steering wheel shimmy...?

[86turbo]

hey guys,

I have an 85 coupe and the steering wheel will shimmy under braking but only the first half of the pedal travel. In other words light braking at any speed, it could be 5mph or 100mph.

I just had the wheels balanced, alignment is fine and the front calipers/rear calipers are new with brand new rotors. Why I DONT think its brake related is because i just put the exact same brake components on my 86 and it doesnt shimmy at all. I have gone through two sets of rotors and calipers for the front and it had this problem before i swapped to rear disk so i know the rear disk brake setup isnt affecting it.

Also this may sound kind of weird but it almost gets worse the more i drive it. When i first take it out it wont shimmy but maybe after 5 min of driving/braking it will act up.

ideas?

thanks

Drew

 

[86turbo]

also, wheel bearings are tight. I really think this is steering related. My car seems to really want to follow the ruts in the roads also (245/40/17's front)

 

[Black1987Stang]

subscribing....mine's doing the exact same thing, I can't stand it

My front brakes and rotors have no more than 2,000 miles on em too. Could be rears but its more coming from the front. The faster your going the worse it is, and yea mine starts as soon as you hit the brakes.

 

[mtlman22]

does it do it only on braking or driving??

 

[Black1987Stang]

just braking

 

[86turbo]

hey man, took only two posts for you to hijack my thread. haha.

My car shimmies on the freeway but will also do it under light braking

 

[mtlman22]

i would def say it IS a brake problem

 

[mtlman22]

hows the bearings?? how does the rotor fit the hub?

 

[Aryan15]

Use a mag base and indicator to check runout on the rotors. I think the runout was supposed to be no more than 0.003".

 

[Black1987Stang]

I just adjusted my rear drum brakes and it calmed it down some, it's still there but I was in a hurry, but it def seems to be from the back brakes

Mine are like 2 years old now so it might be time for an inspection or better adjustment of the rear pads.....

 

[JKidd]

I would check your front control arm bushings. When these are shot, you get symptoms such as you described.