Steering Wheel Shimmy 45mph-65mph (most obvious around 55mph)

[S550HPP]

Could be the premature wear on ball joints or rubber bushings ....Mustang is the first car I have ever had to do LCA on, though I do max 50K miles on them.

The rotor idea is interesting. Any brake pulsating?

Could also be wheel balance, or more likely tire deformation, like flat spot that won't go away, or damaged internal structure ( from hard pothole hit etc)

Tried putting them on balancer to see if tire is true?

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[Jordy19892012]

Could be the premature wear on ball joints or rubber bushings ....Mustang is the first car I have ever had to do LCA on, though I do max 50K miles on them.

The rotor idea is interesting. Any brake pulsating?

Could also be wheel balance, or more likely tire deformation, like flat spot that won't go away, or damaged internal structure ( from hard pothole hit etc)

Tried putting them on balancer to see if tire is true?

Luckily I can do my own tire work with a road force balancer. I just rotated my tires and balanced them all, while checking the road force numbers. Road force numbers are low (in the teens), the tires look visibly very round. Why wheels are true, and are in balance. I also made sure to install hub brings when I put these specific wheels on to get them hubcentric.

I’m totally open to replacing my rotors, however, the braking feels solid in my car with no pulsation.

It’s just such an odd predicament. I’ve never had such a fussy car when it came to vibrations.

 

[S550HPP]

That's eliminates almost everything except LCA ...midas well do tie rod ends while down there.

 

[gmupatriot]

Have had this shimmy since 1100 miles on the car, now at 67,000 miles and 6 and 1/2 years and still the same issue. No idea how to fix it either. Dealerships are of zero help

 

[Jordy19892012]

Have had this shimmy since 1100 miles on the car, now at 67,000 miles and 6 and 1/2 years and still the same issue. No idea how to fix it either. Dealerships are of zero help

I’ve got an appointment this coming Tuesday, so we will see what they say.

I recently realized I've also got a vibration at 35mph that I can hear and feel if I put my car in neutral, which really feels like a driveline issue. It sounds and feels like it’s coming from the rear end.

I hardly notice it because my exhaust is so loud, that most of the time I feel the exhaust resonance vibration.

I’ll see what they say on Tuesday.

 

[Jordy19892012]

The appointment was inconclusive. The tech agreed with me that I had a 35mph vibration that you can feel, and hear. He also agreed that my 55mph steering wheel shimmy is there, but basically told me to live with it.

His official recommendation was to replace my front rotors, and re-align the car to lessen the caster (he believes my high caster is contributing to the shimmy) caster is between 7.4 and 7.8

I firmly believe that the carrier bearing is going out, but don’t really have a great way to check it for now.

For now, I’ll live with it.

Eventually, I’d love to have a Barton shifter installed. Maybe at that time while the driveline is out, I can get a 2nd opinion.

 

[gmupatriot]

The appointment was inconclusive. The tech agreed with me that I had a 35mph vibration that you can feel, and hear. He also agreed that my 55mph steering wheel shimmy is there, but basically told me to live with it.

His official recommendation was to replace my front rotors, and re-align the car to lessen the caster (he believes my high caster is contributing to the shimmy) caster is between 7.4 and 7.8

I firmly believe that the carrier bearing is going out, but don’t really have a great way to check it for now.

For now, I’ll live with it.

Eventually, I’d love to have a Barton shifter installed. Maybe at that time while the driveline is out, I can get a 2nd opinion.

I was told by Ford service that the reason for my shimmy was due to tires, bent rims, and lastly because of my front rotors.

Around 37,000 miles I had to replace all 4 tires which I did with Michelin Pilot AS3+. No real change in the shimmy. During this process, I asked the shop to check for bent rims and everything checked out so tires and rims were eliminated.

Brakes and rotors had plenty of life left so I did not change them until August of 2023 when the car had about 62,000 miles. The front left rotor had deep gouges in it. I was happy to replace it in hopes this has been the culprit all the time. Unfortunately, after changing all 4 rotors and pads, there was no difference.

Honestly, not sure what to do at this point. The only thing left to do is get a new OEM driveshaft and have it installed by a shop that knows what they are doing and hope it resolves the shimmy.

