[GM Kid]

Okay, everyone think positive thoughts about my Goat today. She's at the dealer.

I'm due for an oil change, but that's not the scary part. The scary part is that my steering wheel's been shimmying when I'm going about 60. It's worse on some roads than others.

You may recall I had the dealer adjust the camber a few months back on account of strut rub. They reduced negative camber to nearly zero, so the front wheels are almost straight up and down. Don't know if that caused some road sensitivity or what. Maybe they knocked the toe-in wonky; I don't know. Anyhow, I want them to fix it.

But you know the fears we all have--that you'll take your car in for one thing and they'll mess up 10 other things.

So . . . happy thoughts for my Goat.

 

[Groucho]

The scariest thing about the above is that you took your car to the mechanically-challenged nimrods at the dealer for an oil change. *shudder*

The shimmy could be caused by any number of things, but 0 degrees of camber will not cause what you're talking about...it could be something minor like brake pad residue on the rotors or a wheel out of balance.

Shrug.

 

[b_a_betterperson]

Good luck. Had numerous issues -- caused by out of round tires. Will be getting a set of Michelins to fix that by the end of the year.

 

[GTO JUDGE]

I just had my shimmy corrected. I had 2 wheels out of balance so I was told. How that happened I don't know... I looked at the inner area of the wheels. I noticed the weights are adhesived on... I am assuming that in time the weights may come off. I don't know if there are weights on the inside of the wheel or not, there should be I would expect.

I would suspect that after a period of time those adhesived on weights may come off causing wobble... Not to mention other factors that cause wobble.

 

[b_a_betterperson]

GTO Judge, your A.T.D. is also an erection repellant.

 

[GTO JUDGE]

GTO Judge, your A.T.D. is also an erection repellant.

ROFLMAO........:willy: :willy:


She has in the past....... uglied thugs away..... and has kept the birth rate in check.

There ain't a viaga pill large enough to overcome that erectile dysfunctional causing beast.

But hey, she has a pleasant personality.

 

[GM Kid]

Good luck. Had numerous issues -- caused by out of round tires. Will be getting a set of Michelins to fix that by the end of the year.

Sorry to be incommunicado, gang. I spent the entire day yesterday taking two Japanese ladies on a tour of our company.

B-A-Better, turned out I had the same issue as you--out-of-round tires. Two of 'em. I spent so much time showing those Japanese ladies around that I didn't learn the diagnosis until late in the evening (my service guy knows I'm a freak and is kind enough to e-mail me) when I finally got back to my office. I picked up the car this morning as soon as the dealership opened (7:00) and found two new BF Goodriches on the front. But if I'm reading my paperwork right, it was the two rear tires that were out-of-round. Why would that make the wheel shimmy? I'm assuming they moved the old front tires to the back and put the new ones up front.

Whatever. I'll be driving all over creation again today, so I'll have plenty of opportunity to see if the shimmy's gone.

 

[b_a_betterperson]

B-A-Better, turned out I had the same issue as you--out-of-round tires.

Best of luck. I don't know what's going on -- but there seems to be a rash of this problem lately. I've had about 12 different tires on my car -- and the tire store said they were all out of round. My brother just bought some Bridgestones for his Cadillac STS because the factory Goodyears were out of round -- and the same problem came up.

What stinks for me is that I like to run my tire pressures a little on the high side -- which makes the problem even worse. Anyway, the only tire I've been getting good feedback on is Michelin. We'll find out later this year.

 

[arch&69]

When it comes to getting your tires balanced, if you are taking it to a dealer get em force balanced. They rotate the tires on the rim to use the least amount of weight possible. If you take it to a regular shop tell them dynamic balance(unless they can force balance). Usually most shops will just do a static balance, where they use a humungous amount of "hammeron" weights on the inside lip of the wheel. If they use sickies, they put one gigantic strip down the middle of your wheel. "Stickies", what we call it in the biz, work just fine as long as they are placed properly. If you see them not parallel to the creases in the rim then they are done wrong. They should also be on a flat surface of the rim, one strip as close to the spokes as possible and one strip as close to the inside edge as possible. If you see stickies on top of stickies it is wrong. If you see the inside area around your stickies still dirty after they put them on, meaning they didn't clean the area, then they will fall off within a few miles. If you see anymore than 2.5 oz of weight on one side with new wheels, take em to a different place for a different balance, cause the balancer machines should be calibrated every month, but most shops do it twice a year if at all. Still I prefer to use hammerons whenever possible. Also with the hammerons, make sure that they use the right size, because the lips on every wheel are not made the same. There should be no gap between the lip and the weight. Hope this info helps.

 

[GM Kid]

When it comes to getting your tires balanced, if you are taking it to a dealer get em force balanced.

Well, now I know what the phrase "force balanced" means. I saw it on my paperwork from the dealer, so I guess that's what they did.

The good news is that I had to drive to downtown Phoenix via freeway today, and the car was solid as a rock. Stock-steady and no shimmying, so hooray. I'm curious about my tire pressures, though. I banged hard over every expansion joint.

Interesting note: When I was picking up my car this morning, another GTO guy sauntered up and started talking to me. He, too, had had issues with his tires being out-of-round, having had a total of three tires replaced under warranty. Makes me wonder if the tires are really, truly out-of-round, or if this is just an easy fix for an altogether different problem. I mean, if the tires were really out-of-round, how come the problem wasn't there from the get-go? I'd have noticed. I mean, steering wheel shimmy is pretty obvious, and I can assure you this was a recent development. If it were possible, I'd almost believe that something about these cars' suspension set-up makes the tires go out-of-round.

