[The Rube]

I've been getting a "shimy" on the steering wheel whenever I go at fast speeds. I recently had an alignment but it didn't seem to help. I don't think its my tire pressure as I've had that checked out also. Any ideas as to what it might be? I hope it's not anything that will be too costly in fixing. Thanks.

 

[bigsmokes]

hey rube,,have your front brake rotors checked,,they might be warping

 

[insane_sc]

Get your tires/rims rebalanced, that may help.

 

[jesbecause]

Did you have a high speed balance ? or , Lift up front of vehicle in the middle , go to each wheel , hold wheel @ 9-3 o'clock any movement ? Now try 12-6 o'clock any movement ? You get the general idea , sounds like a simple high speed balance is required (I hope)

RUBY

Does this happen during braking ? Then rotor cut time and brakes

 

[The Rube]

Thanks for your quick response. I will get the rotors checked and (maybe) have the wheels rotated and balanced. Thanks again.

 

[Twilightzero]

+10 to wheel balance. Exact same thing happened to me a while back and turned out that all of the wheels were out of balance. One balance session later and it was back to smooth as glass.

 

[hiker chick]

+1 on wheel balancing.

I just took mine into a tire shop today to have them balance the wheels that some other tire shop's (NTB) idiots screwed up (or didn't bother doing) a couple weeks ago. ($20 to balance all four wheels)

After getting new Michelins on, I was rather alarmed to get out on the freeway and have a profound vibration, nearly a wobble, in the steering. I was actually concerned at first that they had not put all the bolts back on the wheel.

The tire shop I went to today has "Hunter" brand wheel balancing and alignment machines. They let me observe and the wobbling in the front wheels/tires was shocking to observe. The digital readout showing the imbalance was significant, too (they said, I don't know about the numbers)

Sure enough, it was back to normal after balancing.

 

[hotrodder]

At what speed is it the worst? Tire balance, often, starts to be noticeable at around 45mph and gets progressively worse until very high speed.

From a distance, +1 on the likely balance problem.

Re-balance at a different shop with shiny new equipment. :-D

 

[The Rube]

At what speed is it the worst? Tire balance, often, starts to be noticeable at around 45mph and gets progressively worse until very high speed.

From a distance, +1 on the likely balance problem.

Re-balance at a different shop with shiny new equipment. :-D

It's most noticealbe after 60MPH. I intend on getting them balanced as soon as I can. Lets see what happens. I will post with the outcome. Thanks for all the info

 

[hotrodder]

Glad you kept the Rube.

 

[The Rube]

Okay - I made an appointment tonight to get the tires balanced and rotated. Lets see if what helps. I hope this solves my problems cause its driving me nuts with that shimming when I reach 60 MPH. Will keep you updated.

 

[Twilightzero]

Okay - I made an appointment tonight to get the tires balanced and rotated. Lets see if what helps. I hope this solves my problems cause its driving me nuts with that shimming when I reach 60 MPH. Will keep you updated.

If I was right, will you make me a Bacon Cake? :grin:

 

[The Rube]

If I was right, will you make me a Bacon Cake? :grin:

BACON?? BACON?? Are you nuts. Can't even remember the last time we had bacon in our frig. (thogh I miss gorging myself with it ) :lol:

 

[Twilightzero]

BACON?? BACON?? Are you nuts. Can't even remember the last time we had bacon in our frig. (thogh I miss gorging myself with it ) :lol:

Do you even need me to answer that question? :roll: :lol:

 

[The Rube]

Okay - So I took my E to get the wheels balanced and rotated last night. Though I wasn't able to get it up to any high speeds I did notice a smoother ride. Hope to test it out this week-end on the highway. Anyway - the mechanic told me that since I had "after-market" rims it added to my problem. He said that a lot of this "fancy" rims and wheels don't match up exactly with the car. He said they first had to tighten the lug nuts by hand to make it they aligned right then use the power tool. Has anyone ever heard of this?? They said that when you get after market rims at first the ride will be okay but as time goes on you'll notice a difference. I've never heard of this so I can't comment. Lets see what happens down the road.

 

[amcmike]

Anyway - the mechanic told me that since I had "after-market" rims it added to my problem. He said that a lot of this "fancy" rims and wheels don't match up exactly with the car. He said they first had to tighten the lug nuts by hand to make it they aligned right then use the power tool. Has anyone ever heard of this?? They said that when you get after market rims at first the ride will be okay but as time goes on you'll notice a difference. I've never heard of this so I can't comment. Lets see what happens down the road.

I had a shimmy at highway speeds after getting new tires mounted (and a new alignment), and I'm running factory SC rims. After a rebalance, its much better.

 

[The Rube]

I had a shimmy at highway speeds after getting new tires mounted (and a new alignment), and I'm running factory SC rims. After a rebalance, its much better.

I'd be curious to know if anyone who has "after-market" rims has had any problems with wheel shimmy. Does anyone know if its true that after market rims do not align perfectly with cars??

 

[Twilightzero]

I have aftermarkets and the only problem I've had is the aforementioned shimmy due to wheel balancing.

 

[hiker chick]

Okay - So I took my E to get the wheels balanced and rotated last night. Though I wasn't able to get it up to any high speeds I did notice a smoother ride. Hope to test it out this week-end on the highway. Anyway - the mechanic told me that since I had "after-market" rims it added to my problem. He said that a lot of this "fancy" rims and wheels don't match up exactly with the car. He said they first had to tighten the lug nuts by hand to make it they aligned right then use the power tool. Has anyone ever heard of this?? They said that when you get after market rims at first the ride will be okay but as time goes on you'll notice a difference. I've never heard of this so I can't comment. Lets see what happens down the road.

I have never heard of such a thing and it makes no sense to me.

Sadly, a lot of auto repair people's declarations don't line up with the truth.

8)

 

[lizzurd]

Okay - So I took my E to get the wheels balanced and rotated last night. Though I wasn't able to get it up to any high speeds I did notice a smoother ride. Hope to test it out this week-end on the highway. Anyway - the mechanic told me that since I had "after-market" rims it added to my problem. He said that a lot of this "fancy" rims and wheels don't match up exactly with the car. He said they first had to tighten the lug nuts by hand to make it they aligned right then use the power tool. Has anyone ever heard of this?? They said that when you get after market rims at first the ride will be okay but as time goes on you'll notice a difference. I've never heard of this so I can't comment. Lets see what happens down the road.

Take it to a shop that uses a road force balancer. You will have a better chance at getting to the root of the problem.

The fact that he tightened the nuts by hand was good.....Until he stuck the impact gun on them. On any front drive vehicle you want to hand tighten the nuts and them use a torque wrench to tigethen them to factory specs.