# steering wheel shimmy



## dustyminpin (Jun 19, 2006)

I have noticed that my steering wheel has started to shimmy back and forth when I hit the brake pedal. In-town driving isn't noticeable, but if I'm at speed and have to brake (somebody cuts me off on the interstate or I gotta brake to get onto an offramp) is when I really notice it. It didn't do it when the car was new, I got 16,000 miles on it now (is an '06). A guy I work with bought an '04 brand new and had so many problems with it that he traded it off after only having it a couple months and he told me that was one of the probs he had too, said the rotors were junk or bent rotors or fried rotors or something to that effect (I'm not a gearhead). Does anybody know what's causing this and is it covered under warranty? I don't rally race my car by any means and still have plenty of tread left on the OEM Bridgestone Potenzas at 16,000 miles if that tells ya anything. Thanks to all who answer.
Dustin.


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## aryanramsey (Mar 9, 2007)

Im glad you asked this question because I have the same exact problem with my 04 with 29500 miles. Not original tires or rims but same problem,Im assuming warped rotors?


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## MonaroGuy06 (Feb 1, 2007)

If it has anything to do with the rotors, then yes, it is covered under warranty! Sometimes its a simple problem..on the BMW i had before the GOAT that same thing happened to me everytime id brake at high speeds, and all that turned out to be was the tires needed to be balanced...but thats at best..I would take it into a Dealership at once and have them look at it...dont worry, its covered!


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## lukekeith (Oct 27, 2006)

I would also like information about this if anybody knows something, I have been experiencing the same thing, I have an '05 with 26k miles. Any information would be greatly appreciated!


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## Sabraxas (Oct 29, 2006)

If you feel it only during braking (even if just a little bit in the city) then check for warped rotors. The tires could need balancing too. maybe an alignment issue :confused . I've had that problem before and it was the rotors. They messed up the brake pads royally too (so that would be a tell tale sign right there).


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## GTO JUDGE (May 14, 2005)

*Sounds like rotors. Through wear and tear of heat associated with braking, rotors become warped. Without inspecting them however this is only a guess. Your describe classic warped rotors. This would be classified as normal wear and tear and if this is the case I wouldn't expect the warranty to cover it even though 16K is not many miles on a set. Rotors can be turned so many times before needing replaced. A decent brake shop could do this for you for a few bucks. You may as well throw on some new pads as well. 

If your wheels are out of balance you'd experience wobbling when no brake are applied. An alignment may be the order if you brake and the car wants to drift right or left. Again without inspecting it, you describe a rotor problem. *


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## dustyminpin (Jun 19, 2006)

That's what I'm afraid of, I don't want to be slapping new brakes on this thing and paying out of my pocket when it is a potential GM #$%^-up issue.


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## GTO JUDGE (May 14, 2005)

dustyminpin said:


> That's what I'm afraid of, I don't want to be slapping new brakes on this thing and paying out of my pocket when it is a potential GM #$%^-up issue.


*
Rotor wear will be more than likely a wear and tear item. I'd be surprised if they say otherwise, but hey, it's worth a shot.*


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## Sabraxas (Oct 29, 2006)

GTO judge said:


> *
> Rotor wear will be more than likely a wear and tear item. I'd be surprised if they say otherwise, but hey, it's worth a shot.*


I believe GTO judge is correct. http://www.gmprotectionplan.com/coverage_comparison.html

Rotors dont seem to be covered since it is an item that can be worn through time and usage. Just like a tire. Just check them and if they look bad or if the pads do then take it in and get the rotors cut.


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## schufflerbot (Mar 21, 2007)

Sabraxas said:


> I believe GTO judge is correct. http://www.gmprotectionplan.com/coverage_comparison.html
> 
> Rotors dont seem to be covered since it is an item that can be worn through time and usage. Just like a tire. Just check them and if they look bad or if the pads do then take it in and get the rotors cut.



I used to work for GM's recall division and i can tell you that it will not be covered under warranty unless:

1. the GM dealership you take the car to says that it is a manufacturers defect and could not have been caused or prevented by the driver.

