Wheel Shimmy for a few miles...

22447 Views 65 Replies 18 Participants Last post by bucket1952, Nov 13, 2017

bigblueshock

Discussion Starter · May 9, 2017

Hey guys,

Just trying to scope out how much of a pain it's worth being to the dealer in this situation. When my car sits overnight, tires are cold in the morning temperature wise (however they are inflated to spec), I get a slight steering wheel shimmy/shake/wobble at roughly 40MPH or so.

After about 5 minutes of driving, it completely goes away...

I'm leaning towards the tires creating temporary flat spots over night (which gets sorted out after driving) or tires out of balance. I am hoping it's just the tires out of balance. However, wouldn't the wheel shake be continuous if the tires were out of balance?

Car is brand new less than a few hundred miles. I do know lower profiles tires such as the ones we have, tires are more prone to situations like these, but is anyone else experiencing / not experiencing this?

Thanks

1 - 20 of 66 Posts

Wildcat Birdie

· #2 · May 9, 2017

Wheel shake would be constant at a given speed if it was a balance issue. As for the tires creating flat spots, I guess that is possible, but that would be hard to believe it happened over night, especially if the tires are properly inflated. I am not sure what to tell you on this. It is a very odd issue.

Reactions: 1

Vert

· #3 · May 9, 2017

No way should a tire develop a flat spot overnight. Im wondering if you could possibly have a caliper lightly sticking and once you drive it breaks free.
Or maybe one of your tires had an issue and once it heats up the issue fits away, but I doubt its from a flat spot.

Reactions: 1

Vert

· #4 · May 9, 2017

Does it happen on the same stretch of road? If so, you might try a different route for your first drive and see what happens.

bigblueshock

Discussion Starter · #5 · May 9, 2017

Vert said:
No way should a tire develop a flat spot overnight. Im wondering if you could possibly have a caliper lightly sticking and once you drive it breaks free.
Or maybe one of your tires had an issue and once it heats up the issue fits away, but I doubt its from a flat spot.

Interesting about the Caliper. I'll keep that in mind when addressing the issue when bringing my car in.

Vert said:
Does it happen on the same stretch of road? If so, you might try a different route for your first drive and see what happens.

Yeah, I have only taken one way to work. There's another route I can take, Will give that a go. Thanks for the suggestion

Cweckel2000

· #6 · May 9, 2017

FWIW I have the same shimmy you're describing. If I take my hands off the wheel I see the steering wheel shake slightly back and forth. It goes away quickly and I'm it's possible it's just the road I take to work. I'll have to remember to try a different route.

bigblueshock

Discussion Starter · #7 · May 9, 2017

Cweckel2000 said:
FWIW I have the same shimmy you're describing. If I take my hands off the wheel I see the steering wheel shake slightly back and forth. It goes away quickly and I'm it's possible it's just the road I take to work. I'll have to remember to try a different route.

Yeah... I feel it's not annoying enough to pick a huge fight over (if the dealer claims they don't feel anything) as it goes away within minutes. However if there actually is a problem that could get worse in the future, it should get taken care of sooner rather than later. At the very least, it needs to be documented/noted in a service record.

The more mileage you put on the car before initially bringing it in, the more inclined the dealer may say it's due from passenger driving, hitting a pothole, etc etc.

Reactions: 1

DaMiFo

· #8 · May 9, 2017

Do you have the stock Continental ContiProContact tires? Mine came with these, and they do flat spot and takes about 5 minutes of driving if the car sits more then overnight as you describe. We have Continental DWS06 tires on another car, and those flat spot even worse (and have since new). Continental seems to have gone down hill recently.

Reactions: 1

bigblueshock

Discussion Starter · #9 · May 9, 2017

DaMiFo said:
Do you have the stock Continental ContiProContact tires? Mine came with these, and they do flat spot and takes about 5 minutes of driving if the car sits more then overnight as you describe. We have Continental DWS06 tires on another car, and those flat spot even worse (and have since new). Continental seems to have gone down hill recently.

Intertesting... You ever thought to take it in, or does it not bother you enough since it goes away within a couple of minutes?

I have the Goodyears. Car was built in February of 2017. Otherwise, the car definitely rides smooth as butter.

La Flama Blanca

· #10 · May 9, 2017

I have the Goodyears, same thing.
Overnight it's not so bad but you can tell it's there, if it sits the weekend, it's very noticeable.
Goes away after 5 miles or so.

Reactions: 1

DaMiFo

· #11 · May 9, 2017

bigblueshock said:
Intertesting... You ever thought to take it in, or does it not bother you enough since it goes away within a couple of minutes?

I have the Goodyears. Car was built in February of 2017. Otherwise, the car definitely rides smooth as butter.

No, it drives me nuts, haha. But I know they won't do anything, the tires just suck. That's upsetting the Goodyears do it too, tho. I'm just waiting for these tires to be bald so I can get new ones. Mine was built August 15th, 2016 so I got gypped by not getting the nicer Goodyears. After 8,000 miles the tires still do it - no better or no worse. It's not terrible, but it is noticeable.

