Slight steering wheel shimmy

[ingramlee]

As I prepare the car for Mid-America in a month or so, I noticed that my front tires appear to be wearing uneven towards the inside of the tire. I decided to rotate the tires front to back diagonally. These tires only have about 30K miles on them mind you. They are the 13 inch Kumho Solus TA11 (Terrible in the rain). Anyways, now the steering wheel appears to shimmy more than I remember before rotating the tires, Not terrible but enough to notice.  Maybe its just a coincidence and something else just happen to change at this exact time but I have not been able to pin point it yet. I know the uneven wear of the tires means something, alignment? tire pressure? not sure. I have checked all of the suspension nuts/bolts for tightness, bushings look fine although I'm not sure when they were last changed. Looking for suggestions or things to check. THX

[Einspritz]

You can check the front by jacking it up then grabbing the top and bottom of the tire and see if it has play. That would indicate you might want to check the front wheel bearings.

 

A side to side movement might indicate play in the steering linkage and / or associated suspension parts.

 

But I think it might just be the tires are out of round if the car has been stored for a lengthy period of time, in which case just driving it and getting the tires warm will ameliorate the situation.

 

If my cars sit for a few weeks, it takes maybe 50 miles before the flat spots work themselves out.

 

HTH

[jgerock]

The inside edges of my 3 year old Dunlop Direzza ZII front tires were worn so badly, I had to replace them.  The front end was out of alignment and the steering was very sensitive on the highway (darty).  Checking the toe, it was 3/4" toe OUT.  When I rebuilt the front suspension in late 2017,  we (MLytle and I) set the toe at zero and double checked it after both rolling the car back and forth and then after a quick drive down the street.  The tie rod end clamps were tightened after the adjustment.  Something certainly made the alignment change - we just haven't figured it out.

 

Loose front wheel bearings can cause a shimmy as well as bad rotors, old brake pads and old (flat spotted) tires. 

[ingramlee]

I should have mentioned, front wheel bearings were changed about 1.5 months ago. I didn't feel any ill effect after changing the bearings only after rotating the tires. The pads were changed about 2 years ago. I did not do the rotors at that time though. I wonder if I lost a wheel weight... Maybe I'll change the tires back to see what happens.

[jgerock]

On the way to my first Mid America fest in 2010, I had to readjust the LF wheel bearing at a rest stop in TN.  The steering wheel shimmy was annoying on Interstate 81.  I have since changed the wheel bearings, rotors, calipers, brake pads, tires etc. 

Trip meter getting ready to roll to 1,000+ miles.

[jgerock]

7 minutes ago, ingramlee said:

I should have mentioned, front wheel bearings were changed about 1.5 months ago. I didn't feel any ill effect after changing the bearings only after rotating the tires. The pads were changed about 2 years ago. I did not do the rotors at that time though. I wonder if I lost a wheel weight... Maybe I'll change the tires back to see what happens.

I'd double check the tightness of the wheel bearings.  Don't think those Kuhmo tires are directional.  If they are, you shouldn't cross rotate (only front to back).

[ingramlee]

12 minutes ago, jgerock said:

I'd double check the tightness of the wheel bearings.  Don't think those Kuhmo tires are directional.  If they are, you shouldn't cross rotate (only front to back). 

Jim,

I was not aware of directional tire phrase. I will look into that. I will also check the tightness of the bearings.

[Mike Self]

10 hours ago, ingramlee said:

Don't think those Kuhmo tires are directional. 

I have those on my '69; they're not directional...if you noticed the shimmy only after you rotated tires front the back, then I'd suspect either tire balance or possibly a slightly bent rim.

 

mike

 

PS--are you gonna join the Mid-America caravan this year?  Lemme know...

[Chris_B]

Perhaps,  a bent wheel. Less likely if you have steelies.

[ingramlee]

7 hours ago, mike said:

I have those on my '69; they're not directional...if you noticed the shimmy only after you rotated tires front the back, then I'd suspect either tire balance or possibly a slightly bent rim.

 

mike

 

PS--are you gonna join the Mid-America caravan this year?  Lemme know...

Mike,

 

Yes, I will be joining the caravan again this year

[ingramlee]

 

 

[Conserv]

As others have said, try getting those front tires balanced. ‘02’s, with their fairly crude MacPherson strut front ends, have always been highly sensitive to tire balance.

 

And given your tires have 30,000 miles of wear on them — I’ve never had a ‘02 tire that last more than 30-35,000 miles (XAS in old days) — and even if you haven’t lost a weight, wear could create an imbalance.

 

Regards,

 

Steve

['76mintgrün'02]

On 3/27/2019 at 10:25 AM, ingramlee said:

Maybe I'll change the tires back to see what happens.

 

I like this idea.

[ingramlee]

OK Guys.. I fixed my steering wheel shimmy. Problem is I'm not 100% sure what fixed it. I rotated the tires back to where they were. While I had the front wheels off I decided to check the front wheel bearings that I replaced a few months ago. The left bearing locking nut was very loose. So loose that I could rotate it by hand very easily. I tightened it up put the wheel back on and took it for a drive. Shimmy gone. My guess is it was the locking nut and not caused by rotating the tires. 

[Buckeye]

46 minutes ago, ingramlee said:

The left bearing locking nut was very loose. So loose that I could rotate it by hand very easily. I tightened it up put the wheel back on 

 Walter, when you say you tightened the nut you mean to following procedure. right?