2. there are at least X (number omitted for confidentiality) registered complaints from other drivers and the complaints have been backed by the dealer (see (1))

3. the vehicle is completely stock and there isnt a shred of evidence indicating misuse, abuse, racing or 'heavy braking.'


GM had many complaints from 1999 - present regarding brake rotors, pads, etc... 

most of them were regarding wear and tear items and in my opinion it comes from the change in brake pad material. (removal of asbestos)

since the US government [EPA] has ordered that alternative materials had to be used, brakes have become noisier, wear out faster and heat rotors to a much higher temp than the 'good ol' days of asbestos. 

hense, weakened rotors at 25K+ miles, steering wheel 'shimmy' and increased stopping distances. 

this is something that GM is aware of, but as of 2 years ago had not seen enough instances from GTO owners to substantiate a recall or reimbursement for repairs. 

my suggestion - brembo.


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## GTOSargeant (Jan 30, 2007)

*Same issue*

I have an 06 and I also experience the steering wheel shimmy when braking. It seems to happen after higher speeds and faster braking, especially on the off ramps. The car only has 10k on it and was purchased in October. I will definately get it looked at soon. The pads don't look very warn.


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## koman (Sep 25, 2006)

mine was a victim of this and i can't say i brake hard or anything like that. i rode with the shake for about 3-4k miles and had rotated the tires somewhere in the midst of it and it never changed. i took it in today with 17133 miles on the clock and they turned the rotors all 4 under warranty. it feels 100% better just the brake calipers need to readjust themselves. how do they "gm" determine whether you were heavy braking or not? if you bring in blue rotors? my problem really just seemed to creep up at first and it was full blown without getting worse. mine is an 06.


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## GTO JUDGE (May 14, 2005)

*These cars come from down under.... 4 weeks in sea water.... Rust starts to form on rotors and other places you cannot see.

I purchased my wife's Grand-Am NEW in 2004. (Dec 2003) It was in the showroom... I saw rust on the rotors. I figured no problem the rust will come off once braking occurs on a regular basis. 

Squealing of brakes and wheel shimmy upon braking began occurring at 9500 miles. Took it in... cause (I was told) : RUST on the rotors. Not all the rust came off and the rotors were pitted. Heat eventually got to the rotors. The rotors were turned under warranty.. I put up a squabble cause I wanted NEW rotors on a new car.. Rotors can be turned a few times before they need replaced, and with a new car, the rotors life expectancy has been shortened when they should not have. I was told GM will not replace them. I called GM and raised hell.. They refused to replace them. I told them the car was sold to me with rusted rotors... I was told all have rust on them from shipping.. I told them NOT if they are treated with a rust inhibitor.. I was told that they are not treated that way,, but normal driving will take care of rusted rotors... B.S. not 100% of the time. 

Rust will form on just one day if it's rainy out and the car isn't driven. I have seen many rotors rusted up on cars when I am sitting at a traffic light...Let alone 4 weeks in salty air...then transported across the country... sitting in lots....

Maybe some of the problems of reported wheel shimmy here.... and rotors are found to be the cause..... Rust is a contributing factor? *


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## koman (Sep 25, 2006)

i'm closer to the ocean than you but i can't say i've even had this type of shimmy from other vehicles even the ones i have that i rarely drive don't have these problems. i'm not sure about rust but from what i did see before the rotors were turned there was a nice wear groove going on around the rotor which is normal for rotors but not at this point. i'll keep my eye on the rotors and will report when i see the groove reappear. seems like if the rust was the cause of it then some shimmy would have been present through the life of the rotor. i'm just surprised they didn't toss some naval jelly on it and call it a day...


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## GTO JUDGE (May 14, 2005)

*I was just throwing that out there, cause of the shimmy and noise from my wife's car. 

A groove worn in rotor.. I wonder if a defect in the brake pad or a piece broke off or something of that nature that caused a groove in the rotor. 

