Front Passenger Wheel Shimmy

dug320 · Post by **dug320** » Sun Sep 18, 2005 12:02 am

Let's see now ...

replaced front ball joints
replaced drive shafts
replaced struts
replaced all rubber parts on stabilizer bar

right front wheel shimmies slightly on hard excelleration and only in first gear.

What gives????

takza · Post by **takza** » Sun Sep 18, 2005 4:19 am

Carefully...jack the right front pass side up...pull the e-brake...start the car...put it in 1st gear (no 4WD)...get out and look at the spinning wheel...look for an out of round tire or wheel.

I have the same thing. Or might be the axle?

Don't fall into the wheel...good idea to have someone in the car to shut it off and hit the brakes.

Typrus · Post by **Typrus** » Sun Sep 18, 2005 11:23 am

Get up to 60mph or so. Does the whole car vibrate? That would be screwy tires. Even a TINY bit of a flat spot on and otherwise round tire can REALLY cause some bad vibration.

xirdneh · Post by **xirdneh** » Sun Sep 18, 2005 12:16 pm

dug320 wrote: Let's see now ...

replaced front ball joints
replaced drive shafts
replaced struts
replaced all rubber parts on stabilizer bar

right front wheel shimmies slightly on hard excelleration and only in first gear.

What gives????

i had a problem similiar to this. did not go away untill i replaced the front shocks with a used (salvaged) set. the les schwab guy's swear it was not the shocks causing this. maybe a weak spring?
my symptoms took place during acceleration in first and second

Typrus · Post by **Typrus** » Sun Sep 18, 2005 1:09 pm

Well, if I go over a bump or around corners under hard acceleration, the wheel begins "hopping" very rapidly. Might be mistaken for shimmy? I attribute it to a combination of bad struts and springs.

dug320 · Post by **dug320** » Sun Sep 18, 2005 1:15 pm

If it is the struts I am going to be really pissed off.

Both struts are a year old from NAPA.

Typrus · Post by **Typrus** » Sun Sep 18, 2005 1:46 pm

Are they leaking?
Check your tires roundness before anything else. You may want to do a few short burnouts, and hope the right wheel burns. That'll help round them out, but obviously burns off unneccessary tread. Of course, bringing it to a tire place and getting it repaired will involve scraping off some tread, assuming that is the problem.
Get your alignment checked as well?

dug320 · Post by **dug320** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 8:41 pm

The weird thing is when someone sits in the passenger seat the shimmy goes away.

takza · Post by **takza** » Thu Sep 22, 2005 2:48 am

dug320 wrote: The weird thing is when someone sits in the passenger seat the shimmy goes away.

Buy one of those big inflatable dolls and fill it with sand. B)

Problem solved...... :blink:

GTSSportCoupe · Post by **GTSSportCoupe** » Thu Sep 22, 2005 9:41 am

I attribute it to FWD

. Seriously though, every FWD I've had has weird quirks like that. Hence, I hate FWD!! RWD/4WD all the way!!

Currently my front axles cause a similar issue to what you have.

dug320 · Post by **dug320** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 12:01 pm

Shimmy came from a worn-out lower control arm bushing. Replacement is another thread.