Hey Guys,

So I’ve been working with two shops on these wheel shimmy issue with the aftermarket rims and tires for the past two weeks. Please review this and tell me what you think. If you are a good shop guy or know a good shop guy please feel free to share this information and please help post ideas as to what the problem could be. We are really trying to narrow this down and appreciate all the help we can get.

Please know this is an actually verified issue identified by several mechanics and not me just being picky.

Thanks again,

Duke


History of the truck:

Was in an accident in January in which the right front suspension and parts were replaced along with the complete rear end suspension. After everything was fixed the performance was back to stock as well as all the parts. This continued for four months and no issues occurred what so ever, so we don’t think the problems now are related to the wreck.


Specs of what has changed to truck when the problems started:

We painted the calipers red, being careful where the paint went and to not put it where it’d interfere with anything. The shop guys painted the calipers and the guy doing it had painted several before. We also replaced the front brake pads with Ackebono ProAct Ceramic brake pads.


Old Issue:

There was a constant shimmy in the wheel that was light at all speeds but still annoying. Then sporadically at speeds ranging from 65 to 75 mph, the steering wheel would shake quite a bit. However, sometimes in the speed range it wouldn’t shake.


Fix for Old Issue:

We assumed it was all related to having two bad tires and non-hub centric rims. So we replaced two of the wheels, road force balanced with Haweka hub centric balancing adapters, and hub centric adapters made for the rims and tires.


Old Result:

The shimmy at all speed is gone. However, sporadically we will have a significant shimmy in the wheel at speeds ranging from 65 to 75 mph. Once again, it doesn’t do it at other speeds and it only sporadically will do it at 65 to 75 mph, though it does do it more often then not.

Left Front – RF = 15 lbs / W = 7.75 oz
Right Front – RF = 15 lbs / W = 4.50 oz [Spinning manually on truck shows a little movement on the outside portion of the tread on the tire]
Left Rear – RF = 23 lbs / W = 1.50 oz [Spinning manually in the air on the truck we identified a big flat spot on the inside part of the tread. Makes you release there are problems with tires that a balancer will not pick up.]
Right Rear – RF = 23 lbs / W = 6.50 oz

All rims spin wonderfully and show no signs of being out of round or bent in any way.


Current Issue:

Sporadically we will have a significant shimmy in the wheel at speeds ranging from 65 to 75 mph. Once again, it doesn’t do it at other speeds and it only sporadically will do it at 65 to 75 mph, though it does do it more often then not.


Next Steps:

1. Tomorrow we will put two of the OEM tires and rims back on the front to see if the front tires or rims have any impact as to what is causing the problem.
2. Tomorrow we will mark the tires and rims on the rear to check them to see if the tire is spinning on the rim at all.
3. Put in a replacement order with GoodYear to replace the left rear tire which has a flat spot, even though we’re very confident the flat spot in the rear is not causing the sporadic shimmy in the wheel.


Possible Causes (ranked in order from most likely to least):
1. Tires up front are some how bad
2. Rims spinning in tires on any of the four tires and rims
3. Ball joint or steering component up front
4. Brake pad hanging on rotor
5. Brake piston getting stuck
6. Rack and Pinion problem
7. Warped rotors up front

 

So the rings did do somting for you then? I dont have mine yet he went out of town all last week but I should have them soon. I am glad you are after this problem because we are having the same issue but I just gave up trying to get it right and just live with the vib but it will be great to know what you find and maybe it will be my problem too. honestly mine have been such a pain that i gave up on them but i am so glad you are after the root of the problem because when the going gets hard for me i always quit i know its bad but... you have all my support though!

 

I have the same sort of problem. Shimmy at freeway speeds - sometimes.
I have had 2 road force balances and one tire replaced. They are BFG All Terrain 285/55/20. The problem got better but it didn't go away. It's been 6000 miles so I just got my tires rotated. Now I sometimes have a shimmy at freeway speeds AND a shimmy when I apply the brakes from 30 mph and lower. I give up. Nothing like spending a few grand on wheels and tires and have this crap happen. I wished I would have left it stock.

