slight shimmy in steering wheel over 65mph

[Mr Miyagi]

Re: slight shimmy in steering wheel over 65mph

Try a road force balance

http://www.gsp9700.com/pub/search/findgsp9700.cfm

[J4o2el7]

Re: slight shimmy in steering wheel over 65mph

Ok, crawl under the front end, look at your axle boot covers. One of them torn? The mechanice probably grabbed the side of the tires and tried to wiggle back and forth,then the top and bottom, same thing (he was checking ball joints and tie rod ends). But if your axle is going out, the whole wheel/tire assembly will actually move backwards and foward while the car is sitting. It sounds like an axle to me personally, had this happen before.And its NOT your brakes,like Rouch said, they would have to look like a potato chip to make that happen WHILE driving not braking.

[THE BIG BUFFER]

Re: slight shimmy in steering wheel over 65mph

Well being that my thoughts on the matter are aparently wrong here is a post from someone else from another site:

" Re: Steering wheel shimmy NOT caused by bad balance "

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Check for warped disks and a stuck brake caliper.

Even if a caliper isn't stuck, you could have rust in the
brake system (in the REAR brakes) keeping light pressure on
the front pads. This will cause disk warping very quickly.

I had this problem starting at 90K miles and had two new sets
of rotors and several balances before a brake shop finally
diagnosed the problem correctly (at 140K miles). Nary a shimmy
since they overhauled both front AND back brakes for $US600.

Now if I could only collect the $US800 I paid the first guy
who did all the work on the FRONT brakes only and failed
to solve the root problem!

RkFast, the Flake slayer wrote:

> "The Shimmy Chronicles" Chapter 2,000.


Just google "wheel shimmy" there are a number of possible causes.

[79elcamino]

Re: slight shimmy in steering wheel over 65mph

Check the bushings in the suspension, especially in the control arms. If these are worn/torn it can cause this sort of shimmy. By the way, do you also notice it when accelerating? I have this exact issue on my '04 PT Turbo - tires have been rebalanced and rotated (even threw on a set from another car just to triple check), new rotors and pads (they needed to be replaced, I wasn't just throwing money at the car) and my mechanic checked the axles, CV joints, etc. Everything is solid, but the lower control arm bushings are shot and, at least with this car, this is a known cause for this type of shimmy.

it does not shimmy or shake while accelerating, it only starts when i hit 65mph.

Ok, crawl under the front end, look at your axle boot covers. One of them torn? The mechanice probably grabbed the side of the tires and tried to wiggle back and forth,then the top and bottom, same thing (he was checking ball joints and tie rod ends). But if your axle is going out, the whole wheel/tire assembly will actually move backwards and foward while the car is sitting. It sounds like an axle to me personally, had this happen before.And its NOT your brakes,like Rouch said, they would have to look like a potato chip to make that happen WHILE driving not braking.

ok, i will take a look and when you say the the tire and wheel will move back and forth while sitting, you mean not on a lift right?

[QUOTE=An out of round tire can, for one. I bought factory defect "out of round" tires for my truck as they were cheap since they didn't have a mileage warranty due to the defect (the truck is only used around town; no highway use so no biggie). I can take the truck in a week after the tires were balanced and one will be off again.[/QUOTE]

how can i check if the tire is out of round?

[79elcamino]

Re: slight shimmy in steering wheel over 65mph

UPDATE

had front tires rebalanced, passenger side was off my .25oz(which he said is so small it wouldnt cause the shimmy) and the driver side was 0.00 and he spun it three times in front of me and each time is was 0.00, so he completely rebalanced the passenger side he took off the weights and spun it, it was 1oz on each side of the tire spun it again and everything was good, on sunday i will be doing highway driving and i will see what happens, lets says everything is perfect then in a month or two i get the shimmy back and lets say my wheels are out of balance again, what would cause them to keep coming out of balance if the weights didnt fall off.

[roushstage2]

Re: slight shimmy in steering wheel over 65mph

Re-read my last post where I quoted you.

[79elcamino]

Re: slight shimmy in steering wheel over 65mph

Re-read my last post where I quoted you.

when he balanced them he checked to see if there were any bubbles in the tire and to see if they were out of round.

[J4o2el7]

Re: slight shimmy in steering wheel over 65mph

Correct, not on a lift, on the ground..

[79elcamino]

Re: slight shimmy in steering wheel over 65mph

Correct, not on a lift, on the ground..

no movement

[Fly Bye]

Re: slight shimmy in steering wheel over 65mph

I had suspension changed and car realigned which neither helped...

Sounds like you need to change mechanics.

what are some other causes for the steering wheel to slightly shimmy at 65mph and up

The first two things that come to mind are:

1. Out of balance.
2. Radial runnout.


How many miles are on your front tires? Have you had your wheels/tires checked for radial runnout? When I say check for radial runnout, I don't mean spinning the tire/wheel, and inspect it by eye. It has to be measured, and it should be within the manufacturer's specification.

There is a good chance that the shimmy is being caused by one (or more) of three things:

1. Tire/wheel is out of balance.
2. The tire is bad. (out of round, excessive runnout)
3. Bent wheel. (excessive runnout)



Good luck
Tony

[79elcamino]

Re: slight shimmy in steering wheel over 65mph

thanks everybody

[79elcamino]

Re: slight shimmy in steering wheel over 65mph

I apologize I described the shimmy wrong, it's more like a vibration in the wheel, u do not see the steering wheel shaking but when u out ur hand on it u feel it shaking, also there is a vibration in the gas pedal, the funny thing is today i was driving on the jersey turnpike doing 80 and it was smoother then driving at 65-70, what would cause the vibration in the steering wheel and gas pedal?

[J4o2el7]

Re: slight shimmy in steering wheel over 65mph

hows the tranny?

[79elcamino]

Re: slight shimmy in steering wheel over 65mph

no problems, why

[J4o2el7]

Re: slight shimmy in steering wheel over 65mph

Just trying to think what the shimmy might be from. Its an interesting thing you have going on. Kind of mind bogling to me.