Front End Hop / Shimmy

[moparnut74]

Hello. I get a front end bounce at 60 mph. I have had the front wheel balanced three times and I still get a front end shimmy or hopping ???


Please help, thanks.

 

[moparleo]

You say you had the wheel balanced. Does that mean only one ? Can you tell us the rest of the story ? New tire ? New rim ? Steel wheel, aluminum wheel? Weights on one side or both? Recent front end work ?

 

[ricoman97]

Check the ball joints and bushings around the front end. After you replace those, you will need another alignment. Just fixed this up on my 70 GTX.

 

[moparleo]

?????

 

[Chryco Psycho]

BFGarbage tires? generally they are far from round / closer to square

 

[ricoman97]

?????

Is that for my post? Anyways, to elaborate. My 1970 GTX was doing the exact same thing. Around 55 mph the front end would rattle and skip around. Here is exactly what I replaced: Lower ball joints & Upper A arm bushings. Then got a front end alignment. That fixed it.

 

[moparleo]

So far moparnut74 hasn't given us a clue as to any specifics of his problem. Has he had this problem for a while ? Has he done any recent work to the front of the car ? New wheels ? Tires etc... I could give you a hundred cures for similar problems but we still don't know specifically what we are trying to diagnose .

 

[moparnut74]

Front End Shimmy

I haven't had any recent front end work done. New BF tires on front. Checked all front end parts and seem tight. Had right front wheel balanced last spring. I switched left front wheel to right front and seems better. Front wheel caps are metal and may throw off the wheel balance ???

Thanks !:icon_confused:

 

[Chryco Psycho]

Jack up the wheel one at a time & spin them if they are out of round you will see it , I will put money that they are NOT round , if they have been balanced it will do nothing to stop the vibration of being out of round , I have seen many BFG tires with 1/4" or more steps in the tread , make sure you demand a new tire if they are not round .

 

[moparleo]

Also have all of your tires dynamically balanced. Weights on both side required to take care of imbalance of the sidewalls of the tire. When tire spins it wants to bounce if statically out of balance and wants to shimmy if out of balance dynamically. Also make sure that they match mount the tires. Most tires have a stamp on the sidewall near the bead that is the heavy spot on the tire. It is usually yellow. The balance stamp should line up with the valve stem hole for the best balance.

 

[moparnut74]

Thanks Guys !!! I'll start with dynamically balancing the tires and take it from there.....

 

[Chryco Psycho]

For free why not lift the front tires & spin them & look to see if there is a step in the tread before spending more $$ on balancing

 

[moparleo]

Yes Check visually first. If front and rear tires are the same size, rotate the front to the rear and road test.

 

[moparnut74]

Okay, thanks !!!

 

[moparnut74]

Thanks. Had the two front wheels finger balanced. Shop said the tires are slightly out of round. This helped a lot however she still shakes around 70 mph. I will have front end check next, possibly lower ball joints ? Thanks

 

[Chryco Psycho]

the tires sre out of round as expected with BFGarbage , will they offer any reploacemnet under warranty ? replace the tire with round one & the shake wilol go away

 

[moparnut74]

Thanks !!!