Throwing Rocks !?? (1 Viewer)

[DLJ]

We live on a gravel road and the stock Michs on the ol lady's Mall Cruiser are picking up nickle size stones. These become nasty little projectiles when she gets out on the hard surface and are chipping paint around the wheel wells.......not exactly sure about the physics as the tires dont extend out past the wells but anyway.....Would a good set of flares help minimize the damage..at least to the paint?? If so who makes and sells the best units for a '97 80. I guess the only way to protect the undercarriage will be to power wash/inspect then seal up dings with undercoating material.

I also cleaned out her "tuna can thingy" the other day and it had about 1/2" of dust in it and a couple of leaves....thanks for the tip whoever that was!!!

 

[Beowulf]

DLJ,

>> We live on a gravel road and the stock Michs on the ol lady's <<
>> Mall Cruiser are picking up nickle size stones. <<

The solution is to get some MTRs as they only pick up softball sized rocks and not the tiny nickle sized ones.

3M makes some stone guard material. Many use it on their headlights and several vehicle manufacturers are putting the material on the paint surface in wear areas. There is a triangular shaped piece on the bottom of your passenger doors. You can buy it in bulk or go to one of the window tint places as many of them carry the 3M material. It is expensive but does the job nicely and looks good.

I prefer shrink wrap.
-B-

 

[Rogue]

Those pebbles can do a lot of damage. I had my mudflaps off for about a week while running BFG ATs and the pebbles gave me some nice little dots all the way down the side of my truck. Now I run GY MT/Rs w/ flappies and they throw much less. When they do grab rocks though, they are big-uns.

Either you gotta deal with the little pebbles, or the occasional bigger rock... :-\

 

[Junk]

when she gets out on the hard surface and are chipping paint around the wheel wells

SHE shouldn't be driving it. It's a man's truck. Do you have OEM rims or after market. If you have aftermarket pimp special rims, that's likely your culprit. Prob wrong bs and tires stick out too far. Guys above are right. You won't get pebble marks from MT/R's - 'cause you'll be stuck in your driveway.

I also cleaned out her "tuna can thingy" the other day and it had about 1/2" of dust in it and a couple of leaves....thanks for the tip whoever that was!!!

LOL - dude, your wife let's you talk about her like that? Dust and leaves? Hope you visit a little more often. :-X

 

[Rogue]

[quote author=Junk link=board=2;threadid=3926;start=0#msg28920 date=1059252175]
You won't get pebble marks from MT/R's - 'cause you'll be stuck in your driveway. [/quote]

It's not quite that bad. :

 

[Junk]

[quote author=Rogue link=board=2;threadid=3926;start=0#msg28921 date=1059252527]
It's not quite that bad. :
[/quote]
..... and this from the guy that had to do an in the mud install? ..... ............

 

[Rogue]

I don't remember that. I must have repressed that one...

 

[DLJ]

Junk, OEM rims.... it was her turn for a vehicle. :'(..she wanted a Volvo xc ...but she said she would like to tow a pop-up camper from time to time and that was my cue to talk her into the LC.....This is the 40th A.L.E. with 76K miles...we scored for $18,800...near as I can tell it is 100% stock. Could these be the original tires???? Michelin M&S 275/70s.... ???
Does anybody run a narrower tread with taller side walls????

LOL - dude, your wife let's you talk about her like that? Dust and leaves? Hope you visit a little more often.

Dude we have been married for 15 years. :-\...therefore the occasional dust build up............

 

[Junk]

The 97 40th's came with Bridgestone Duelers. :'( 275/75 So sounds like you have stock rims and tire size.

You need to buy my swampers in the for sale section.

Seriously now, it's just the matter of tires. Even though you have all street tires on, they do have some mud and snow traction (at least that's how it's marketed) to them. That's just naturally going to happen. Really just like driving through after they do some tar & chip - it's just gonna happen. Either don't drive down the gravel, or change to more aggressive or really tylerlike tires.

 

[cruiserdan]

On 93 to 97 80 series there were 3 OEM tire suppliers. Michelin, Dunlop and Bridgestone. Fitment was a crap-shoot. Mchelin was, however, the most prevelent and arguably the best OEM tire. My 93 was shod with Bridgestones originally. When they quit (30 k miles) I replaced them with Michelin LTX's, they were a much better tire. I have a new set of 275/70's mounted on alloys that are my long distance hiway tires. They are very pleasant at freeway speeds.

 

[Scamper]

Dan is right--my '97 came new with the Mallow-man LTX's.

I also live on a dirt/gravel road and have noticed the same "problem", though you just have to start off slow once you hit real road to let all the little rocketts fly off (presumably on the cars behind you ). After the noise dies down, I know I'm free to go and can crank up the speed without fear of hitting cars in the next county. But my truck came with mud flaps as standard equipment--the rocks flying about are really only banging around in the wheel well. So if you're getting damage from this, you must have something else going on (like Junk said), or ...

Do you have the running boards that were commonly put on these (here come the flames...here come the flames...)? These do prevent a good deal of the rock damage.

Junk: that's pretty cold man... (LOL) :-X dust and leaves... he he he...

Tom