Haven't been too active on the list, but still have a few interesting items
on my web site (I think), www.teamchicago.com/Imperial.
Just had an interesting experience. In a short spin up the freeway, I
noticed a new vibration that seemed to come from directly under the center
of the car - not the dreaded carrier bearing, I hoped, but it did not seem
too serious. However, when my commute car (Jeep) was in the shop, I
planned to make the 30 mile commute in the Imperial. Bad idea - I got 1/2
mile on the freeway & turned back and used the Alfa again.
Last weekend, I used the car locally and all seemed fine - until I parked
it and had a completely flat rear tire after a few hours. On with the
(new) spare, using the standard bumper jack - it works fine, in my
opinion. When I got the tire off, I noticed a bulge in the tread and a few
little chunks missing on the inside of the tread. It held air, but the
spare stayed on.
I called my favorite tire shop (Glendale Tire, Brand Blvd), remembering I
mentioned the Imperial to the owner, Richard, a few months ago and he said
he had good Remingtons at a good price ($59 each). Currently, he's
recommending Kumho, stating this is what all the limos are using - and
there are a lot of these in Los Angeles.
After some discussion of size, I got 235x70x15 at the same price as the
Remingtons. When the old tires came off, the inside tread of one of the
front tires was really bad - tread was starting to separate in "scallops" -
I may have been a few miles away from a violent tire failure. The new
tires look good and seem smooth - whitewall is a little narrower than the
Sears Roadhandlers that were replaced. These were on the car when I bought
it, so at at least 8 years old.
Morale of the story - check your tires often, especially when they are old
and don't believe that a vibration that "doesn't feel like a tire" is not a
tire!
Bob
PS And my other non-Imperial restoration project is now in Auckland,
heading further south for final work.
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