Wheel runout

[73Coupe]

Hey all - would anybody know the wheel runout tolerances for 15" aluminum road wheels?
I have a noticeable wobble and I found it at the LR wheel/tire. When the wheel is spinning in the air, I can easily notice an eccentricity. I am not sure if it is the tire or wheel - need to jack it up again and put the dial indicator on the wheel inside rim. I took a video of it, will see how I can post it here.

 

[Big_John]

Hey all - would anybody know the wheel runout tolerances for 15" aluminum road wheels?
I have a noticeable wobble and I found it at the LR wheel/tire. When the wheel is spinning in the air, I can easily notice an eccentricity. I am not sure if it is the tire or wheel - need to jack it up again and put the dial indicator on the wheel inside rim. I took a video of it, will see how I can post it here.

There's two types of runout. Radial and lateral. Radial runout is how much the radius of the wheel runs out. In other words, the wheel goes up and down as it spins. Lateral is how much it wobbles.

I've never read any specs that were written in stone for what is acceptable. From what I've read, I think .030" either way is OK. That would actually read as .060 TIR (Total Indicator Reading) when you put a dial indicator on it. More might be acceptable, but I think this would be in the ballpark. This would be for the aluminum wheel only. I think steel wheels will have a larger tolerance.

 

[73Coupe]

 

[saforwardlook]

Usually problems like this are traced to the beginning of tread separation of the tires unless you hit a curb hard lately that affected the rim. Those tires looks to be a pretty old style John (i.e. the owner of this beautiful New Yorker).

 

[GJS]

Hard to tell with the video timing but I'd be inclined to look at the tire. The wobble looks to emanate from a place further out on the overall radius of the wheel/tire. The head on view shows too little movement in the rim (at the bead) to account for the amount of wobble seen from the back view. Again though, hard to tell from the video.

 

[Big_John]

That looks like a tire problem to me. If the wheel was out that much, you would see it and feel it.

 

[70bigblockdodge]

That looks like a tire problem to me. If the wheel was out that much, you would see it and feel it.

Agreed and your wheel won't suddenly go out of round unless you hit something.

 

[73Coupe]

Thanks to all for the insight; I need to collect more data and will report back. I never have hit a curb that I can recall.
These are American Classic P235-75-R15 which are close to the G78-15 tires it had when new.
Overall the American Classics have been good tires. They have a good balance of favorable traction and wear characteristics. These have about 36k miles on them. If this wobble is a tire problem it might be getting more pronounced as the tread wears down.

 

[73Coupe]

Update: Finally had time last night to get the car up on jack stands again.
The radial runout of the LR wheel is +.010" and -.008" for a total of .018". I believe my FSM specs for steel wheels said .020". Aluminum wheels weren't listed - I don't think they were available in '73 and I'm not sure where these came from.
The lateral runout was within .005".
Next I will try switching out with the spare and comparing the ride.