Hey, I guess I finally got an answer to my steering wheel shimmy problem. I bought new continental tires for the front of my 06 crossfire which I just purchased with only 6000 miles on it. The dealer who had the car since new had run over something and knocked the front end out of alignment. Anyway This is the fourth set of tires the tire dealer has put on the car. New wheel bearings and races where needlessly installed and the steering vibration damper was replaced. Come to find out after getting continental involved is that this is normal for that low profile tire. Vibration will occur at 35 mph to 45 mph until the tire has reached a certain temp.. However the tire dealer has agreed to send the car out to have the tires" road forced" balanced. Personally I don't think this will solve the problem either. I think that this is the nature of the belt that is used in the tire. Anyway I guess I can live with it since I know where the problem is. Everyone including continental has been very nice and has tried to get the problem solved. Just thought you might want to know.

 

which Continental tires? I've had ContiSportContact 2s, ContiSportContact 3, and Extreme DWs, (all different cars) and haven't had any vibrations.

 

They are the Conti Touring Tires. The same as the originals that are on the rear. But as I said the response I got was directly from a rep. at continental. It does seem strange unless there was a "goof" in a new batch they just put out. Not being a safety issue so they don"t want to set a precedent and admit there is something not quite right. They may just feel,"ignore it and it will go away."

 

Did Continental tell you this directly or did the tire dealer say that Continental said this? If the tire dealer told you I would not believe it. If a Continental rep told you then you should tell him that you will post that info so that nobody else purchased Continental tires unless they could put up with the shimmy.

 

Have the tread checked for runout and maybe trued. Woody

 

Are you running stock rims or aftermarket? I had intermittent shimmy on aftermarket rims until I got the proper hubcentric spacers.

 

Four sets of tires and you're told Conti rep states it's normal. Hum.

I still wash my own cars; still change my own oil; still buy Michelin tires. And hope I still recognize BS when I hear it.

 

Tire Rack no longer sells the OEM Conti's (all seasons) that came on my XFs.......I suspect they've been discontinued or Tire Rack has figured out they are crap. One of mine had "slipped belts" by about 17,000 miles.

 

Well, I'll try to answer all your questions. First of all the info. came directly from the factory rep. I have the orig stock wheels which have been checked for runout and hop and are ok. Also one of the reasons the orig. tires was replaced was because of a slipped belt. As I said I think they put out a batch of tires where they "goofed" and don't want to admit it because it is not a safety issue and to admit it would cause a run of complaints which they would have to settle.