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View Full Version : Shimmy magically fixed



Stephen Biko
03/06/2010, 11:59 PM
So I left my vx parked facing downwards on a hill for a very long time - many months. It was such that the right front wheel had the brunt of the car's weight.

Afterwards my vx had a shimmy between 50 and 60mph and it felt like the shimmy was coming from the front right wheel. Then one day I parked on a snow bank (more of an ice bank from a plow clearing out most of a parking lot and compacting it all in one corner of the lot) with the right side of the vx up on the snow, raised about 12-18 inches and the left side on the pavement.

That night, driving home, the shimmy was gone. Its been about a week now and still no shimmy. This seems a little too good to be true.

Anyone want to venture an opinion as to what might have happened?

Ldub
03/07/2010, 12:12 AM
My guess is that snow/ice accumulated on the bottom side of the rim when it was parked, causing the wheel/tire to be out of balance.

Then when you took it out later & parked it with that side up on the snow bank (warmer weather?) it melted.

Just my WAG...:smilewink

Stephen Biko
03/07/2010, 02:37 AM
Nah, I've had the shimmy since Nov when I rejoined here. No snow back then.

Ldub
03/07/2010, 03:01 AM
Hmmmmmmm...:_thinking

Well, ya got me stumped...NEXT GUESSER...:confused:

I've heard of wheel weights coming off, but never heard of them magically re-attaching themselves.

Scott Harness
03/07/2010, 08:15 AM
Tire out of shape?!?

Moncha
03/07/2010, 08:27 AM
I like Scott's theory, tires out of round

don moore
03/07/2010, 09:23 AM
jack up that side of the car and check the roundness by spinning it ..and a good time to check for play/looseness ..:work:

rowhard
03/07/2010, 11:04 AM
I like Scott's theory, tires out of round

That will cause it, but normally after a few miles it's round again. Remember the polyester tires of the 70's.

Stephen Biko
03/07/2010, 12:07 PM
So maybe its just coincidence that the tire rounded out enough the day I parked it on the snow bank? I guess I hadn't driven on the freeway for about a week before so it could have happened anytime during the previous week and I wouldn't have noticed until that day.

I've got nitto grapplers BTW.

Moncha
03/07/2010, 03:31 PM
Especially in the cooler weather, I notice out of round for a while (Several days sometimes unless I drive alot in one day) if Moncha sits for weeks like it does now. I've got the same tires

WormGod
03/08/2010, 07:19 AM
Parked.... outside..... downhill..... for months.....

Sell it or I am calling the Vehicular Humane Society. :p

My VX does it every weekend. It's a Sunday driver so when I back it out of the garage and go, she has a slight "hop" to her. It lasts for a couple miles than goes away. I "ASSUME" it's due to sitting and the tires flatten on their resting side. I never thought much about it since it always corrects soon after. Perhaps heating them on the road and the centrifugal force helps alleviate the "out-of-round".

*shrug*