Brake Drum Balancing

[Pete O]

Any advice on where I might get brake drums balanced? What kind of shop might do this type of work? I put new drums on my '51 Super over the winter. These are replacement drums I got from Kanter. I also had the tires high speed balanced, but now I've got a shimmy at 55 MPH that I didn't have last year before I changed the drums. I'm located on Long Island.

[sledheader 48381]

Might want to make sure the brakes aren't adjusted up to tight to the drums, this can cause a brake vibration particularly at higher speeds.

[Guest]

Go to any tire shop that balances the tires on the car. This automatically balances the hub, drum, wheel and tire. It is the only proper way to have "tires" balanced. The 53 Buick I had in the 60's had one original drum that was out 9 oz. After ordering six new GM drums in I finally found one that was only ot 3 oz.

[palbuick]

I would send back to Kanter.

About 8 years ago I had the Drums on the rear of my 70 Wildcat replaced, by my local mechanic. First ride on Hwy at 55 noticed a vibration from rear. I took back the car and found that the drums were from Mexico, and out of round, repalced with USA drums and vibration was gone. If they are going to sell junk let them correct problem.

Jim Schilf

palbuick

[Pete O]

Thanks everyone for the input. I checked the wheel bearings and they were ok. I tried loosening the brakes, and still had a shimmy afterwards. I tried a few local machine shops and brake places, and nobody was equiped to do a high speed balance of the drums. I couldn't even find a place that did on-the-car wheel balancing.

Anyway, I decided that I'd try balancing the drums myself. I bought a relatively cheap static "bubble" balancer. Sure enough the drums were quite a bit heavier on one side. I used a hand grinder to cut a groove in the heavy side to remove some material a little at a time, checking the balance over and over again until the bubble centered. I put it all back together, took it out for a spin, got it up to 70 mph, and no shimmy!

[page2171]

Good job! You're braver than I am!

Brian

[Itsmeagain]

Sounds like I may have the same problem on my '60. I didn't replace drums (but former owner may have) but after new radial white walls and spin balance off of the car, I get the shimmy at about the same speed. (seems like I can drive through it though, and it gets a little better at about 65 mph. Was it front or back that you replaced, and was it only one that was out of balance? Also,where did you get the static balancer and about how much? Thanks, Bob

[Pete O]

It was the two front drums I replaced. Both were out of balance, but one more than the other. I bought the balancer from Eastwood. They have a website, Eastwood.com. It cost $73 with shipping.