Naval Jelly... LOLOL....... sure fire fix LOL....*


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## cpowell (Mar 1, 2007)

I'm a service writer and i hear this complaint from my customers. it sounds like warped rotors. shaking in the steering wheel while braking at highway speeds. the rotors should be able to be turned. its cheaper then buying new brakes but things like it do happen.


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## SloTymer (Sep 16, 2005)

I don't believe that it is normal to have a car just go and warp its rotors. I've never had it happen to me, and Ive had many cars (more than 30)and driven a s#!t load of miles in my years. Take it to the dealer.


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## playintennis5274 (Apr 28, 2007)

ask the dealer to check the rotor for aalteral runout. If it's not real bad they can turn the rotor on the car which will eliminate the shimmy. If it is out of the tollerance ( as mine was ) you'll get to replace the hub ! !


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## dustyminpin (Jun 19, 2006)

My dealer told me rotors weren't covered under warranty. Said they are wear and tear like belts and breaks. I took my car to Firestone and they said that I shouldn't turn the rotors down because making them thinner could actually cause hit build up to warp them even worse then they were before. He said the way to go was to buy some cross drilled rotors for about 80 bucks a pop.


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## Guest (May 26, 2007)

*shake*

it could be rotors,, or allignment,,, but also check to see if you lost any wheel ballance weights and again,, CHECK your tire pressure,, just a few pounds of air loss can make a big difference


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## GTO JUDGE (May 14, 2005)

playintennis5274 said:


> ask the dealer to check the rotor for aalteral runout. If it's not real bad they can turn the rotor on the car which will eliminate the shimmy. If it is out of the tollerance ( as mine was ) you'll get to replace the hub ! !


*Of course Firestone would say that. They make more money selling rotors than they do turning them. A Dodge dealer told me the same thing when I had warped rotors on my Ram... They didn't want to turn them and advised replacing them. The cost was obscene. I went to my local garage and they turned them for a few bucks a piece. 40K miles later and they are still in good shape. Standard rotors can be turned a few times before replacement is needed. *


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## koman (Sep 25, 2006)

koman said:


> mine was a victim of this and i can't say i brake hard or anything like that. i rode with the shake for about 3-4k miles and had rotated the tires somewhere in the midst of it and it never changed. i took it in today with 17133 miles on the clock and they turned the rotors all 4 under warranty. it feels 100% better just the brake calipers need to readjust themselves. how do they "gm" determine whether you were heavy braking or not? if you bring in blue rotors? my problem really just seemed to creep up at first and it was full blown without getting worse. mine is an 06.


well with 8k more miles on the clock she's going back in for warped rotors. so if i'm having to get them turned every 8k miles or so then this car's going to become a money pit quick. anyone change up their rotors for something in the aftermarket?


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## GM4life (Mar 18, 2007)

koman said:


> well with 8k more miles on the clock she's going back in for warped rotors. so if i'm having to get them turned every 8k miles or so then this car's going to become a money pit quick. anyone change up their rotors for something in the aftermarket?


That does not make any since that your rotors to become warped if you're not doing heavy braking. Make sure that your wheels are torque to the correct amount of 100ft-lbs. On the other hand when I bought stock '06 front brakes with about 1xxx miles on them they were warped. I had them turned and have not had a problem with them yet. But if you want aftermarket try Powerslots.


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## dustyminpin (Jun 19, 2006)

Mine hasn't gotten any worse since I started this thread. It still shimmies to beat hell and back under hard braking, but I'm just gonna put some slotted/cross drilled rotors on and new pads when I replace the tires (managed to get 26,000 on my bubblegum soft OEM Bridgestone Potenzas, so that alone should tell you I don't drive that aggressively). I'm afraid if I just had mine turned down like you did I would find myself back in the shop 10k down the road having them turned again. In my opinion, GM just went cheap on the rotors. Mine is also an '06.
p.s. A guy at the tire shop said you don't have to brake hard to warp your rotors. If they get hot from slow gradual braking, and you hit a puddle of water or something along those lines, that's all it takes to F them up.


