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front end shimmy

2K views 9 replies 6 participants last post by  Eminence 
#1 ·
Im just about to change my brakes,beacuse its time
but im geting a moaning and shimmy on the front left tire,especialy
when making turns.
first i thought it was my wheel bearing so i had it changed
but i still have the same problem. I just changed my wheels recently so I dont think its wheel balance. I thinking possibly a warped rotor,my question is does any think resurfacing the the rotors will cure this prob or I need a new set of rotors.

thanks in advance...
 
#2 ·
If it's warped rotors, you can resurface them and see if the shimmy goes away. Remember that you can only resurface rotors to a certain point after that the thickness of the rotors will be out of man.spec and they have to be replaced.
 
#4 ·
Did you old tires wear funny? You may need an alignment. I had a front end shimmy on mine and after an alignment it was much better, but since the bad alignment screwed up my tires it was not totally solved until I changed tires.

I could be a bad rotor, but I would suspect if you are running stock rotors, it is a bad alignment.

Good Luck

Jeff
 
#6 ·
lilrich75 said:
just the left front tire,but my concern is the moaning noise. its actually pretty loud
A tire that was out of balance or mis-aligned for a lengthy period of time (you said you changed your wheels but not your tires) can make a moaning noise AND shimmy.

Easy way to test is to rotate your tires. If the noise moves, it is your tires. If it does not, at least you can rule out tires/wheel.

If it is not this, and you changed your bearing, I would have no idea what could make that noise.
 
#7 ·
I believe if the ball joints are worn, you will hear noises during turning. Do what Hiroshima said, rotate the tires, preferably one side at a time so you can try to isolate the noise to one rim/tire. If that doesn't work, then perhaps its your ball joints.

You could also get vibration for a warped rotor, but I'm not sure that would be worsened by the turning motion as you stated above.
 
#8 ·
I did replace the tires when i did the rims,the tires and wheels where used
and when i had the wheel bearing replaced i rotated the tires front to rear
and i had less shimmy for a while in the same place. but i also notice when i
go over bumps the strut on that side also kinda creeks. the moaning changes with speed its especialy lound when slowing down???

thanks for your ideas guys this one had got me really stumped
 
#9 ·
If its warped rotors then you will get really bad shimmy while braking and yes Turning (Re-surfacing) the Rotor can fix the problem, I am not a big fan of Turning rotors as it mess with the braking power of the brakes by making the rotor slimmer it heats up faster and can cause brake fade quicker. and cause the rotors to warp further

Also the turn part could be from warped rotors but it should also shimmy while braking if it doesn't then it is most definatly is not warped rotors
 
#10 ·
CarbonIS300 said:
If its warped rotors then you will get really bad shimmy while braking and yes Turning (Re-surfacing) the Rotor can fix the problem, I am not a big fan of Turning rotors as it mess with the braking power of the brakes by making the rotor slimmer it heats up faster and can cause brake fade quicker. and cause the rotors to warp further

Also the turn part could be from warped rotors but it should also shimmy while braking if it doesn't then it is most definatly is not warped rotors

I agree with you, I'm not a big fan of turning rotors either, especially warped rotors. The main reason why rotors get warp is from heat. Anytime you heat anything to the point where the metal gets distorted the metal will inturn get weaker. Once a rotor gets warp the likely hood of it warping again is high. But in my opinion I don't think it's a braking problem but more of a suspension issue.

I don't see how the mechanic could replace a wheels bearing without inspecting it first. Normally if a shimmy comes from wheel bearing play it will definitely show when you give it a good shake.

Get the car on a lift and shake down the wheel to check the suspension out. My question is does the moaning changes as speed changes? If it does, I would check the tires out, it could possibly have belt seperation, or feathering (From bad alignment)
 
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