xi

I recently rotated my tires front-back and noticed I now have a weird shimmy that comes and goes once I hit 60+. The car can track straight no problem with my hands off the steering wheel but the thing has this 1/4" or so shimmy back and forth, like the tires aren't balanced (but they are).

The weird thing is that it comes and goes, usually after I change lanes or the road has a turn in it. My best guess is that somehow, there's some kind of high spot or imbalance between the left and right front tires that manages to be in-sync sometimes but when I make a turn and the wheels are spinning at different speeds, comes out of sync and causes the vibration.

The tires are weight balanced already but would a road force re-balance on all 4 tires (maybe just the front 2?) work or is it something else in the car?

Taranis

iTrader: (1)

Have you tried this on a road you know is really smooth and flat? Could just be that the road is not even / has ruts, as you normally always pay more attention to things after you change something (or at least I do) so it could just be in your head.

Other alternative is that perhaps you have uneven tire wear from your alignment so when the tires were rotated it emphasized the problem by now wearing on a different side and having an uneven surface.

-Taranis

-Taranis

xi

At first I thought it was the roads but it's a very much like having an imbalance problem.

When I got new tires, I had 10k on the stock tires and just for chucks, I measured the tread thickness with my calipers and they were within about .005-.008 of each other, very even tires wear across the width of the tire and across all 4 tires.

The tread pattern on the new tires is much blocker and less stable on the inside half than the outside half and that might explain why the tires are so sensitive to the crown of the road, otherwise, if the road is perfectly flat, smooth or not, it'll track perfectly straight so I think the alignment is still good.

On a track, I've had the chance to alternate between 60-130mph and it's still 50/50. Once I hit a curve or even just go from one side to the other side of the road, the vibration will disappear. And I can take it all the way to ~130 and it'll be very steady as long as I'm on the straightway. Once I move side to side or hit a curve, the vibration starts again, doesn't matter if it's 60-130. The only other thing is that the vibration seems to be the harshest ~70, I'm guess it's a harmonic and it gets better as I hit 80-90.

n0c7

Did you ever resolve this? I've been plagued with it for 4 years and still no resolution.

xi

No haha... i just live with it. I had my wheels road force balanced and it helped for about a year but came back. I just think the steering/setup is overly sensitive.

Fortunately I normally drive in the left lane, which is crowned to the left. I have to put a small amount of pressure (like 1 finger) onto the wheel to steer it right slightly and that gets rid of most of it.

I have 120,000 miles on it and I think from all that vibration, something in the steering column is slightly loose. I get a weird vibration if I brake hard and turn at the same time (which I know I shouldn't do). Other than that, the car runs like a champ.

Veronica

iTrader: (2)

If it started only when you rotated tires - rotate them back and see if that fixed it.


It could be a power steering control valve failing that only just started after rotating the tires (i.e. not related).

08Lancer89

iTrader: (15)

I'm dealing with the same issue replaced EVERYTHING up front besides the inner tie rods. But it's soild no play at all. I relized it's in my steering and then sometimes in my floor. I'm debating if it's motor mounts.

remusrm

Holy crap. I have the same issue. It only happened after I went from the stock avid tires to premier a/s tires. Now I am back on yokos since could not take it anymore and is pretty much gone when turning slightly the wheel. I do notice 10% of what it was with the Michellin only at higher speeds. I think is an issues with the drive train vs a steering problem.

4b11slayer

Any wheel bearing noise while driving?

remusrm

Its not the wheel bearings. Its the control arm where it it bolts onto the sub-frame.