the snow tires stay on december through march. The newer "winter tires" do me fine although I wouldn't try getting through a winter without them (Porsche 944, no all-season tires available to fit it anymore even if I wanted to try it.)

nate

I lived in Martinsville,Indiana for a year in 1947 and Bozeman,Montana for about six months in 1956 and Salina,Kansas for a few months in 1957 (in the Summertime) and at Scott Air Force Base,Illinois (when I was in the Army) for about ten months in 1963.

I never could get used to that freezing cold weather and slipping and sliding on those icey sidewalks and my fingers and toes feeling like Birdseye frozen peas.Suppose to get up to 71 degrees here tomorrow. cuhulin

They are bias play as are all bicycle tires.

A short lived Radial series from Panasonic (premium supplier in bicycle tires) showed poor handling and rapid wear for bicycle applications.

From Sheldon Brown: "The Panaracer radials turned out to be extremely unpleasant to ride (they are fast and efficient, but they always feel flat, there is a lateral floppiness that is just intolerable..."

Getting real off topic... I always thought that Panasonic (the bicycle mfgr - presumably part of Matsushita?) and Panaracer (tire mfgr - formerly National Tire Co.) were two different companies, albeit both Japanese. Not so?

nate

Divisions of the same company, Matsushita in Osaka Japan (been there!). In Japan, most of their products are marked "National" which can't be trademarked here.

Interesting!

Thanks for the links!

-J

Alrighty then... I took it in for an alignment. I thought $90 was kind of high for that, but you tell me. However, they won't align it because I've got a worn upper ball joint. Quoted $380/side to replace.

NAPA stocks the ball joints for about $25, (and the whole upper control arm assy for $75), so for that kind of money maybe I can make a whole front end rebuild a spring-time parking lot project. I'll just need to figure out whether I can just replace the ball joints or if I have to go the whole arm, etc.

I've got some scrub tires on the front right now, and (you guys might call me names for this, but) maybe I can double check the toe- adjustment with a tape measure for now. I don't drive it much in the winter and the roads are all icy/snowy anyways. I don't think I'll wear these tires down too bad if I the toe isn't too far off.

Thanks.

-J

You probably can just replace the ball joint, but if it is a screw-in type you will need a special tool and a very beefy breaker bar. What kind of vehicle is this again?

If you plan on keeping it forever investing in the tool may not be unreasonable.

nate

If they're doing a real alignment with a real technician who knows what he is doing, that's fair. You can get an alignment for half of that prcie at a chain tire shop, by a kid who just puts it on the machine, presses a button, and does what the machine tells him. It's WELL worth the extra money to get someone competent to do it instead.

Excellent. See, if you'd taken it into the tire store, they would just have set the alignment anyway and if anything probably made the problem worse.

Depends on the car. In a lot of cases, it's so much easier to replace the whole arm that it's well worth the additional money. Especially if you don't have an arbor press.

If the ball joints are bad, it's not even worth your time to check with a tape measure.

--scott

Oh right.... sorry i forgot to mention- it is a 99 Ford Ranger 2WD (coil spring SLA in front). The shop I took it to was a Tires Plus, which is a tire chain.

-J

Looks like they may be press-in, in which case you're probably better off just having someone replace them for you, unless you *enjoy* inventing new cuss words.

I just did a quick search on rockauto and looked at the pics, so I may be mistaken.

nate

It's a press in and the early 99s were NOT replaceable. You replaced the entire arm. (Which is actually a better way anyway).

The only real way to tell is to either run the VIN or pull it apart and look. Personally I would get the new arms and start there.

Why is it better to replace the arm? Is it because you can also do the upper bushings, too?

-J