True your own tires? :)

[Alvin in AZ]

About 10 years ago I tried truing my own tires and it didn't work worth anything.
But in the meantime I discovered sanding discs for the little 4+1/2" hand grinders tho! LOL :)

Works good but isn't easy work.

The trick is to get a paint stick and a few blocks to hold it solid and mark the high spots
then stop the tire and go to work erasing the marks, just keep at it.

I need a better picture...
http://www.panix.com/~alvinj/file12/tiretruing1.jpg
...that was when I was using a lumber crayon and they're too hard to mark good.
That's a 36 grit Norton blue colored disc there.

Loosen the disk brake calipers on the front so the little hand grinder can spin it up to like
35mph so you can mark it. The rear, I just started it up and jammed it in top gear. :)

Anybody game for this craziness? LOL :)

What got me to thinking about posting this craziness here was Hawkrod mentioned his tire
size and first thing I though of was cupping and how this gets rid of the cupping and makes
the tire run smooth again. :)

Good for brand spanking new tires on new aluminum wheels too. ;) ...that's what got me
to experimenting with trying to do it myself again. Worked out great so far.

My only real caution is to place the blocks on the "back side" so if the blocks fall into the
spinning wheel the wheel won't try to climb over 'em. Can you see it? :)

Alvin in AZ
ps- Only one outfit in town trues tires and it's for $15 a piece but they take them off the
wheel which defeats some of the purpose for us and our clunky old steel wheels. Their
main customers are cops, racers, truckers and crazy old guys. :) They are in the business
to "pre-true" tires for the most part.

[basketcase0302]

Alvin,
Good post man! I too had found many years ago there was only one shop in south Florida where I lived that trued tires, (and the 38's I was running really needed this done). I gotta' wonder in my present case though, (10 ply tires). If i would drive the truck to warm up/round out the tires first, then shave them?

[Alvin in AZ]

Alvin,
Good post man!
wonder... If I would drive the truck to warm up/round out the tires first, then shave them?

Cool thanks :)

I just drove mine and got the thing up off its tires right away because I figured it didn't hurt
anything to do it that way. But figure it ain't as big a deal as back in the "nylon cord days". :)

I beared down and took more off in the areas that seemed to need it more and would taper
off from there. After sanding twice the third marking session will show you that you've made
a big difference in how round and/or concentric the tire's new surface is. On the rear tires I
would run them up about 70mph to mark them. :)

I balance my own tires but didn't bother with the rear tires. The front tires can be balanced
good enough right where they are. I also took the opportunity to snug up the front wheel
bearings (10,000 miles from needing repacked) and checked for bent axles while I was at it.

Alvin in AZ