galletgun

I know alot of people have already started topics on this issue and I have searched thru them but I cannot find a solution to my shimmy problem. My shimmy problem started about 5000 miles after I had my OEM tires replaced at 28000 miles with a set of 4 kumho ecsta SPT 17'' 235/40s. When I had the tires put on in the first 5000 miles I never noticed this problem however something happened along the way when all of sudden this problem sprang out of nowhere at around 32000 miles. At first i had vibrations in my car and so i got my tires aligned. I know people have said that alignment does not have anything to do with this issue but I had to do it any since I had not done it for like 2 years. A week or so went by when all of a sudden my vibration problem turned into a steerin wheel shimmy problem and I mean crazy shimmying going on. So I started a 6 month episode of going back and forth to discount tire co ,about 8 times already ,where I bought my tires to have them rebalanced. They even did road force balancing and yet my problem would not go away and I even had my two front tires replaced with brand new ones of the same type. It lessend but it was still quite noticable. Then I decided to go a mechanic who has had over 30 years experience working with balancing tires and he told me my tires were unbalanced and after he rebalanced them my steering wheel problem virtually went away to the point it did not bother me. However since the beginning of this exciting adventure the violent steering wheel shimmy always began when i accelerated from street speeds of about 40-50 mph on to the highway of 60-70 mph. The shimmy would persist for different lenghts of time depending on its mood for that day. Now that I have had it balanced by a 30 year veteran I only notice this crazy shimmying on my first drive of the day when all the mechanical parts are "cold". So when I drive on the street for the first time during the day my car feels a littly lumpy like my wheels are square shaped or something but its not very noticable but when I drive from the street on to the highway it gets really violent and then stops after 10 to 30 seconds. For the rest of the day the problem hardly ever comes up (maybe once in a while). In the process of trying to solve this problem I even had my front rotors refinished out of stupidity and desperation eventhough that only causes shimmying at braking and I only get it when i accelerate. I also noticed that my steering wheel over exaggerates its movements when I go over hard objects like those bumpy things on the highway that serve as lane dividers or going over roads in bad condidtion.

I know this is very long but it gives you an idea of how frustrated I am, I have exhausted all my possible fixes for this problem .I just cannot figure out why it does it when I accelerate on the highway for the first time during a given day and then does not happen again for he rest of that day. I AM SO CONFUSED! Please help give me some insight on to what my problem may be.

P.S. I will confess I have had my bad moments on the streets where I have gone over some pretty bad potholes and obstacles since I had the new tires put on at 28000 miles but this problem started not to long ago when it had been about a month since I hit something pretty hard. Also I have only 33500 miles on my car so its practically brand new and my warrant has expired so yea....

BernieIS

iTrader: (1)

There are several other possibilities all of which could have happened due to hitting potholes

1. Bent control arms
2. Bad tie rods
3. Bad tie rod ends

Apex84

I have a similar issue that just began also. It only happens under braking once the car is fully warmed up. I start getting a lot of vibration in my steering wheel. If tire balancing doesn't work, then you may have warped rotors.

galletgun

Hey thanks for responding guys. Well I know for sure that your problem is warped rotors since you get the shimmy when braking. However my problem only happens when I accelerate or drive, never when I brake. Its really frustrating for me to figure out this problem . On another forum a person suggested that my new tires are just bad quality and they get flat spots from sitting still overnight but I do not know if he is just saying that because he hates kumho brand for some personal reason or hes right but I did not experience this shimmy in the first 5000 miles of the new tires.

NYC_kid

take it to the dealer and let them figure it out

Altezza13

i literally had the same issue, changed my tires and all. check your cambers. somehow mine was bent by half a degree and no one knew it. lexus fixed it and my car runs smooth now