50-60 MPH shimmy gone...accidentally fixed it...

[Ken from Guam]

guys i had this famous shimmy for a while...changed my front/rear shocks but didn't change the upper/lower control arms coz the mechanic said it's rock solid. Also the shimmy wasn't that annoying enough for me to redo the whole front end again(just did it a year ago). So lived with the shimmy for a while and I had 2 12" subs (JL audio) installed in a custom ported box ....what do you know after the installation the SHIMMY was GONE.....maybe the box weight was the reason for it and it balanced out the weight of the car i dunno but im one happy camper again no Shimmy and a whole lot of BAss too.. :p i'll post pics of my set up soon


once again everybody all together E34 rules !!!

[Tiger]

Mmm... front end shimmy? Put sandbags in the trunk... poor man's style.

[Russell]

I also have a light 50-60 mph shimmy. It seems to disappear for a while after I rotate and balance tires. Recently I thought the shimmy was less than previously noticed. Did not associate with weight in trunk or even a full tank of gas. I will now.

I also think this may affect the rear suspension alignment in some way. I have some wander/tracking issues and plan to change the dog bones/rear pitman links/trailing links as they are original to see if any change.

Now I wonder if wear on the rear suspension components has any impact on the front shimmy issues?

Just a thought?



guys i had this famous shimmy for a while...changed my front/rear shocks but didn't change the upper/lower control arms coz the mechanic said it's rock solid. Also the shimmy wasn't that annoying enough for me to redo the whole front end again(just did it a year ago). So lived with the shimmy for a while and I had 2 12" subs (JL audio) installed in a custom ported box ....what do you know after the installation the SHIMMY was GONE.....maybe the box weight was the reason for it and it balanced out the weight of the car i dunno but im one happy camper again no Shimmy and a whole lot of BAss too.. :p i'll post pics of my set up soon


once again everybody all together E34 rules !!!

[Unregistered]

Russell, you might have this problem because you rotated your tires. I don't know if you noticed the front outer wear faster and rear inner wear faster on E34 tires. That's how BMW alignment is. By putting worn rear to the front will cause a tramlining effect. Of course by rotating tires prolong the life of the tires but for me, I stopped doing this do to tramlining effect and decided to replace when worn.


I have some wander/tracking issues and plan to change the dog bones/rear pitman links/trailing links as they are original to see if any change.

Just a thought?

[Russell]

They were also match-balanced at 5,000 miles on a Hunter machine. The car did this before new tires. No change in wander behavior with new tires. I know that rotation is questionable. Just sorting out what could be the issue. Thanks for bringing up this issue. May not rotate again. Not sure at this point.


Russell, you might have this problem because you rotated your tires. I don't know if you noticed the front outer wear faster and rear inner wear faster on E34 tires. That's how BMW alignment is. By putting worn rear to the front will cause a tramlining effect. Of course by rotating tires prolong the life of the tires but for me, I stopped doing this do to tramlining effect and decided to replace when worn.