steering shimmy? @#$%

[blackhueys]

ok Yes I searched and tried some stuff out. Changed the rotors and pads out for brand new heled some but still shimmys on the freeways. did the roadforce thing 3 times still shimmys. cleaned the wheel to hub mounting area 2 times helped but still shimmys. When I go down the road the car reacts kinda like it has a flat but it doesn't I do plan to install an addco bar soon to help that though. I am wondering maybe I could try to tighten up the rack some anybody ever do this? I love the car just the damn shimmy pisses me of and is kinda embarrassing with other people in the car somebodys gotta have a fix for this. The front tires where roadforced at drivers front 4 # pass front 23 # is this to high maybe tires need replacing? HELP ME Please somebody uggghhh!

[Bradley G]

I would look at replacing the tires, sometimes there is no balancing that will correct a bad tire.

[Egon Spengler]

if your tires were out of balance long enough... you may have created a flat spot in the tire... that happened to my girlfriend's taurus... I told her to get her tires balanced and she finally did... but too late... had to buy her tires! What a good boyfriend huh? $500 later

[blackhueys]

so if they where out of balance whould the problem not be noticeable all the time i only get the shimmy on certain roads really confuses me ha!

[cyclopsram]

Wheel bearings, start inward work out... A whole Taurus should not cost $500. Most tire out of balance manifests itself at 40 or 70 mph or so...dynamically. However, usually the tires are at fault... it only takes one panic stop to ruin the dimensional characteristics and rotational aspects of the radials...put on the winter tires and rims and see if the problem still exists, if you don't have any go to your friendly cop garage and borrow a set of the 17s off a new Crown Vic.

[Local Boy]

Jumping on cyclopsram's thought...

Jack up the front ...grip (with hands) the tire at the 12 and 6 'o clock mark and push and pull opposite sides...If tire wobbles (has play) bearings went bad...

Otherwise look at your ball joints...This one needs a pry bar to work the knuckel back and forth...again if there is "play" (wobbles) ...ball joints bad...

Good Luck...

ALOHA

[Marauderjack]

If you have the OEM BFG's there is most of your problem!!!:shake:

ALL OF THE BFG's I've had shimmied and no amount of balancing ever eliminated it!!!:argue::mad2:

I currently run Nitto NT-555's and they are very smooth at all speeds but right noisy!!!:cool:

Gonna try Toyo's next time around!!:beer:

Marauderjack:burnout:

[Green96]

I have not had any issues with my marauder, but I did fight a vibration for a long time in my 96 t-bird DD. Did not have an extreme # of miles, but combined with the age I had some bushings that needed changed. I also did tie rods, alignment, tires, rebalanced tires, shocks, and the final fix brakes. They all helped the vibration some, but for me the brakes were the final straw. Sounds like you have already addressed the brake issue, but depending on the miles you have on the car it could be time for shocks. Otherwise, I agree with the others probably tires.
FWIW my vibration showed up at 25-35 as almost a bounce, then it would go away until higher speeds. Before I finally fixed the brakes it would start shaking again around 65-70 and just keep getting worse the faster I went. It also wasn't just the steering wheel, the whole car shook. After brakes, no vibration all the way to 85 (well over my normal speed) so I called it good.

Good luck. If you decide to do tires, I am having excelent luck with Kumho front and rear. Good luck.

[Stranger in the Black Sedan]

These cars have a ~70 mph shimmy that I have heard a lot of complaints about. I have changed rotors, hubs, wheels, tires, drive shaft, ring and pinion, etc (all for different reasons but those parts have all been changed).

The shimmy is almost nonexistent, but after a while on a long trip, it is still noticeable. I am 99% sure that, at least on my car, it is a driveline angle induced harmonic.

[Zack]

Never had a shimmy in any of the 5 MM's Ive owned

[Krytin]

You might want to see if one of the rims is bent.

[Stranger in the Black Sedan]

Come on guys, the Road force balance already has checked his rim and tire runout. So it is not that simple if he passed the road force test.

[Merc220A]

When I bought my marauder (used) I put a new rim on because it was bent, and two new front factory tires. I still had a shimmy at 65+ mph. Bugged me so bad, I put 235 50 Michelin Pilot Sports on all four corners (retuned the computer to adjust for this) and the car is a lot smoother, but not perfect. Look into doing something different with the tires. These BFGs are the worst tire I have ever owned (in my opinion)

[Stranger in the Black Sedan]

Merc220A, if you concentrate on the vibration, can you tell that it is 100% in the steering wheel, or can you also very slightly feel it in your seat? Does the vibe occur right in the 65-68 mph range, and go away above and below this speed?

