Steering wheel shake, my story

[Dave WM]

I am sure this has been covered but wanted to share anyway. Since I have owned the car it has had the same tires on it, they were fairly new looking when I go the car a few years ago.

The car has always had a slight shake or shimmy I guess you would call it that would cause the steering wheel to shake MOST TIMES around 40-45 mph. That is it would almost always have this shake but not always. After going thru all the front end parts looking for an issue, including take the wheels off and having them re balanced, I finally decided to try some new tires/rims. This dates back to when we had a 1974 260z that did the same exact thing, it came from the dealer with turbine rims (yes we paid for the "upgrade"). After several attempts to resolve a same shimmy in the steering wheel we return to steel rims and the problem when away. Due to the generosity of a member here (JSM) he let me try out some wheels he had been storing. They were steel rim with 205/60 IIRC tires. The tires I had were TOYO brand 195/70. the 60 profile means the diameter of the wheel in quite a bit smaller. After a extensive test drive at all speeds the shimmy is completely gone in my 280z :)

I don't know if my alum mag is the problem or the TOYO had flat spots or still improperly balanced, but its nice to know for sure its a wheel issue. The 60 profile tire effected the reading of the speedo quite a bit, 80 indicated was more like 73 actual. I assume the analog speedo is not the accurate to start with but just something I noted (used the gps for actual speeds). The 60s also seemed to allow for a more "pep" as the engine wound up higher, I presume due to the smaller wheels making like a higher number diff ratio. I will still go back to the 70 series though since the look of the 60's just is not right with a 14" rim (just too small over all). I can see how the 70's really need a 3.7 vs the 3.54 diff for a bit more spirited a drive with the ZX 5 speed and its .75 OD. I have correct hub caps coming that should make the car look totally original. again a HUGE thankyou to JSM for letting me try out those wheels, with out that I would not have known for sure the issue without the expense of trying new stuff, now I know for sure.

[zKars]

I'd suggest a run out check on the rims. Just put a dial guage on them and spin them and see how out-of-flat they are. 

I induced this problem with small cheap wheel spacers that were anything but flat. See the linked thread.

 

[Dave WM]

7 minutes ago, zKars said:

I'd suggest a run out check on the rims. Just put a dial guage on them and spin them and see how out-of-flat they are. 

I induced this problem with small cheap wheel spacers that were anything but flat. See the linked thread.

 

IIRC the guy that did the balance said they all had "some" and he picked the best for the front. There was also a LOT of stick on lead weights he added on some of the wheels... I seem to recall lookin at it myself with a dial indicator on the outer most part of the rim both for run out and out of round, but I don't recall anything jumping out at me.

The only other thing I did was replace a couple chewed up studs on the back.

 

 

Edited December 14, 2019 by Dave WM

[jonathanrussell]

I have solved steering wheel shimmy issues with new wheels / tires before also. My silver 240z has a bit of shimmy between 60 and 65 mph. It has new suspension components everywhere. I know for a fact though that my wheels aren't totally straight (and require a lot of weight to balance) so when I replace the wheels I expect all of the shimmy to clear up. At one point in my life I did find that straight wheels could shimmy with cheap tires. In that case a change to better tires solved it. As you mentioned too, I have found that wheels that take a lot of weight to balance often have problems with shimmy on a Z.

[dutchzcarguy]

Last summer i had some 280zx turbo wheels under my 240z and discovered that the wheelnuts i use for the winterwheels (are aftermarket rims) are a different size diameter as they are not conical.  That gave me a lot of shimmy issues!  check the diameter of the wheellugs and the diameter the rims need.

[dutchzcarguy]

Just for illustration.. different lugs or wheelnuts..  measure the left diameter of them.

[zKars]

2 hours ago, dutchzcarguy said:

Just for illustration.. different lugs or wheelnuts..  measure the left diameter of them.

This is indeed a problem.  The Nissan alloy mags use a special nut as shown above and rely on a tight fit for wheel centering. The shank diameter is not easily available in aftermarket lug nuts of this type, they are all smaller. 

The Nissan part number is 40224-R4670 and they are over $6USD each!

Fortunately Dorman makes a replacement that is more reasonably priced.

https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=1848480&jsn=531

DORMAN 611241

Just a note on the amount of run-out I had that caused wheel shimmy. 0.050 on one and 0.030 on the other front. Measured on the side of the rim as the wheel was turned by hand.

 

 

[Dave WM]

I don't know if my slotted alum mags are Nissan OE, I presume aftermarket. I will check my stash of lug nuts and check the fit. I don't recall there being any play, the fitment seemed pretty tight as far as bore and nut size. The way I have to install the wheel is I would place the wheel on the studs, then with just a few turns of the stud beyond the wheel I would start the nuts. Then I would lift and finagle the wheel on to all for studs, sliding it back so its riding on the studs and then tighten them equally to draw down, finish at 90ft pounds. Kinda PITA really esp compared to the steel wheel with the self aligning nuts.

[Dave WM]

returned the test tires to JSM reinstalled my slotted mags (while I prep for new tires on the newly acquired steel rims)  Shake is back so I am quite sure its the wheels that are causing it rim or tire is still a question, but I have decided to go steel regardless.

Next decision is do I get the 195/70 or what ever a 175HR is. the FSM only has the 195/70 with tube, while the 175HR is listed as tubeless.

I prefer the look of the wide sidewall skinny tires, so was thinking maybe a185/70 R14, would be a nice compromise. If not I will go for the 195/70 since that is what is on there now, and look ok as far as filling out the wheel well.

I am def not in the "lowered" category so really just want what looks like the most factory original I can get.

[Dave WM]

maybe this

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIt7Pl9uC75gIVDtvACh1-8QuaEAQYASABEgIjd_D_BwE&tireMake=Hankook&tireModel=Kinergy+ST&partnum=875TR4H735&GCID=C13674x012-tire&KEYWORD=tires.jsp_Hankook_Kinergy+ST_Tire&code=yes&ef_id=EAIaIQobChMIt7Pl9uC75gIVDtvACh1-8QuaEAQYASABEgIjd_D_BwE:G:s&s_kwcid=AL!3756!3!72322456933!!!g!99873169213!&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

[gundee]

I can tell you that back in the day this was a common issue.

The slotted mags sold back then had a pretty good negative offset.

This made shimmy a real problem on 240Z's. Owners spent a lot of time and money to fix.

Back then it was a combination of bad wheels, bad offset and poor tire quality I firmly believe.

Best to go to zero offset or plus offset on a Z car.

 

[Dave WM]

going back to OE steel rims, the slotted mags are out. My goal now is to get a original a look tire as I can. I don't race it, or drive aggressively, so really just want a correct look (to me that would be original), with a tire that gets good gas mileage as I like to throw down LOTS of miles..