93' LX Front End Shimmy and Wobble

Comments

• Rare_92

  July 2009

  Take it to a shop and have the front tires balanced.
  Usually when its out of balance it bounces and shimmys and when its a tie rod it pulls to the left or right. Does it pull? Could also need an alignment..
  
  Start with a balance and rotation. Its cheap
• frankenstang

  July 2009

  Just wanted to let you know that we're figuring it's the tires themselves that have been causing the wobbling. The front end is tight, the tires are balanced, and while visiting my auto body shop today, I was told that the tires are the only thing it could be. Has anyone ever bought a defective tire that made the front end wobble or shimmy at certain speeds? I hate to buy new tires (these only have about 300 miles on them), but don't want to ride around doing the shimmy all summer either. Thanks.
  
  frankenstang
• frankenstang

  July 2009

  BTW...The tires on my car are Dunlop Direzzas. They go for around $145 each. You may want to think twice before purchasing any of them...
  
  frankenstang
• TWF_John

  July 2009

  To prove the theory of a defective tire (note: singular), how about if you swap or rotate them as a low tech way to locate the offending tire? If you rotate them front to back then there should be a difference. If you are really adventurous you could swap your spare for one and test drive it to see if the problem still exists and then repeat for the next tire and so on. If the front end has the same wobble through this process it would make me look somewhere else for the problem unless all four have the same defect.
• FlyinTiger

  July 2009

  Unfortunately, many things can make the front end shimmy. If the car has been sitting, then I agree with rotating them first, balance second, replace third. Warped brake rotors can also cause this. I don't think that tie-rods will cause a shimmy. I broke one on my Feature years ago and drove it home an hour and a half. Drove fine, just made a noise when the 2 pieces hit each other. If all else fails, check the wheels to be true. You don't know how the car was treated before you bought it.
• Rare_92

  August 2009

  So have you had the tires rotated?
• frankenstang

  August 2009

  Sorry for the delayed response - just lost a close friend and have been/will be out of the loop for a few days.
  
  The tires were placed on a machine that allowed them to be rotated and visually checked for roundness. After that, they were all balanced and then the rear tires were moved to the front (these were the most round while the front seemed to have the most wobble). It's really wierd because the car only wobbles and shimmies at certain speeds (around 35-45 MPH).
  
  Thanks,
  frankenstang
• Rare_92

  August 2009

  Frank I am so sorry for your loss. Its so hard to lose someone you care about. Take it easy for a while, ya know.
  
  So after all of the machine work the car still wobbles? Also check tire pressure. That can cause wobble as well.
  
  Ryan R
• jkupka

  August 2009

  Ball Joints.........
  
  Once the load is shifted off a ball joint this is when you will notice one is bad and its generally overlooked but easy to check.
  
  A quote from a site...
  
  Many years ago I had a beater car that would pull to one side and had lots of front end play. I could feel the steering wheel "wobble" when it hit bumps.
• frankenstang

  August 2009

  Thanks, Ryan and jkupka, for your posts - I'll check them out in a week or two...
  
  frankenstang