comp TA

[Scalmanini Steve]

Very personally perceived experience.  Several times
between '95 & '00 after several months of
vibration-free driving after a rebalance and mounting
freshly-turned UFOs, I felt the slightest steering
wheel vibration begin at some speed between 50-60 mph
(during driving at first, not braking).  After a
rebalance, the vibration remained during braking due
to you-know-what.

After several of these events I figured the tire
imbalance was transferring enough vibration to the
rotors to warp them just enough to get them started,
until they eventually reached their common .005-.007
TIR out of true.  After mounting freshly turned
rotors, both problems were gone for maybe 6-9 months
(5K-10K miles).

I dealt with the problem by buying three extra sets of
UFOs and getting all the extras turned at that machine
shop in San Jose (I'm the guy that found that shop).
However, I haven't had to change rotors since I
switched to Michelin Pilot Sports a year or so ago.
Now those extra UFOs are catching dust in storage (but
not available for sale yet).

I might have gotten the idea from a post back in the
mid 90s (maybe on the main list) of someone who warped
their rotors driving home after skiing, I think it
was.  Enough snow had accumulated on the bottom of the
inside of a wheel during the day to throw the wheel
out of balance (like a temporary wheel weight made of
ice) and the resulting vibration warped their
rotor(s?).  Same transfer mechanism, I assume.

' any thoughts to add.  I know you're a fan of UFOs,
and so am I, frankly; I don't intend to convert.  But
I've had enough of Comp TAs.  They were great in all
other respects, however; lasted me 70K on each of two
sets!  I know some others on the list have had no
problems with theirs so take that for what it's worth.
 I'll report on the Pilot/UFO compatibility again next
year; I won't swear the problem is gone until I put
more miles on the Pilots. Meanwhile, they seem better
than the TAs in cornering, as they should be at twice
the price of TA VRs; those HRs must be reeeeally
inexpensive.


Steve
Ukiah, CA


PS: I saved one of my old Comp TAs as the perfect
full-size spare.  ' performs great, bidirectional
(unlike the Pilots), and shouldn't see enough miles to
go out of balance. ' still looking for a BBS wheel to
put it on.


_____________________________________________________

--- Bernie Benz <b.m.benz at prodigy.net> wrote:

Your explaination for this percieved relationship,
please.

_____________________________________________________

From: Scalmanini Steve <sscalmanini at yahoo.com>
Date: Mon, 16 Sep 2002 12:16:38 -0700 (PDT)
To: 200q20v at audifans.com
Subject: comp TA

the wheel imbalance warps the UFOs



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