Help Diagnosing Shimmy - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

jantzer · 07-16-2011, 11:53 AM

05 XRS 60k Miles
The problem is only noticeable at highway speeds. The car drives straight. The car brakes straight. I can feel a slight shimmy at higher speeds, but a really ridiculous shimmy when I apply the brakes at freeway speed. I thought it was my front brake rotors and swapped the rotors/pads and no change. I checked the front wheel bearings, no play. I can't see or feel any play on the outer tie rods. If I turn the wheel fast and try and hold onto the tire I can feel a slight vibration and noise as if the steering rack has play maybe??? When the shimmy occurs, the steering wheel shutters back and forth all over the place and I can hear a slight on/off growl of some sort so I know something is shot somewhere.

I appreciate any help!

invader · 07-16-2011, 04:40 PM

Check to see if your control arms' rear bushing is ripped or unbonded.

huangxin · 07-19-2011, 12:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jantzer

05 XRS 60k Miles
The problem is only noticeable at highway speeds. The car drives straight. The car brakes straight. I can feel a slight shimmy at higher speeds, but a really ridiculous shimmy when I apply the brakes at freeway speed. I thought it was my front brake rotors and swapped the rotors/pads and no change. I checked the front wheel bearings, no play. I can't see or feel any play on the outer tie rods. If I turn the wheel fast and try and hold onto the tire I can feel a slight vibration and noise as if the steering rack has play maybe??? When the shimmy occurs, the steering wheel shutters back and forth all over the place and I can hear a slight on/off growl of some sort so I know something is shot somewhere.

I appreciate any help!

Did you check your caliper sliding pins when you were changing out your rotors and pads? Just fixed a similar problem on my civic. Re-greased the sliding pins, problem solved

jantzer · 07-25-2011, 08:47 PM

Calipers pins are free and I re-greased them. The control arm bushings appear fine and I rotated the tires today with no change. I plan on having the tires rebalanced to see if that might be it, but I suspect it's not.

I'm wondering if the caliper could be bad, although the car doesn't pull to either side during breaking.

***silver04rollas*** · 07-25-2011, 11:34 PM

Check the steering rack and pinion alongwith steering gears.