I noticed a earlier thread where some one had a shimmy in the steering wheel and after driving a while it was gone. Well same here. When first starting out there is a shimmy in the steering wheel between 30 and 45 mph. Then after driving about 10 or 15 min. it goes away and is fine. After the car sets about half an hour it occurs again when starting out. Two new front sets of tires, wheel bearings replaced, and new steering stabilizer installed. Wheels have very little run out and look as close as you can get to being correct. Putting the trans in neutral and drifting it still has the shimmy until warm or 15 min. of driving. So it seems it is isolated to the front end of the car. Could a wheel be distorting under a load until the tire heats up. Just a crazy thought. Any observations will be appreciated. Thanks

 

Sounds a lot like flat-spotting, but that normally goes away in ~5 minutes. Not sure what would cause the effect to last 15 minutes...

 

Hey, Appreciate the feedback JHM2k I also had that thought liike the old nylon tires used to do, but I have had 2 new sets of continental tires on the car and they each had a different tread pattern. Thanks for the reply but I think I have to look a little deeper.

 

yep, I think John is correct. If you have a spin balance machine in the neighborhood. Put them on it and look for the flat spots. If they are there, they should replace the tires...but sometimes it is just the mounting that causes this....good luck...

 

Normally I would agree with you guys but actually this is the third set of tires it started with the originals and since then two other sets of new tires have been installed. They showed me a very slight runout on one of the wheels but it was very slight. This whole thing seems to be caused by temperature or lubrication. Anyway thanks for the input. This thing is getting to be very annoying.

 

Warren, if you have done all that...then I think I would start looking at the links in your front suspension.. Never cared for the steering in these cars as it is...but I think it would be worth a little investigation...3 sets of tires wouldn't be an "out of round" problem...good luck...

 

Yeah OLE, I guess I will check that again. I have had the front end on a rack and had the side to side motion checked on the turning radius and everything is tight. I didn't check the ball joints so I will check that. Thanks for the thought. But what is puzzling is that it goes away completely after a short drive.

 

[QUOTE= But what is puzzling is that it goes away completely after a short drive.[/QUOTE]
Exactly why I would think tires. Get warm, shimmy goes away. Hard to say. But, pulling the wheels, look at everything at this point. wheel bearing, brake caliper, etc....

 

You know, I personally pulled the wheels put in inner and outer frt. bearings and races plus checked the calipers and installed new brake pads. The rotors are ok because the car stops straight and no pull either way. Also to add to this I had a 4 whee lalignment done. I would say tires but after 3 sets?????! I really appreciate your input and I am sure you see my frustration. It is crazy in that there is no indication of any tremor, shimmy or whatever after driving a while. Someone else had a thread on this and thought it may be a steering stablizer. As we all know I replaced that also. I wonder if they found their problem? Again thanks for sharing this with me. I need all the input and help I can get at this point. I've always said there isn't anything mechanical that can't be fixed. We will see. Thanks

 

What is the treadwear rating on your sets of tires?

Softer rubber + warm summer temps = flat spots after a few hours of overnight parking.

 

that is a good point John. I run summer compound on the roadster. Always a thump in the beginning, but no shimmy...
I see your frustration, but you know you have to retrace what you have already done. You might have missed something obvious. I have been there done that.

 

Have you checked your transmission fluid. I have a similar shimmy and my first thought was a flat spot on the tires, however another thought I have is it feels like a transmission issue. I'm going to change the fluid and filter on my 05, just a hunch...I'll post the outcome...

 

Thanks cool x. The shimmy still exist after putting the trans in neutral and coasting thriugh the 30 to 45 nph speed range.

 

one last thought then I will shut up. I have replaced my steering stabilizer 3 times. There are some cheaper versions out there. Could you have purchased one of those. My last one was silver in color and larger in diameter than the black stock stabilizer. The stabilizer will allow a shimmy or shake I should say until tires get warmed up. Because the stabilizer is too weak to handle the cold tires. A cheap try to install another stabilizer. Just a thought. In fact, I just installed a new one on the roadster and it now has a clicking noise when I turn, so something isn't quite right with it. I will be tearing into it this morning to see if the bolt hole is too large for the bolt allowing it to move a little. All stabilizers aren't the same... They should be, but aren't. Good luck with your search...been there...

 

Hey OLE, Don't "shut up", your input has been great. I got the stabilizer from JOETLC.com. This car only has 6000 miles on it but I wanted to change out every possibilllity that I could. The orig one still had plenty of cushion to it as the new one. They were both identical and were made by Stabilus. The more I think of this the tires still keep coming up in my mind. The one thing I thought was that the tires were all Continental. Has anyone else had that problem with the Continental brand tire I wonder? Thanks