Hw to check wheel runout

[edwardh1]

I have a 99 maxima since day one , new, has always had a very very slight roughness at 70-80 mph thru 4 different sets of quality tires.
I wonder if one of the front hubs is "off" , that is not true.
thinking of buying a dial indicator and checking the front hubs and/or the rims when mounted on the car.
any suggestions on
- whats a simple but adequate dial indicator
- whats the nominal left to right "wobble" runout allowed
- what is the dial indicator mounted to
- how do you rotate the hub surface the rim mounts to (and the rim itself when bolted up) ---(use the engine or by hand- maxima is front wheel drive)
a lot of questions

 

[bdcardinal]

I seem to remember those cars being hard to keep a good tire balance. Had a customer with one when I worked on Sears where we were constantly balancing her tires, under warranty of course.

 

[clinebarger]

Magnetic base & a Dial Indicator, The base will stick to any ferrous metal (Spindle, Control Arm), Assuming the wheel bearing, Tie rod, Ball joints have no play. I'm not a wheel tech so I don't know what is allowable. You may have to remove the inside wheel weights for this to work, Just mark their location & reinstall afterward.

This is the only pic I have of my base & dial indicator.

 

[The_Jeff]

I have a balancer but you can do this on the car, too. Especially if you have rear drum brakes on a FWD car; they tend to have low friction and you can get a good spin in. Just spinning at human-spinnable speeds will show you runout through the calculated eyeball. 1/10 inch is probably passable. 1/4 inch will annoy you. Watch the bead flanges inside and out and watch the tire tread for both side-to-side wiggles and up-and-down "humps". An egg-shaped tire is not rare and can drive you nuts.

 

[Rust_Belt_Pete]

Would the disk brake runout affect things too?
Check your wheel bearings/wheel play while its bolted up too.