I've read all the threads about the wobble and understand why tightening the bearing nut down works. But so would welding it tight. Wouldn't turn too good though. I can't believe that while tightening will work, why should it be required?
I've also wondered if the wobble which seems to be particularly strong in Avon tires (mine does it a little more on slabs that are grooved concrete than those that are ungrooved asphalt) is not related to longitudinal grooving in the slabs and the size/direction of the tire sipes combined with a soft compound tire moving at a particular rate of speed.
I am no engineer, but I can imagine some distortion at tread level occuring as the sipes try to follow the running grooves, then recover, the follow the grooves, then recover, over and over creating a standing wave effect in the tire like happens when water is pushed ahead of the tire when it rains and you go too fast. A harder compound tire might not distort so much (not follow the grooves at the microscopic level) and therefore not wobble or wear as fast (or stick as well). This rolling distortion seems to be what wears off corners of the tread and what happens when tires are repeatedly forced into a curve, stood up, laid over, etc. The corners wear off and the tire cups the tread.
Since the wobble most always seems to happen at 40-50 mph, that makes me think it's a frequency problem like how waves in the water can "pile up" or cancel out depending upon frequency and wave length when an outside force causes them. Think ripples from two rocks thrown in a pond. You also hear frequencies "pile up" or "cancel" in music when an instrument is out of tune and the sound goes "wah, wah, wah" while playing the same note as another identical, but differently tuned instrument. The term I think that is correct is "harmonics." If it is a harmonics problem, it should duplicate again at twice the frequency (speed?) since harmonics and waves tend to occur in "multiples" again like an instrument playing a particular note in different octaves. A dual compound Avon might fix the problem so long as kept inflated properly because the center of the tire would "carry" the softer sidewalls down the straight.
I don't know, but I suspect neither grooving nor this tread design were around in 1984-85 when the Connie was being designed for 1986. I was working in the asphalt grinding business in the mid 80's and diamond grinding of grooves was "the next great thing" but for concrete. Connie (or the Avons) might not be designed for grooved highways.
Or, it might just something off the wall.
Ron
