Hey guys,
Just need a little advice. This weekend I was drving on the hightway, about 40 mph and I hit a section where they were doing road work. There was a sharp bump that I drove over pretty hard. Now today when I was driving I was paying extra attention when I was on the highway and I noticed my wheel slightly shmmying around 55 mph. Now it may be completely normal but because I was paying extra attention it stuck out.

So my question to you guys is whether there is a little bit of shimmy in your steering wheels at that speed? Is it normal road vibration? Am I just obsessing or did I do some kind of damage the my car when I hit the bump on the highway?

Any advice is appreciated, thanks!

 

mine does it.. It done it before and after i wrecked it.. I'm thinking the tie rods need to be checked.. It does it for a few secs, then it goes aways.. It comes and goes.. idk, anyone know??

 

Mine has always done that, one time a little more then normal and I had my front tires rebalanced but its never completely gone. Hardly noticeable unless you're looking for it, it can also depend on the design of your'e tire tread, depends on alot of factors really.

 

Just checked my tire pressure and it is nearly 10psi higher than normal, almost 45 psi. Maybe that is contributing to the small shimmy?

 

A couple of things you can do for free...just to check out...re-torque the wheels, check for damage. Also, if you have sticky weights on those nice rims, check to see if there seems to be one missing. That'll cause a shake too.

It just seems strange that you notice it now, after hitting the bump. Hopefully, its just a missing weight or something ez like that.

 

mine did it once, turns out the TPMS came off in the front left. whoever owned it before me used zip ties to keep it on

 

Although shimmy shouldn't occur, we often will live with it due to some cases being tough to resolve. Be sure to check and adjust your tire pressure (28-32 psi is typical), if you have aftermarket wheels be sure you've removed the stud retaining rings (only needed on the assembly line) and check your lug nut torque. If the shimmy remains after that, a good balance would be next (preferably on a RaodForce balancer which will identify tire and wheel defects which don't show up on regular spin balancers).

I have a minor shimmy and I'm sure it's just that I need a good balance.

 

It's not normal and could be many things. I went through it myself after hitting a curb pretty good. Jack the front of your car and push/pull each front tire holding them at the 3 and 9 oclock positions. If you feel slack you may have some tie-rod end damage. That was my problem and changing the inner tie rod out on that side corrected the problem. It could also be ball joints, bent rim, damaged belts in your tires from the pothole, wheel bearings. Since it happened after hitting something, I would lean more towards tie rod, balljoint or wheel/tire issues.

It could be difficult to nail down...

 

...just thought of it...some aftermarket wheels have hub-centric rings. Usually they're plastic, sometimes brass, but a good jolt can damage them as well.

Looks like you've got a lot to check. Hope it turns out well.

 

I sometimes have this problem. I'm fairly sure I need to get my tires balanced though.