 

I hear ya fellas, I'm just refusing to give up. I will not settle for spending $3,000 on rims, tires and multiple balances only to have random shimmy problems.

Please forward the text in the original post to any good shops you know to see if anyone has encountered this problem and found the fix.

Thank you,

Duke

 

Make sure the lug nuts are installed properly and torqued to 150 lbs. Do it yourself. After the first 25 miles, you'll need to retorque them. Pick up a torque wrench at Sears if you don't have one.

 

I have the same issue.

WHen I first get in my truck the steering wheel shimmy starts at about 70-75. Then after about 30 minutes it goes away. Its like the tires warm up or something.

I have had it into the dealer once and they balance all the tires. This didnt reallyhelp.

I have another apointment tommorrow.

I have the Goodyear stock 18" AT tires. 2004 FX4

Seems like this problem didnt start till recently. I have 26000 miles on my truck and I rotate tires every 5k.

A friend at work had the same problem and had his tires replaced under warrenty. He says that fixed him, but I guess time will tell.

Didnt our tire warranty get increased to 36k miles?

Tom

 

my truck only shakes after being parked for about 2 hours. after driving a few kilometers it goes away. there is a tsb for that and its said to be normal with 20 inch or larger low profile tires because of the temporary flat spotting when parked.

 

The GoodYear Forteras are a hard enough compound that I don't think it's a flat spotting issue. Besides it'll do it in the middle of a 4 hour drive which is long after any flat spot tire goes back to round.

Duke

 

Just put the stock wheels on the front at the shop and for the short drive time at 60 mph it didn't shimmy. Couldn't get going faster because of traffic. Will keep it on today and part of tomorrow as we're thinking it may be a roundness problem with the right front.

It has a little movement in it when you spin the tire on the truck. This isn't something that would normally be caught by a balancer.

We also marked the rear tires by the valve stem to see if the rim is spinning inside the tire.

Duke

 

I've got the same problem in my '04. I have what I think are the stock BFG T/A's. Shimmy is a little annoying, and I always just figured I had a tire outof balance. I've got one wheel that has 3 weights on it, and I imagine that is the out of balance one. Anyway, I am about to get a lift/new tires, so I will let you know what happens with that.

 

Allright so I have had those rings for awhile now just never have time to work on my truck. I got around to putting them in this weekend and while I had the wheels off I decided to look at my brakes because I too painted them at the time I put the wheels on. So as I am taking them apart I find a frozen slide pin on the drivers size possiably leading to a draging pad. Also the accual area where the pad slides was pretty gummed up with not some much paint but road grime. I cleaned everything up and took care of the frozen slide and took it for a ride with the rings in and guess what hardly anything at all it took care of the vibe!!!!! I dont want to get to excited yet though because I havnt had time to put a lot of miles on to see if it is fixed for good or not because the vibe didnt happen all the time as it was, but for now it feels good and I am starting to love my truck again, all I need now is to get rid of the rough idle and it will be back to a great truck. any advice on the idle would be great, not to jack this thread though. All in all Duke check your brakes and I mean check accualy pull them apart and check for a hanging pad or somthing.

 

I have had the exacty same issues with the vibration between 65 and 75 with the factory rims and tires and the after market rims and tires.

My problems has been solved by getting my tires (front) balanced numerous times till they got it right. I am good as long as the stupid stick on magnets stay on. When they fall off i need to make another trip or 2 to the tire shop to get them rebalanced.

I would say that odds are they just need to be balanced, and mine took 3 times before they balanced them correctly.

Hope this helps out!

 

Had the wheel shimmy for over a year (15,500 mi) and took it to dealer once w/ no solution. Well yesterday I rotated the tires and one of the wheels (roush 20's, made in china no less) had what looked to be a weld on the wheel from a pressure leak. to make a long story short the rotation of tires made the shimmy go away, now to go back to dealer and point that out to the service manager to see about a replacement or at least correct wheel balancing