what can cause wheel shake at 50-55 mph; and none

[Guest Anonymous]

at lower or higher speeds. Simple wheel balance imbalance)? or what....? Another puzzling symptom. Thanks doctors, once again.

[Guest Anonymous]

probably wheel balancing. it could also be a flat spot. have you had any sudden stops lately?

steve

[Guest Anonymous]

wheel balance will solve that. Not all wheel balancers are the same. Newer ones are a lot more accurate. Also if the wheels were not torqued, and simply hit with an impact, this can actually distort them and the wheel hub, creating an imbalance. Some installers have an extension limiter for 80 and 100 lb-ft, but I personally don't trust them to use them or their accuracy. If you suspect that, then you have to go back and rebalance, take your own torque wrench.

Michael

[Guest Anonymous]

show at only certain times when the harmonic(ie speed) is right.

you can:

inspect all suspension points for wear/slop

inspect tire for wear pattern (good hint to whats wrong) and balance

and then hopefully after finding it you can go about fixing it.

And also be doubly sure it's coming from the suspension/tire and not a driveshaft/guibo/clutch etc.

best of luck with it

[Guest Anonymous]

...and missing balance weights. Look for cupping/uneven front tread wear (front alignment).

Delia

[Guest Anonymous]

(nt)

[Guest Anonymous]

(nt)

[Guest Anonymous]

and we did everything to cure it--balanced wheels, checked alignment, even rotated wheels/tires front to back. Nothing helped as everything was in specs. Was told at the time by a number of alignment folks (not just the dealer) that a periodic shimmy was characteristic of a McPherson strut suspension. As the car aged, it gradually went away. Go figure.

One more thing to check, tho...the rear tranny mount. It caused a shake at 55-64 mph that could be felt thru the steering wheel as it was actually shaking the whole car due to driveshaft angularity. Might check it just for fun...

Good luck; let us know your cure.

Mike

[Guest Anonymous]

i changed mine out a few months ago and it

thumped between 60-65. went away after a few

weeks of driving it and being too lazy to adjust it

right away. it wasn't a shimmy though, more of a

vibration.

mike

[Guest Anonymous]

I took my tires in for balancing and was told that I will have this problem until I buy a new wheel or straighten the one I have. When I rotate it to the back, the problem is less.

G

[Guest Anonymous]

....will happily guide you through this:). All of the answers posted

below (well almost all) could cause wheel shimmy. Here's the "fix-

it" flow chart:

Start with the easiest-rotate front to back. Carefully check tires

for weird wear patterns. If necessary you might have to replace

them. fixed? if not....

Have tires balanced (this is probably the most common wheel

shake cause) by a REALLY good tire shop. NOT Sears,Tires

Plus and that ilk, but Tire Rack, or some local, knowledgable

favorite. With those nice wheels you'll want glued on the inside

weights. Debate me not-the only way to go-trust me. Fixed? If

not...

Check and replace front end componants as necessary. Loose/

frozen ball joints, etc. can cause shimmy. Tighten the swaybar

end links if loose. Fixed? If not.....

Replace rubber bushings with Urethane (you should do this

anyway-the results transform your car's handling) in front. ALL of

them. Not just the swaybar bushings. I have had a constant

shimmy around 80 m.p.h. for years with many different tire/wheel

combos-this was the only thing that helped me. For whatever

reason, as stated below, Macpherson strut setups like ours can

have that weird shimmy even though everything is up to par. One

way to at least reduce this is by replacing with urethane. I got

mine from Ireland. Cheap and easy to install.

Hopefully that covers all of it. If you have access to a second set

of wheels and tires you can narrow it down more quickly

(provided they are balanced) by switching over. If it still shakes it

is probably not the wheel/tires but something in the suspension.

Unless you already have done this I would just do the Urethane

upgrade anyway due to the benefits beyond helping shimmy

[Guest Anonymous]

if they're too loose, you can get significant shimmy at those speeds.

If they're too tight, they burn up.

They're kind of picky, especially compared to bigger cars.

t

[Guest Anonymous]

Didn't forget the wheel bearings...just posted it too late!

LOL

[Guest Anonymous]

problem. Funny- you mentioned wheel weights put on the outside of the rim: i would severly abuse any wheel place tech who even thought of doing that to my rims.( i think i posted in may about this), but... Weird though- one day i had to wait for a friend to buy a new chevy pick up truck in homestead florida from a huge new car dealer. I looked at almost every car on the lot including the high -end corvettes, the jags they had for sale and all the new cars. every one of the cars, including the jags and the vettes had the lousy lead "sinker" type weights on the outter lip of the rims. I nearly sh*t! I went to the manager and asked him what was going on and he said all the new cars came from detroit that way and they were under chevy grand puh- bah instructions to balance tires on the outter rim . I just shook my head, whisprered my findings to my friend(who does not care about rims) and made a mental note: tell every wheel place, no matter how "good they are" to make sure to use the good square weights on the backside of the rim. I will do a rotation and see if that works. Then i will go to my local wheelworks, where they like my 02s and treat them well, for tire balancing. My entire inka is already urethaned. But i should recheck front bar tightness. Thanks for the helpful posts from all of you doctors: that is one of the great things about this Board.

[Guest Anonymous]

(nt)