Have had an annoying little shimmy when I step on the brakes for some months. Kept thinking that it was the brake disks being worn so changed them a few weeks ago. Made no difference. I noticed at the time that what appeared to be a little play in the steering rack. I have not noticed any deadband when steering however. So, put the snow tires on last week and they shimmy or bounce terribly. Went to the tire shop to get them balanced and got called into the shop when the tires were back on the car. The mechanic showed me that the right wheel would move a lot when he wiggled it side to side. I took a look under the car while he did so and saw the problem is that the control arm bushing under the strut was worn really badly. I guess that is a clue to what the shimmy was from. So, new control arms on order. Hope they arrive before Thanksgiving so I can use that long weekend to put it all back together. I had forgotten how much fun it was to get those things off last time. Took me almost 3 hours and one trip to the store for a new tool so it was not a total loss.

Bob in Lake Havasu

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Bob in Everett
Have had an annoying little shimmy when I step on the brakes for some months. Kept thinking that it was the brake disks being worn so changed them a few weeks ago. Made no difference. I noticed at the time that what appeared to be a little play in the steering rack. I have not noticed any deadband when steering however. So, put the snow tires on last week and they shimmy or bounce terribly. Went to the tire shop to get them balanced and got called into the shop when the tires were back on the car. The mechanic showed me that the right wheel would move a lot when he wiggled it side to side. I took a look under the car while he did so and saw the problem is that the control arm bushing under the strut was worn really badly. I guess that is a clue to what the shimmy was from. So, new control arms on order. Hope they arrive before Thanksgiving so I can use that long weekend to put it all back together. I had forgotten how much fun it was to get those things off last time. Took me almost 3 hours and one trip to the store for a new tool so it was not a total loss.

I had someone do my last one, what an awful job. But, how sweet a tight front end is...

Got it all back together yesterday and also put my new brake pads on too. Did my at home version of alignment and got it pretty close on the second try. After a couple of days, I will give it another check with the tape measures and see if there is just a little tiny bit of toe in.

Bob in Lake Havasu