 

[Justice]

What is the factory warranty on the stock tires? Which dealer are you using Kid?

 

[madkat]

What is the factory warranty on the stock tires? Which dealer are you using Kid?

I use a dealer in Norman, Ok and I have free tire and wheel replacement for the next 7 yrs, the service manager told me that when my tire life get to 4/32 to hit a pothole or nails and destroy my tires, then they will replace them free under factory warranty. Do I recommed killing your car for a few hundred bucks of free tires.. Nope. However I have had 2 tires replaced from running over a piece of metal during a construction zone. Never had any issue with them replacing my tires. 4400 miles on car.

SO far the only prob I have had with my car is a dead battery and a code p0833 showing up( which is the clutch switch) has come on twice. always comes on when I leave my car parked for several days. Taking her in tomorrow for the clutch switch again. :confused

 

[J.E.T.]

ALL tires made today are out-of-round, some worse than others. I've tried six different tire brands before finally just taking the last set to a place that shaves tires (trues them up) and then balances them on the car. This is the ONLY way to get a good roll. The semi truck guys have been doing this for years. I've also had rim issues and my Ronals are being replaced tomorrow with Beyern 5's and 18" tires. I've been running 17's but the Beyerns won't fit over my Baer brake calipers so I'm forced to go with 18's. I'm going with the new Nitto Invo tires.........right after they're mounted they're going to the shave shop to be trued and balanced on car. I've learned my lesson about tire balancing these days. Even the top of the line Hunter force balance machines are crap IMO........

JET

 

[GM Kid]

What is the factory warranty on the stock tires? Which dealer are you using Kid?

I honestly don't know what the factory warranty covers. I'd have to look. I'm at around 15k miles on my '05, which I bought new in March last year. All I know is that the dealer gave me two free tires.

I go to Henry Brown on Main Street in Mesa (near Dobson). My service writer's an awesome guy and takes good care of me, but regrettably, today's his last day of work! He's going to Chandler Harley Davidson. He did, however, introduce me to the guy taking his place, and he claims he filled the guy in on my special needs. Ya gotta love a guy who types "Be careful with this car!!" on the service instructions.

 

[GM Kid]

Washed the car over the weekend, which I always do after it's been serviced. The wash gives me the chance to see if the dealer dinged anything.

The car was in pretty good shape, except that whenever I've had the wheels off for anything, I find a few new nicks in 'em. How come people aren't more careful with wheels? Grrr.

Most of the new little nicks are around the lugnut holes--like they just weren't being super careful with putting the impact wrench in the holes. On the rear two wheels, oddly, there's a tiny little slice in the silver paint right next to the rim of the circular Pontiac wheel center. Go figure. Maybe whatever machine it is they use to check the tires for balance conacts the wheel in that area.

A question to you gents with aftermarket polished or chrome rims: Does this kinda thing happen to you, too, or are your rims generally tougher?

 

[Holden]

Washed the car over the weekend, which I always do after it's been serviced. The wash gives me the chance to see if the dealer dinged anything.

The car was in pretty good shape, except that whenever I've had the wheels off for anything, I find a few new nicks in 'em. How come people aren't more careful with wheels? Grrr.

Most of the new little nicks are around the lugnut holes--like they just weren't being super careful with putting the impact wrench in the holes. On the rear two wheels, oddly, there's a tiny little slice in the silver paint right next to the rim of the circular Pontiac wheel center. Go figure. Maybe whatever machine it is they use to check the tires for balance conacts the wheel in that area.

A question to you gents with aftermarket polished or chrome rims: Does this kinda thing happen to you, too, or are your rims generally tougher?

Pontiac Service trashed mine around lugs @ 3K mi. rotating tires then said that’s normal! I use thin socket and general care @ work on rims without much clearance.

 

[GM Kid]

Pontiac Service trashed mine around lugs @ 3K mi. rotating tires then said that’s normal! I use thin socket and general care @ work on rims without much clearance.

Makes your blood boil, doesn't it?

What's really, really stupid is that the service guys evidently use needle-nose pliers to pull off the plastic lugnut caps. I can see where the pliers lost their grip on some of the caps, with the tips scraping across the top of the cap and digging a trough in it. Don't they know there's a handy little tool next to the spare tire that grips the cap and pulls it off without damaging it?

 

[arch&69]

Most of the new little nicks are around the lugnut holes--like they just weren't being super careful with putting the impact wrench in the holes. On the rear two wheels, oddly, there's a tiny little slice in the silver paint right next to the rim of the circular Pontiac wheel center. Go figure. Maybe whatever machine it is they use to check the tires for balance conacts the wheel in that area.

Yeah, I hated those nicks on my original rally II's, now with my new rear repro rally II's, I take care of anything under the wheels myself. If it is something I can't handle, like alignment, I take it to a shop that I know someone who works there and I trust to do the work.

I don't know of any machines that mount on the outside center of the rim. That slice is probably someone who was just going way too fast on the lugs with the gun and dragged the socket across the center.

 

[arch&69]

Don't they know there's a handy little tool next to the spare tire that grips the cap and pulls it off without damaging it?

You know if the guys were really smart, they could actually just pull the socket off of the gun and unscrew the caps by hand.

 

[GM Kid]

You know if the guys were really smart, they could actually just pull the socket off of the gun and unscrew the caps by hand.

The caps actually pull off. There's this little doohickey in the trunk that looks like a big pair of tweezers that does the trick. Just inboard of the top of the lugnut cap there's a groove. The tweezers have little projections on them that grip that groove and you just pull the cap off. Easy!