Today I had the car aligned and the wheels balanced. Since I bought it, I had not had it aligned. I don't know why not, just one of those things I had not really thought about.
My car (and, as a result, I) suffered from a slight vibration between ca. 50-60 MPH that would come back at higher speeds (around 75 MPH and upwards) and although several measures served to reduce this vibration (new tires, swapped rear-axle with a 3.69 rather than a 4.08 ratio, and new engine and transmission mounts), the vibration never really went away. Until today - the alignment and wheel balance did the trick, vibration all gone. It turned out that two of my steel rims have a slight wobble, that was eliminated by careful balancing. I watched the guy do it, and he really kept at it, moving the balancing weight milimeters at a time, until it was within acceptable range. I can imagine that, normally, they don't always take their time like that.
Added benefit of the alignment: the steering wheel is now perfectly straight (at least, when I am driving straight). The whole procedure cost $75, and about one hour, while I waited.
As an aside: the shop manager told me that the Michelin classic tire line, which included the proper original-spec tires for our Pagoda, has recently been discontinued, within only two years after its introduction. They were expensive (I believe upwards of $300 each) but at least they were available ...
Cees, jitter-free
white 1969 280 SL
