Test Drove Lumina

[djmoore85]

Wasup yall, i test drove the lumina mentioned in thread "lumina engine swap." i isolated the shuddering. it starts at round 55mph, but i found out today that the tire is a lil low on pressure. the guy sellin it to me is the son of the man who owned it. the owner passed, son is just takin care of estate. his dad was the only one to own the car, and he says his dad was kinda hard on curbs with front tires, you think it may be a messed up rim? also, here's the deal i'm gettin: 98 Lumina, 120k mi, excellent condtion, i gave it a close scrutiny and test drive, visual inspection, and how it sounds. Passed with flying colors, tranny shifts so smooth you hardly feel it. he is only askin 1200, and i'll be gettin it in a couple weeks after legal stuff is cleared up. basically i'm askin am i gettin a deal and what could the shuddering be, starts @ 55mph and is coming from front driver's side. thanx yall for you help, in january i'll be startin up the build on the engine. any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[dwalmop]

have the tire and rim checked at a local tire shop to make sure the rim is straight and that the tire is not out of round. It may be a good idea to bring both front wheels in for the test. Also have them check all the front end parts to make sure everything is solid (ball joints, tie rods, etc.)

[djmoore85]

well, the shimmy doesn't feel like it would be coming from a small component, it is a low frequency mid-amplitude waver like rubber. i'll hav tires and rims inspected and do a look over of the suspension myself, i've boiled it down to the tire/rim, so hopefully that'll be it. i'll be checkin back after i buy it to give an update