CANNOT get rid of shimmy!!
 

97 I30t with 45K miles on it now. Stock tires/rims were 215s with 15" bbs stock wheels. Then i got 17" wheels with dunlop tires. above 70mph, the steering wheel shook from side to side on the highway. got new tires on the same rims. same problem. had multiple balances at different places, and had allingments done. no solution. finally had enough money to get new rims (thought it was an out-of-round rim) on the same newer tires, same problem. had these new ones balanced/alligned a bunch of times...no solution. lowered the car with kyb agx and maxspeeds...problems STILL there. hubcentric rings were on there for both set of rims.

on the highway just today, I was crusing at 80mph. I noticed the wheel would shake from side to side quite badly for about 10 seconds, then it would smooth out slightly for 5 seconds, and then back to shaking again pretty badly, etc. etc. WHAT could be causing this? As you can see i have pumped nearly THOUSANDS of dollars into solving this stupid problem and NOTHING works. makes me SO mad. WHAT could this be?

I'm taking my car to a shop that has the GSP9700 for alignment and balancing this weekend.

Re: CANNOT get rid of shimmy!!
 

Possibly broken axle bearings? Steering rods loose?

Check your rotors. Mine had a lip on them and caused a shake that would come and go. Sometimes it got worse than other times plus sometimes they pulsed when coming to a stop. They definitely needed to be turned, but since I had 60K on them I decided to buy a set of Brembo Dimpled and slotted from the GD. I put them on this weekend and everything is smooth again. It started in March when I had my other rims mounted. It was smooth before that. I've spoke with several mechanics that said sometimes older rotors warp when you take the rims off and relieve the stresses.

hmmm...so I should look into having them simply turned around and thats it? I will look into trying that soon.

i just hope its not the bearings or any other steering components as that would a lot of time to figure out.

brake rotors?

Jack the car up, both front wheels off the ground. Start it up and put her in drive. Watch the tread closely as the wheels spin. Look for any side to side tread squirm or up and down motion. You could have a bad hub.

If the wheel & tread looks like it's spinning perfectly straight and solid, and theirs no play in the front end, then you have a balancing issue.

The alignments should have picked up any excess play in bearings, tie rod ends or control arm bushings. If the front end is solid, the wheels are true and the tread is straight, you have a balancing issue.

Any time I feel even the slightest shimmy, I get my wheels balanced. Sorry I don't know what machine my tire shop uses, but it always comes back perfectly smooth again.

I had a similar issue after installing my brand new rims. Turned out i had a rim that was out of round. They exchanged it and it has been fine ever since.

Not turned around... turned as in resurfaced, machined. To get rid of the lip around the edge of the brake rotor and give a smooth baking surface. It's generally rough, rusted and uneven and drags against the top edge of the pad that will cause a vibration. Sometimes it's more severe than others depending on temperature and braking and such. I tended to notice mine on the highway around 70-75. Also, a few years ago I had a company car that I had to take to a specific warranty shop to have work done. I had new tires put on the car with about 30K. The shop over torqued my wheels and warped both front rotors and one rear drum. They never use a torque stick... just the impact wrench. They had to replace the damaged drum and rotors. Same thing though, a bad shake on the highway that would change depending upon speed and conditions. My recent experience I thought that a local garage over tightened my wheels after they mounted and balanced them. I took the car back and had checked several wheels check but they balanced fine. That's when I opted to put a new set of brake rotors all around. The only thing that changed in my case was the fact the the wheels were removed and put back on. You have 45K miles on the car but did not mention anything about your brakes. Take a look at the brake rotors and see what condition they're in. Generally it's about $10 a piece to take them to a local shop and have them machined. Does it shake slightly when slowing to a stop at a light?

I had the same problem. I had my car balanced about six time by different shops... including two separate dealerships, both of which checked my alignment and said everything was perfect.

Through several sets of tires, rotors, wheel bearings, another set of rims, and I even had springs and struts waiting to go in... I lived with the same problem for 120,000 miles - and the only thing that ever changed was the speed where it was most prevalent i.e. 65, 68, 73, etc... depending on who balanced the wheels.

During my vacation at the beginning of this year I drove my car to Florida (at this point, I was USED to the shimmy - and I drive 80 miles a day to work and back).

While visiting my dad, the topic came up in conversation, and he recommended a local shop. Believe me, you do not know how fed up I was at this point, and pessimism isn't even strong enough a word to describe how I felt about actually finding a solution.

This place was different he says - because they align the wheels ON THE CAR. Humph I say.

Sixty bucks later - NO SHIMMY at all.

That was about 10,000 miles ago.

Between the technician and I, we came up with the theory that it has to do with the wheel locks. Since a couple of my lugs didn't match. My long term solution is to get a new set of lugs (with or without lock) and try to have the car balanced normally.

Also, I bought a Nissan truck while I was down there from my dad and he had this done to it (and all his vehicles) – I recommend this balancing to anyone. It does make a difference for that extra twenty bucks.

hey guys, thanks for the awesome replies. this info really helps...gives me some ideas on stuff to check on. so as of now, I will have to get the following checked/done:
1.) resurface the rotors
2.) jack up the front of the car and see if there is any wheel hop
3.) call around EVERY place in my area for balancing ON the car
4.) if none of that works, then i will initiate plans to have the steering components checked out.

Also, check to see if your tires are locked onto the hub evenly.

Good idea. Loosen and re-torque all the lugs to the proper torque and in the proper sequence.

A 400 ft-lb air gun is NOT the way to put lugs on the car. It really makes me mad when shops refuse to put my lugs back on by hand.

I usually do this after I leave the shop.:)

No shop gets to touch my car if they use an air gun on my lugs. As far as I am concerned, they are "trying" to warp my hub if they are using an airgun.

The shop I take it to hand torques and then has you come back 100 miles later... and they hand torque it again, without you even having to get out of the car.

so if i raised both front wheels off the ground, and if i noticed some wobbbling, this could mean the hub(s) is/are bad? anyone have part numbers for hubs just in case i need to order? thanks!

Your tires could be out of round if everything else is in order. I know one of my tires have a slight lump on it because I can here it when I'm driving at low speeds. Basically lowering my tire pressure to 29psi took away what shim was there.

Your tires could be out of round if everything else is in order. I know one of my tires have a slight lump on it because I can here it when I'm driving at low speeds. Basically lowering my tire pressure to 29psi took away what shim was there.

i should list what i have done/made sure of:

1) all new tires
2) all new rims (could have spent this on other mods)
3) messed with tire pressures
4) various balances on various machines (including hunter 9700)
5) a bunch of allignments
6) lowered car and re-alligned/balanced, still no solution
7) new hubcentric rings

i've just about given up. i hope the hubs are bad so that i can finally get the car to drive normally on the highway. its odd because the day i took off the stock wheels and put on the new larger rims/tires is the day this whole thing started. since then, the above list was done. Once I get back with the car in aug and raise the front to see whats giong on, i will update.