Shimmy Shimmy Shakes

[Paint Legend]

I just installed a Turbo Tie Rod kit and spent $ 90.00 on an alignment and wheel balance. I love the tie rod kit(my wife even noticed the difference) but was bummed after picking up the car. I aligned the front end myself with a tape measure and had better results. The readings from the alignment are all good but at 55+ she starts a shakin'. I ran across the steps to take in checking the steering system in "Tech Tips" and will do so. In fact I made a point of checking the ball joints, etc... while under the car and everything appeared to check out. I got this feeling that the rims and tires are the culprits. I have American Eagle 8 spoke rims (Bug rims)with some no name 165R15's mounted. Could I be right or am I just trying to justify the purchase of some Fuchs and better tires??

Regards,
Tom

[Eat-um-up]

How old are your tires?? my tires had some nice wear in them becouse my front end went bad. I upgraded my front end like yours and got the shakes. as soon as i replaced the tired the cars has ran like a champ

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Sweet Blue 72' 914
Check it out at
http://www.geocities.com/eat_um_up/914.html

[SteveStromberg]

C heck the wheel bearing for play. Steve

[vw@micron.net]

Right at 60 my 76 2 liter starts to shake. It will give you a headache! at 55 or 70 it is smooth. Tires flat spotted or something?

[John Rogers]

I agree with checking the wheel bearings and also grab each wheel and really try to shake it. You might try swapping the tires front to rear and see if it goes away or borrow some other wheels/tires? You can also do an easy home alignment check to see if something has gotten knoscked out of alignment (refer to the article I have in the what's new section). In all probability it is the tires and I have seen several cars with new tires handle terribly here in the SoCal area since we have those cement roads with the traction grooves and if the tires have grooves that are close to the same width as the cement raodway they'll perform terribly! Also old tires that have deteriorated rubber or even new very sticky tires such as Kumho V700s can cause terrible vibration on the cement. I drove our stock 914 with brand new V700s to the auto-x last weekend and on the San Diego freeways there was terrible vibration, but at the asphalt track surface they were smooth as silk??? Good luck.