I feel a shimmy when I slow down/brake, sometimes

[Doyt W. Echelberger]

Two things come to mind.....maybe the lug bolts weren't torqued to 
specifications when you switched the wheels around (or maybe one of the 
wheels is a little bent, and you didn't notice it when it was on the 
back.  You say you had a shop put the new Goodyears on, and lots of shops 
just buzz the lug bolts in with an air wrench, and hope for the best. I'd 
suspect improper torque.

While you are at it, you can jack up the front end and spin those wheels 
and see if anything is out of round. Also, maybe a guide pin on a front 
caliper is frozen. If you haven't done it yet, you could take off the front 
wheels and pull the guide pins in the front calipers, and if one of them 
was frozen, I'd suspect it to be part of the problem.  I'd clean both of 
them up and lubricate them and see if the shimmy was still there. And I'd 
put back the lug bolts with a torque wrench, assuming the wheels proved to 
be round.

I've also had a shimmy show up in the middle phases of a wheel bearing 
going bad. And I've had a shimmy as part of some front end bushings 
reaching the end of their life. That was in a 4kq. But that was mostly a 
shimmy at road speed.

The history of recent wheel swapping points toward  re-torquing and run out 
testing as a starting point. And check the air pressure. Shops don't always 
pay close attention to things like that.



Doyt Echelberger

 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
At 04:42 PM 3/28/2004 -0500, you wrote:
>....... sometimes when I brake or take my foot
>off the gas pedal, I feel a shimmy in my steering wheel.  Usually, as
>soon as I hit the gas, it goes away, but when I brake the next time, it
>usually shimmies again.  The weird thing is, it doesn't always do this,
>just occasionally.  Also, I first noticed this about a week after I got
>two new tires(Goodyear)and had them placed on the front and my old
>tires(which look to be in great shape)placed in the rear.  ......
>Thanks!
>
>Tony
>__
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>4:43:01 PM ET - 3/28/2004