digdat

iTrader: (31)

So I drove to work this morning and my car (2003 OZ with 11k miles) drove fantasticly.

When I went to goto lunch, I notice that it doesn't feel quite right. On a SUPER SMOOTH, straight road, i notice that i feel a shaking/vibration coming from the front two tires. I let go of the steering wheel and notice that it is jimmying/shaking back and forth about an inch or so. Something definately doesn't feel right here. I'm thinking something is up with the steering column or the suspension but I'm not sure.

What really boggles me is that the car drove awesome this morning .. I park at work, let it sit for 5 hours and then goto lunch. I let the car warmup for 3 minutes and then leave to get some food (mmmm foood) .. and the car is shaking. No I didn't search .. but im kinda freaked out and was hoping someone could shed some light on it. I'm concerned and am going to the dealership right after work.

Mods: Test Pipe, SRI and RMR frontn upper strut bar. I'm gonna pull the strut bar off and see if it still happens.

Thoughts??

Thanks!

KTRLancer02

iTrader: (7)

need air in tires? maybe the road wasnt so smooth after all?

digdat

iTrader: (31)

So i was un-lazy and searched. Most people have either gotten new rims or suspension and this caused it. I haven't done anything different.

I will check tire pressure. Thanks for the thought KRTLancer

The road is brand new .. and the shaking happens on every road. I'm feeding through my searches.

jojoskates

look for any scuffs on your tires and wheels, maybe they got bumped. also look under the car and check steering linkage and bushing for anything loose or abnormal

jojoskates

one more thing, what kind of tires are on your car?

HobieKopek

iTrader: (8)

Definitely a possibility. Get the alignment checked. Either you lost a wheel weight and you're all off balance or your alignment's off (most likely). Hit any potholes or anything?

KTRLancer02

iTrader: (7)

Ooooo i lost a wheel wight before and it was not cute, damn car was shaking like a mo'fo. Good one Andrew! i forgot all about that option.

digdat

iTrader: (31)

Thanks for the input guys. Thats why I come to this board - helpful people.

Tires are the stock tires that came with my OZ, running on the OZ 15" rims. Not sure the brand ... Yokohoma?

I'll check the wheel weight. Thats one I hadn't/wouldn't of thought of.

I'll check for dings and whatnot too .. hopefully I didn't fup a rim.

I don't believe I hit any potholes .. but I drive like a badass when im hurrying to work, so its a possibility.

digdat

iTrader: (31)

Checked my rims. No dings or dents or scratches that I can see. The front two rims both still have their weights attached. The rear drivers side rim does have a rim weight, but the rear passenger side is missing a rim weight. can somone check their OZ and see if this is normal?

Do rims have weights on the inside portion of the rim? I'm gonna jack the car up later and checkout the inside and will remove my strut bar to see if it helps. Also gonna swing by the dealership and see if they have any thoughts. Its still under warranty so thats no biggie.

Once again, thanks for the help guys.

fkrzo

Not all rims must have weights. Weights are there to even out the out of balance usually caused by tires. You have to look closley to see if there are any marks from where a weight used to be. Just go to your local tire shop and get the wheels rebalanced, and yes you could have weights on the inside of the rim(static balancing), but it is very unlikely that they would only do that to one wheel.

HobieKopek

iTrader: (8)

Unless they were balanced after purchase, it's highly unlikely they have static weighting on stock wheels. Even the Evo is balanced with standard weights last I checked.

cdyancey

iTrader: (1)

wheel weights are used to offset balances in the tire, and are sometimes placed on the inside (towards the center of the car) as well as the outside. check the inside for places weights might have been. A good clue for a missing wheel weight on the inside is brake dust shadowing, if you have recetnly lost a weight from the inner side, there will be a cleaner surface there.

if that all fails, take it to pep boys and get your tires rotated and balanced. after they are balanced, take a sheet o paper and put 4 circles on it and annotate where the weights are, and put it in the back of your owners manual. this way if you get th vibe again, you have a reference and KNOW if you have missing weights.

it is not uncommon for after market wheels (including OZ factory) to loose weights

cdyancey

iTrader: (1)

did you get it solved?

JVlancer

iTrader: (5)

Did you ever think that someone may have loosened your lug nuts... happend to my friend before... then one of his front tires came off going around a turn.. caused mass damage

digdat

iTrader: (31)

nope i haven't gotten it fixed as of yet. im on bidness in cali for a few months and had to park my car. It happened just a few days before I had to leave town and didn't get it fixed - yet. I did check my nuts and they were good. have 3 stock and 1 locking on each rim and didn't see any tightness issues on this.

When i get back into town end of january/early feb, I will be taking my upper strut bar off and test it .. if still there, i'm taking to the dealer as its under warranty. i'll keep you guyz posted.