With a 2-plane tire balance and rotation from America's Tire. No kidding. I couldn't believe it either.

I bought my used 04 with 7500 miles 2 months ago and it shimmied -- mostly between 65-80 mph. I figured mine was just like everyone else's. I now have 14k miles and needed to rotate the tires -- I figured I'd try balancing while I was at it and hope for the best.

Amazingly, the car is now smooth and free of shimmy. I looked at all 4 wheels and noticed that they put new weights on 3 of 4 wheels and in different places than where the OEM weights were.

I know others here have not had success from balancing -- for those of you who have yet to try it, there may be hope.

 

I don't want to rain on your parade, but my experience is similar. I noticed that if I over inflated my tires slightly the shimmy goes away. Also, I noticed that dirt accumulates on the inside of the rims. When dirty I get a shimmy between 50 - 60 mph. Clean the inside of the rims and the shimmy goes away.

My opinion is that the friction for the rack and pinion is too little as mentioned on the board a few times. If the friction was increased then the car would not be so suseptable to slightly unbalanced components (wheels) causing a shimmy.

 

You're not raining on my parade -- I don't have a shimmy anymore and am happy about it.

How did you go about getting your steering rack tightened?

 

I had a shimmy and I was not worried about it.

When I had the tires rotated and balanced at 6,000 miles the shimmy disappeared.

Problem solved.

I do have a problem though:

-My car gets dirty when I park it outside

or

-My car does not start when it is out of gas

 

Might I suggest not parking it outside and keeping your fuel tank at no lower than 1/4 tank. SemperFi

 

Sure you do...you're response to this thread proves you're a moron. Now go back and play with the other little kids.