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## koman (Sep 25, 2006)

gm4life said:


> That does not make any since that your rotors to become warped if you're not doing heavy braking. Make sure that your wheels are torque to the correct amount of 100ft-lbs. On the other hand when I bought stock '06 front brakes with about 1xxx miles on them they were warped. I had them turned and have not had a problem with them yet. But if you want aftermarket try Powerslots.


all maintainence has been done at the same shop that did the turning of the rotors the first go around. i can't say that i remember going through any puddles with hot rotors. i do remember feeling the shimmy creep up on me. the wheel will shimmy but when i turn it loose the car stops straight. my conclusion on the brakes is poor rotor size selection for the weight of the car. i'll look into the powerslots and put them on all 4 corners


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## GM4life (Mar 18, 2007)

dustyminpin said:


> In my opinion, GM just went cheap on the rotors. Mine is also an '06.
> p.s. A guy at the tire shop said you don't have to brake hard to warp your rotors. If they get hot from slow gradual braking, and you hit a puddle of water or something along those lines, that's all it takes to F them up.


PBR makes the rotors and clapers, same folks that make the brake systems for the Corvette, Cobras and other cars, I think PBR is a good company. Its a possablity that a deep standing water can do that after hard breaking. I know you've driven other cars before in the rain puddled roads and probly did not have a warped rotor. I know I have and I spent some time in the midwest and never had a problem with a warped rotor and puddles. But if your wheels are not torqued proporly that will warp them also. I'm scanning the Aussi forums right now to see if they had problems with warped rotors because it seems common here in the states. If I were you I just will stick with slotted rotors not the cross drilled type thoes are more proned to craking but they are good for the street.


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## DrFix2Fly (Oct 27, 2004)

I was experiencing a shimmy when slowing from highway speed at offramps. Thinking it was simply warped rotors I let the situation go as a simple nuisance and that it would be fine until I do my rotor upgrade. Finally I got tired of it and decided to check the runout of the rotors. Total runout was only .001" which is almost nothing. The problem was a worn tie rod end. 

I strongly suggest you check your tie rod ends soon before jumping to the warped rotor conclusion.

If you have a worn tie rod end, you will have trouble finding new ones. Part stores don't carry them and dealers can't get them. Pontiac customer care told me GM should have new ones available in about 90 days! GM does not care about us.

There are a limited number of tie rod ends available through Pedders at rockandacingllc.com.


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## koman (Sep 25, 2006)

could you let go of the steering wheel and the car stop straight or you had to wrestle it straight? the first time they turned the rotors everything seemed fine. just seems unreasonable after 8k miles to have to do it again. i'll do an inspection before i drop it off.


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## Rukee (Feb 8, 2007)

Working in a shop the #1 reason I see for warped rotors is using an impact wrench on wheels. As stated above, any rotors held onto the hub with the wheel, the wheels need to be tightend with a tourqe wrench. If one nut is tighter or looser then the rest under heavy braking and over time it will cause that section of the rotor to expand and contract at diffrent rates causing the warping. Is how it was explained to me anyway.


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## dustyminpin (Jun 19, 2006)

If you have a worn tie rod end, you will have trouble finding new ones. Part stores don't carry them and dealers can't get them. Pontiac customer care told me GM should have new ones available in about 90 days! GM does not care about us. (qouting Dr.fix2fly)

OMG, I'm having "proud new owner of an '06 JUNK STRUTS' flashback where I had to wait for 10 days (on GM'S expense driving a 4 cylinder Malibu rental car) while my car was in the shop waiting on some plastic/rubber bushing that wasn't in production anymore (but they were able to get the struts but couldn't put the car back together without the bushing....thanks alot guys....) to put my destroyed front end back together. 

They tossed out the Mcphersons and put on Monroes. There was another goat that was sitting there for 5 days waiting on the same prob but I was there first. There was a guy in there before me with the same prob, the first time they saw the prob, but luckily, his bushings were ok. The wrench monkeys at my stealership said it looked like a bomb went off under my front end... I left with new struts and he sat there. Don't know how long it took to get him on the road. Hey everybody.....LET'S GO OUT AND BUY A G8!!!...


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