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).
Letter to Mr. E. W. Hives concerning experimental work and theories on front wheel wobble.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 29\1\ Scan179 | |
| Date | 10th February 1926 | |
| ROLLS-ROYCE OF AMERICA, INC. SPRINGFIELD, MASS. Y457 Oy2-E-21026 R E J A J R G E R D a B y W O R February 10, 1926. Mr. E.{Mr Elliott - Chief Engineer} W. Hives, Mickleover, Near Derby, England. (Personal) Re Front wheel wobble Dear Hives: Mr. John Warren Watson of the "Stabilator" company mentioned some interesting points in experimental work he is doing in connection with wheel wobble on cars with front brakes. Every front-brake car in the U.S. fits balloon or semi-balloon tires as standard equipment. <u>Every one of them suffers from high speed wheel wobble.</u> Nash now fit a friction shock absorber almost exactly like our reaction dampers, at the joint between the cross-steering tube and the steering levers. (Nash uses vertical pivots and pin joints - not ball joints.) Packard now balance their disc wheels. (Presumably with a standard allowance for the weight of the tire valve. I can see no actual balance weights such as we use for the individual tires.) Watson says the most fruitful thing he has done is to <u>cancel the toe-in of the front wheels, keeping this between zero and 1/16" maximum.</u> His theory is that with the increased compressibility of balloon tires and the increased moment of inertia of the front axle, a <u>"tramping"</u> action occurs in the front axle at certain speeds. When this is coupled with a considerable toe-in of the front wheels, the wheel which is <u>momentarily pressed against the ground tries to run across in front of the car.</u> | ||