Ben951S

No. I hate spacers. Never had good luck with them (shimmy at higher highway speeds). Then again, these weren't high end spacers, just ebay or slightly better low end things on an audi...

Ben951S

I went back today. They are telling me my front driver side wheel has a slight bend to it. So even though it balances out, you can see it at speed on the machine (inner lip is bent, they said). Could have it repaired (outsourced to a place ~45 minutes away or so)... If that's the case, that's great/fine... I didn't drive the car at speed (80mph) with the bald 5yr tires on it so I can't say it was 'fine' before hand...=\

boston951

Bent wheel could certainly be the cause of the shimmy. FWIW, brand new tires can come from the manufacturer out of round as well.

supes6

a road force balance could probably fix it... 3 of the wheels I just mounted were slightly bent but I have zero vibrations with the RF balance.

Ben951S

Really? I asked the guy and he said a RF balance most likely wouldn't make a difference...

Is it worth trying?

Scott 951

This shimmy is quite common on 951's from what I have read here and on other forums.....my car tracked straight and had no shimmy with my orginal Phone Dials.....when I changed to a set of 951 Fuchs, I mounted the same tires from the phones....all of a sudden I had the "944 shimmy" at around 60...took them to two seperate places for balancing and the shimmy was still there....about two months later I was changing the breaks....and it dawned on me, maybe the wheels or tires were on the worng side......so for the hell of it I switched the front rims from the left to the right and right to the left.......guess what no shimmy? Apparently, the tires or FUCHS (I still don't know which) had not been rotated by the previous owner(s) in their lifetime and they had worn just enough that when they were on different sides of the car they caused the "944 Shimmy".

While not a technical response as others have posted....it worked for me......and is at least worth a try.

Good luck....and I understand the frustration.

Ben951S

I wish it applied to me Scott, but THANK YOU! These are new tires unfortunately.

I am going to re-torque (and hell, rotate, because these tires are just all seasons and not directional somehow)... I will make sure the hub faces are clean, and visually inspect the wheels...

FRM

I took Euro delivery of my 944T in 1986. Drove around Europe for 2 weeks mostly 85 mph ++. Didn't notice a thing. As soon as I picked it in the states I noticed a shimmy at 65-70 mph. The balance was checked at the dealership and found to be spot on (wheels off the car). I kept bitching until the factory rep came, drove it and then approved an "on car" balance on an older machine built by Hunter that balanced the wheels on the car.(the dealer didn't have the machine) That cured it. So you might try to find a place that can do that. Just from an engineering standpoint, it should be better than an off car balance as it takes into consideration the entire rotating assembly. I think the problem on my car was that it had the OEM wheels locks on it and the locking lug is much heavier than the other 4 alloy nuts. Do you have locking lug nuts?

Another thing to consider is possibly your tires are flat spotting from sitting. Some tires will take a set that take a while to"drive out" especially in colder weather. I used to notice that with the OEM tires that were on the car. They had nylon caps on the belt edges and the nylon would take a set if parked for a few days. From conversations with friends who own high performance Mercedes models, this problem still exist on some tires.

There is no doubt that these cars (at the least the 1986 models) seem to be sensitive to wheel balance, road surface (Edens Expressway north of Chicago used to raise hell with all my Mac strut cars. As soon as I would get on it, it seemed like I lost a wheel weight and that was right after it was freshly paved.) and tire / wheel condition. I don't know if the 1986 model is worse than the later models with less offset but it wouldn't surprise me.

Ben951S

Wheel locks on the car, yes, but they are missing their middle/locking part. I just hate to throw more money at it (Hunter Road Force balance) if it IS the wheel that is bent. I suppose I should find a place that can do the HRF Balance AND tell me if the wheel is repairable (I was told it is), and then actually do the repair...

Ronin-951

Hope that takes care of it, life in the slow lane is ... boring. btw, I've got a full set of locks and no noticible effects at top speed, pure Silk. God, I love it so, like riding on the wings of Angels.

Ben951S

Rgr Ronin, I was wondering how they would be OEM but not balanced... though mine are missing their 'guts' (just hollow)...

boston951

As crazy as it sounds those new tires could still be the culprit or add to the problem. Brand new tires certainly will come "out of round" on occasion.

Ben951S

That sucks to hear boston. I would hope the mount would have said something though.

GreyDog

Yup, sounds like slight a wheel rim issue, have them both checked, cured the same issue for me. Oh, and definitely get a road force balance, no way a regular balancer will give you what a 944 needs.

boston951

Hopefully the road force balance will cure the problem with the bent rim straightened.

I had a similar issue with my winter ride, 03 Mountaineer, with new Pirelli Scorpion tires and was told they can be factory "out of round." After a couple of alignments they swapped the fronts and it helped a bit.