One thing I learned going through a lot of old used cars... A lot of people drive vehicles in very very bad shape. Working on them all the time beats that
Sudden onset of jumping / loping feeling, like tires are egg-shaped
- Thread starter WestCoastDan
- Start date
One thing I learned going through a lot of old used cars... A lot of people drive vehicles in very very bad shape. Working on them all the time beats that
So on to 'the hop'...
I suspected the LF, so swapped the spare to that corner first.
Test drove around the block.
No change.
Reinstalled original tire to the LF.
Swapped spare to RF.
Test drove around the block.
No change.
To reduce the physical effort and still retain the point of the task, I installed the original RF to the RR*.
*If there was no change when running the spare on either front corner, I determined that all 3 of those were "close enough" to each other that I didn't have to include an extra swap just to look at the RR.
Test drove around the block.
Noticeable improvement.
RR does not appear to show any evidence of damage, out-of-round, bulges, etc. It looks like a normal tire.
Next step is taking it in for a rebalance to see if maybe it's thrown a weight.
I already tried to get all of them done while I waited at a local shop, but they were booked.
By doing just the one (RR), I can drop it off tomorrow morning and still drive the Jeep to work.
I suspected the LF, so swapped the spare to that corner first.
Test drove around the block.
No change.
Reinstalled original tire to the LF.
Swapped spare to RF.
Test drove around the block.
No change.
To reduce the physical effort and still retain the point of the task, I installed the original RF to the RR*.
*If there was no change when running the spare on either front corner, I determined that all 3 of those were "close enough" to each other that I didn't have to include an extra swap just to look at the RR.
Test drove around the block.
Noticeable improvement.
RR does not appear to show any evidence of damage, out-of-round, bulges, etc. It looks like a normal tire.
Next step is taking it in for a rebalance to see if maybe it's thrown a weight.
I already tried to get all of them done while I waited at a local shop, but they were booked.
By doing just the one (RR), I can drop it off tomorrow morning and still drive the Jeep to work.
One of the other issues with cars that don't see alot of driving is the the tires age out. I learned they degrade from the inside out, which seems unituitive and weird. But could definitely cause the sort of issue you're seeing.
Check the date codes on your tires. If they're 8 years or older, they could have an internal failure that is difficult to see.
Most people do zero maintenance and then trade in the car 5 years down the road when an expensive repair pops up.
Yep, the cars were much older than 5 years but they just run them into the ground until a slew of easy and cheap fixes add up to costing more than the car is worth. They basically mechanically total them with things like needing tie rods, brakes, struts, etc. Luckily it can be a good deal if you do that kind of stuff yourself!