If you are getting a slight periodic thrumm, thrumm, thrumm type minor vibration above 65 but below 70 mph, that can also be felt slightly in the body of the car, than it sounds exactly like what I have noticed.

My explanation, is that it is common for a driveshaft (even if it is balanced 100% correctly and there is nothing wrong with it) to vibe at 1/2 critical speed. With stock gears, critical speed on the driveshaft is reached around 140 mph road speed, so 1/2 crit speed at 70 mph sounds about normal. I have read that manufacturers try to design the driveline such that the vehicle is not operated constantly at 1/2 critical speed, but w/ our cars, if my math is right, my "5 over the speed limit" cruise speed is right at 1/2 critical speed of the driveshaft. I have been through 3 shafts, 2 stock and one custom made from scractch, w/ no change.

The vibe I have is so minor that most people would not notice it, even driving the car for a while, but I don't consider any amount of harshness acceptable, so I then start looking for the cause of minor annoyances.

[omarauder]

Sometimes the steel belt in the tire will shift, due to hitting a pothole or even a design flaw. Had this happen to my old cv on two tires (Yokohama's) and the alignment guy showed me the small lumps on the surface of the tires. I thought the front end was falling apart at certain speeds. New tires and she ran like new...

[Marauderjack]

Please see post #7.....

Most of my driving is Interstate 70-80 and ALL BFG's had vibration that came and went at 3-5 second intervals!!!:mad2:

Nitto's FIXED THE PROBLEM.......same wheels and same tire store doing the balancing!!:beer:

Borrow some CV wheels from someone and prove it to yourself if you don't believe me??:rolleyes:

Marauderjack:confused:

[Stranger in the Black Sedan]

Hey Jack, you want to lend me some? Seriously though, I have a set of 18x7 wheels from a Mazda, w/ 50 mm offset, that I am going to be putting on my MM (and reprogramming of course) so that the state inspector in MD, where I just moved, doesn't have the opportunity to scratch my MM wheels.

I'll be curious to see how the car does on the highway

[Bobmiddle]

I had the slight shimmy for a while. Even after replacing the front tires about 6k ago with ballance and alignment. Then 2 weeks ago I had to have my rear tires replaced due to a nail and not enough tread to repair. While replacing the rears the shop found a cracked valve stem and said when they find this they have to replace all 4. So I had the shop rotate the front tires left to right while the had them off and rebalance. Now no more shimmy at any speed. I am running Kuhmo 235/45/18 in front and 245/50/18 in rear. So this might be from the re orentation of the rims on the tires or the rebalance or something else. Just my 2cents and what fixed mine.

[Marauderjack]

Hey Jack, you want to lend me some? Seriously though, I have a set of 18x7 wheels from a Mazda, w/ 50 mm offset, that I am going to be putting on my MM (and reprogramming of course) so that the state inspector in MD, where I just moved, doesn't have the opportunity to scratch my MM wheels.

I'll be curious to see how the car does on the highway

Why would the inspector mess with your wheels??:confused:

Let us know how she rides!!:cool4:

[Stranger in the Black Sedan]

THey have to remove the wheels to measure brake pad and rotor thickness. Every time a tech removed these wheels in the past, they got scratched. I have already refinished 2 and replaced 1 more wheel due to damage from techs. I do all my own work on this car now including alignments and tire mounting and balancing since I found a shop that lets me use their machines, but when I absolutely have to have someone else handle the car, like for this safety inspection, I put borrowed wheels on the car.

[hbarrett]

I never heard of anything like this in MD. Did someone tell you they would waste their time doing that at the state inspection facility?
THey have to remove the wheels to measure brake pad and rotor thickness. Every time a tech removed these wheels in the past, they got scratched. I have already refinished 2 and replaced 1 more wheel due to damage from techs. I do all my own work on this car now including alignments and tire mounting and balancing since I found a shop that lets me use their machines, but when I absolutely have to have someone else handle the car, like for this safety inspection, I put borrowed wheels on the car.

[ts-pa]

In PA, unless if it obviously has new pads, they remove one front and the opposing rear wheel to check the brakes. I throw on my winter wheels for inspections to avoid damage.

[Stranger in the Black Sedan]

hbarret, I am a new MD resident so I have to go through an inspection at a state certified local garage of my choice. When my brother had his 2 cars inspected in MD a year ago, they took the drums apart, wheels off, measured lining thickness, rotor thickness, and generally gave him a hugely hard time. He had to change his headlight bulbs because they weren't DOT certified, had to change the aftermarket steering wheel because it was not within 1" of stock...........

I have only recently moved to MD so I only know about vehicle inspection what people tell me. But the 3 or 4 garages I called near me all said they would remove the wheels to measure the rotors.

You can never be too careful w/ our stock delicate wheels.