Couple Questions - Long

[cwass99@rogers.com (cwass99@rogers.com)]

Hi All,
     First, thanks everyone for the replies.  The tires/rims were balanced by
the PO, and it doesn't look as though any of the weights are missing.  All 4
are at 35 psi.  They are 7 inch, but they are also snow tires, the gaps between
the tread lines are substantial.  I would guesstimate that being an inch wider
than the stock units, they still have about the same amount of actual tread in
the contact patch over the 13 inch all-season radials I had previously.  They
have made a substantial improvement in control on snowy roads, I don't think
I'll ever get all seasons again.
     I'm pretty sure it's not suspension related.  All the important bits
(springs, struts, strut bearings, ball joints and tie rod ends) are less than 6
months old and nothing bizarre happened changing the tires.  I also suspect
it's not the alignment (although I would love an explanation of why it should
be checked going to different size rims/tires).  If it were any of those
things, I would expect a lot of shimmy and shake above 60 mph, and I don't get
any.
     I will accept the comment from Larry that just going to snow tires would
cause the substantial change in feel.  The steering seems a lot lighter but
hugely more responsive (the lighter feel at speed is what I meant by floaty). 
I guess that would make sense.
     Unfortunately, no one has offered any potential insight into the lumpy
movement at low speed.  If it became worse or even continued above 50kph or so,
I would suspect out of round tires or something similar.  Unfortunately, it
actually stops at that speed.  I'll pull her into the garage this week-end and
give everything (especially the rear, since that's where it feels like the
problem is) a good going over.  Any advice on how to tell if the rear bearings
are in need of help (other than pulling them out)?  

Cheers,
Colin


On 15-Feb-2002 John C. Worden wrote:
> At 08:18 PM 2/14/02 -0500, cwass99@rogers.com wrote:
> 
>>Hi,
>>      About a month ago I picked up new rims and tires for my 87 
>> 8v.  Normal VW
>>14 inch rims with nice wide snow tires (essential for driving in Ottawa). 
>>I'm
>>wondering if the weight of the rims (they're a lot heavier than the 13 inch
>>stock rims) and the bigger tires would cause the 2 problems I seem to have
>>acquired since then.
> 
> 
> It could be any number of things, but personally I would check the very
> simple
> and obvious things- air pressure- often overlooked-but very important,
> balance
> of the tires(also are the weights still there-any fall off), alignment.
> I noticed you said nice wide snow tires; that would be the biggest problem,
> although unrelated to what you experiencing, since snow tires should be
> skinny
> to go through the snow.
> 
> 
> 
> John C. Worden
> Bucksport, Maine
> 
> '98 Dakota 4x4-Just rolled 100K (with skinny studded tires for the winter)
> '86 Scirocco 8V-
> '81 Scirocco 2.0 16V -
> '78 Scirocco Brazil Brown Metallic,  4 speed.

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E-Mail: cwass99@rogers.com
Date: 15-Feb-2002
Time: 18:15:50

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