 

[Jordy19892012]

I was told by Ford service that the reason for my shimmy was due to tires, bent rims, and lastly because of my front rotors.

Around 37,000 miles I had to replace all 4 tires which I did with Michelin Pilot AS3+. No real change in the shimmy. During this process, I asked the shop to check for bent rims and everything checked out so tires and rims were eliminated.

Brakes and rotors had plenty of life left so I did not change them until August of 2023 when the car had about 62,000 miles. The front left rotor had deep gouges in it. I was happy to replace it in hopes this has been the culprit all the time. Unfortunately, after changing all 4 rotors and pads, there was no difference.

Honestly, not sure what to do at this point. The only thing left to do is get a new OEM driveshaft and have it installed by a shop that knows what they are doing and hope it resolves the shimmy.

This is exactly where I’m at. I’ll be calling for prices on a driveline and hopefully swapping it out in the next few weeks.

I har the opportunity to crawl under my car and noticed my U Joint closest to the carrier is starting to fling grease. There is a 360 degree witness mark of grease that’s sprayed on the underside of my car.

After I buy a new driveline, I’ll come back update you.

 

[Jordy19892012]

I was told by Ford service that the reason for my shimmy was due to tires, bent rims, and lastly because of my front rotors.

Around 37,000 miles I had to replace all 4 tires which I did with Michelin Pilot AS3+. No real change in the shimmy. During this process, I asked the shop to check for bent rims and everything checked out so tires and rims were eliminated.

Brakes and rotors had plenty of life left so I did not change them until August of 2023 when the car had about 62,000 miles. The front left rotor had deep gouges in it. I was happy to replace it in hopes this has been the culprit all the time. Unfortunately, after changing all 4 rotors and pads, there was no difference.

Honestly, not sure what to do at this point. The only thing left to do is get a new OEM driveshaft and have it installed by a shop that knows what they are doing and hope it resolves the shimmy.

My driveline had this harmonic around 35mph that makes it visibly shake around. I also have a vibration at 35mph, which now makes sense.

 

[gmupatriot]

I see what you mean. Hopefully a new driveshaft will resolve your issue!

 

[Mike Pfeifer]

Watching because I want to see if the driveshaft repair actually fixes this. I have my doubts but I am always willing to learn. You can never have too many tools in the diagnostic tool belt, so to speak.

 

[Jordy19892012]

This is a video of my driveline @ 35mph. If you zoom in on the carrier, you can see it moving around quite a bit.

 

[Mike Pfeifer]

Yes, I have seen this video already, I think in another thread. My skepticism lies in how the driveshaft problem could manifest itself as a wobble / shimmy in the steering wheel. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned from working on cars for 25 years, it’s that nothing is impossible. So that being the case, I’m willing to learn something if there’s something to learn. There have been a few people on here with similar statements about a steering wobble / shimmy that they have had no luck in fixing, and I have seen the driveshaft pop up in those conversations as well, but I have yet to see someone actually make the case that they fixed the problem. If they did, then I missed it. I think one just ended up selling the car instead of trying to fix it.

 

[Roger Blose]

Try checking to the front hubs for run out. Had this issue years ago with an old T-Bird and chased it for two years. The hubs were had run out which bolted the rotors and wheels into a rotating mess that balancing could never fix. Worth a check!

 

[Jordy19892012]

Yes, I have seen this video already, I think in another thread. My skepticism lies in how the driveshaft problem could manifest itself as a wobble / shimmy in the steering wheel. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned from working on cars for 25 years, it’s that nothing is impossible. So that being the case, I’m willing to learn something if there’s something to learn. There have been a few people on here with similar statements about a steering wobble / shimmy that they have had no luck in fixing, and I have seen the driveshaft pop up in those conversations as well, but I have yet to see someone actually make the case that they fixed the problem. If they did, then I missed it. I think one just ended up selling the car instead of trying to fix it.

Something I noticed when I took the video of my driveline was that while the car was up on the lift, and while I had my co-worker bring my car up to 70mph, I put my hands on the front tires (at 3 and 9 o’clock) and I could feel the front tires shaking in the air. I’m thinking that the resonance of the driveline is going through the chassis, and that’s why I’m feeling that shimmy in the steering wheel during normal driving.

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