Reactions: 2

bigblueshock

Discussion Starter · #12 · May 9, 2017

DaMiFo said:
No, it drives me nuts, haha. But I know they won't do anything, the tires just suck. That's upsetting the Goodyears do it too, tho. I'm just waiting for these tires to be bald so I can get new ones. Mine was built August 15th, 2016 so I got gypped by not getting the nicer Goodyears. After 8,000 miles the tires still do it - no better or no worse. It's not terrible, but it is noticeable.

You have a waysssss to go. Last sets of all season tires I had on my previous car lasted at least 30k miles without rotating... I wouldn't be surprised if these lasted just as long if not longer.

Who knows if it's even the tires though. I'm beginning to think these kinds of low-profile/performance tires in general are just more susceptible to these kinds of issues.

I had the SAME exact problem with my previous car, however previous car was much worse. I'm sure there was a different underlying issue somewhere. Changing tires did not help.

Reactions: 1

DaMiFo

· #13 · May 9, 2017

My Focus and our Escape have the same size sidewall as our Fusions, I have no issues with them flat-spotting. The Subaru that I mentioned we also have Continental tires on have double the sidewall as these cars, still has the issue. Some tires just suck. I'm sure Ford has a deal with Goodyear to get a different spec tire, just as they do with the ContiProContact tires (if you look on some tire websites, there are two models of the same tire, but one is more expensive). Even someone on 2GF got the DWS06 tires and said those started flat-spotting after sitting, he returned them and never had the issues with the different brand tires.

Reactions: 1

froshy00

· #14 · May 9, 2017

I have goodyear all seasons and have the same issue.. havnt veen able to isolate i its just.... poor tires... poor shock tuning.... bad tires (meaning an actual defect) or just roads suck everywhere here

Reactions: 1

Wildcat Birdie

· #15 · May 9, 2017

well I guess I am rarely at one speed consistently except at 79 mph on the freeway to go to work... So I don't seem to notice this ever.

Reactions: 1

bigblueshock

Discussion Starter · #16 · May 9, 2017

froshy00 said:
I have goodyear all seasons and have the same issue.. havnt veen able to isolate i its just.... poor tires... poor shock tuning.... bad tires (meaning an actual defect) or just roads suck everywhere here

I'm hoping it's just the tires. Does your shake go away after roughly 5 miles of driving?

Actually, I feel its easier to notice on flat paved road. At that point you're not gonna notice any other bumps. But even flat paved road may not be as flat as you think...

Also, if I come to my car in the afternoon, It's not noticeable. Usually only after a morning where the temperature has dropped, and ground cooled substantially.

Reactions: 1

froshy00

· #17 · May 9, 2017

bigblueshock said:
I'm hoping it's just the tires. Does your shake go away after roughly 5 miles of driving?

Actually, I feel its easier to notice on flat paved road. At that point you're not gonna notice any other bumps. But even flat paved road may not be as flat as you think...

Also, if I come to my car in the afternoon, It's not noticeable. Usually only after a morning where the temperature has dropped, and ground cooled substantially.

Its bad right when i leave my house in the mornings... but i feel it all day. I try to pay attention to the road conditions (ive driven the same.roads in many vehicles consistently for 9 years!) And this car has a definate oscillation to it. Taken it to dealer twice and nothing each time

Reactions: 1

Vert

· #18 · May 9, 2017

I haven't experienced any of the shake issues and I doubt its a flat spot from sitting overnight.
My 91 mustang would sometimes sit for a week before I drove it and my NT 05s would have a slight flat spot, but it didnt have a shake in the wheel, it was more like going over small rumble strips.

Rice

· #19 · May 10, 2017

i wonder if its a AWD system issue, all these issues are very odd. The fact it goes away adter a few milea of driving IMO would eliminate the tire balance issue which is more often than not the issue.

Reactions: 1

bigblueshock

Discussion Starter · #20 · May 10, 2017

I took a different stretch of road to work today. Not much different.

My car is going in May 15th overnight to the 16th for "owed work" (illuminated door sill, scratched window from the factory). I also had them make a note of the wheel shimmy/shake. I know with this type of customer concern there is a slim to none chance they can do anything, but it's worth a shot to inquire/diagnose. Maybe they'll spot something off. Caliper, wheel balance, etc.

The only other thing I can think of is the huge temperature variation where I live in Long Island, NY. Right now, the low is low to mid 40's at night, and up to 70 in the afternoon (hotter with the sun).

I dug around some other forums. I know this sounds in-depth but, I read some concrete cools faster than the ambient air causing a temperature variation where the tires touch the ground, and the rest of the tires. May not make a huge difference in the summer where temps aren't averaging under 70, and may not make a huge difference in the winter where temps aren't averaging above 40's. But who knows, this theory could be completely baseless.

I will let you guys know next Tuesday if I get lucky.

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