radial tires

[Bill Davis]

Wow, Bill !!  You are the first person I have heard about that runs his radial tires over recommended
inflation pressures.  I have been doing this for years on radials that recommend, say, 32 psi.  I usually
inflate mine to around 38 or so psi.  Except that on the tires on my wife's Sable and my daughter's
Sonata that use tires where the maximum inflation is 44 psi.  On my P-23 with P205-75x15's, I
sometimes go up to between 42 and 45 psi. 

[Wm Steed]

Go,
As a general rule radial tires need a little less "toe-in" than bias ply tires. On some cars, adjustments to the caster and/or chamber might be necessary. My front-end mechanic suggests that the vehicle be returned to his shop after about a 1,000. miles so the tread wear pattern can be checked, if scuffing of the tread is noted then an adjustment to the caster/chamber might be needed. Uneven tread wear on radial tires is usually just expected by the vehicle owner because they are used to seeing uneven tread wear    on their modern car. The two situations are not the same, the uneven tread wear on the modern car is more a result of under inflation, I run two to four pounds more pressure in the front tires than the vehicle manufacture recomments.

The problem with most older cars is that they are not really driven very much, especially on the open road. I drive all of my old cars on the open road (hiway) at a usual speed of 65/75 mph (100/120 km). I have had my '39 Plym up over a 100 mph several times and it handles just as well a my '63 Chrysler 300 or my CLK 430 Mercedes.

On the draining of steering gears.... As a general rule, on older cars, the steering gears are self draining, in the event that the seals are so good that they don't leak the only way to get the oil out is to "draw" it out with a suction pump.  When I worked in the auto industry when I was a kid, there was always a hand held suction pump handy with a short hose that was inserted into the gear box to draw the oil out  This was not something you did in cold wear because the gear oil would be to stiff to draw out....Bill

[Go Fleiter]

Wm Steed, You mentioned adjustments on the front axle geometry: I took factory specs a couple of years ago- was I wrong?

and: how can I drain the steering gear box (Without removing it from the car!)? The filling plug is shown in the service manual , the drainig not.

Thanks and greetings from D?sseldorf