From the Rolls-Royce experimental archive: a quarter of a million communications from Rolls-Royce, 1906 to 1960's. Documents from the Sir Henry Royce Memorial Foundation (SHRMF).
Dangerous steering wobble or shimmy in the Phantom II at high speeds, refuting claims it is caused by the tyres.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 19\6\ Scan011 | |
| Date | 11th August 1930 guessed | |
| STEERING: Not satisfactory, and dangerous above 72.m.p.h. The Writer is aware that Mr. Northey has already reported on this and only released the car subject to the Writer's persuasion. While on this subject it should be stated that representations were made to the effect that the bad wheel wobble experienced above 72.m.p.h. was caused by inequality of balance in the construction of the India tyres. It must be remembered however that the tyres fitted to this car are not the only four tyres of these dimensions in existence; that many thousands of tyres have come out of the same moulds, and that, therefore, all tyres of this size produced by the India Company are the same. In other words, the original moulds are obviously made accurately. No tyre company can afford to have moulds which causes tyres made from these moulds to be out of balance and truth. You might just as well say the same thing of the Dunlop Company. In any case the wheels and tyres of this particular car have been switched about and chopped and changed without affecting the steering in the slightest degree. What it amounts to is this, in the writer's opinion: The steering and front design and layout of the Phantom II is such that it creates a pronounced tendency to wheel wobble or shimmy to which these cars suffer to a greater or lesser degree. -2- | ||