Name that Shimmy!
 

I am having a persistent issue with my HHR.

I am getting front end shimmy, and cannot figure out what it could be.

As I am travelling down the road if I am travelling straight, you can feel the shimmy, BUT that is intermittent as well. I have gone entire drives to and from work (45 minutes) without feeling it, other times it is with me during the entire trip. Going around a curve, or corner, the shimmy disappears. ~There is also a sound coming from the drivers side wheel well area that sounds pseudo metal like, but mostly plastic. This may be as a result of whatever the problem is, or may be what is causing it. Unsure.

Also, the speeds between which I notice it is 60-70, above 70 it disappears, below 60 is almost non-existent.

We've jacked it up and checked everything suspension/drivetrain up front that we can to test for anything loose.

Replaced parts;

Struts, Strut mounts, front springs, wheel bearing/hub assy.

Pads are OK (AZ Ceramic with more than 3/4 life)
Rotors are OK (AZ Standard, no warping yet, and no brake chatter)

Open to all suggestions for checking this out. Being that I am working 7 days a week right now, I will check it when I can.

First person to suggest an idea that leads to finding the culprit will earn a $25 Visa Gift Card, good for use ANYWHERE that a Visa credit/debit is accepted.

~LawDog88

Tire(s).

I had a similar issue for three years, I replaced struts, sway bar bushings, sway bar end links, LCA rear bushings, ball joints, tie rod outer ends, then inner tie rods.
All over a period of time, but that Tina Turner would shimmy at same speeds you mentioned, I have swapped to the larger SS brakes up front, I have winter and summer tires and rims, then in July I replaced the intermediate steering shaft, and the shimmy is gone so far!
Now this is my experience with my HHR but check you steering shaft! It may be the culprit

We did check that OldBlue. Did you happen to take any photos of it when you went 'hunting' ? We checked everything under the hood, and all the grommets, bushings, end links, struts, shocks, mounts. Everything.. We did test the wheel with/semi-quick short back and forth movements vehicle off, key forward, and could hear a slight 'dunk or tunk' sound... though we wrote that off as normal since we tried it on my dad's Buick LeSabre and heard it there too..

For me the shaft u joint at the steering rack end under the hood was dry of grease , it only moved 1 to 2 degrees but it was noticeably more loose than the new steering shaft.
Sorry I did not take any pictures , I get caught up in the hunt and forget to take pictures.

I am guilty of the same thing Oldblue. Noticed that when we were under the hood yesterday.

Do you happen to have the P/N for that?

Gm part # 25834100 steering column intermediate shaft, I bought mine from E bay $ 165.00 plus shipping

How long ago did you buy that?

July 2014

Wow! I looked it up on GMPartsDirect and it said $125.. Thanks for the info too, Bud.

Wow just my luck!

60-70 MPH usually would associate with a balance issue, either tire/wheel or hub/rotor. I would clean all of the tar, mud and rocks off the inside of the rim.

Hub/Rotor were both good. I will take a look-see at the Tire/Wheel. I have known of 2 bent rims on my car, but with this problem I am having as being intermittent at the speed mentioned and not constant like the vibration I feel from the bent rim.

Surely there must be more suggestions. Come on guys..

A bent rim can cause intermittent oscillations in concert with another bent rim, as they can go in and out of cycle with each other. Kind of a sympathetic vibration. Hopefully that makes sense. :)

Sounds like a wheel out of balance.

@whopper as intermittent as when it's cold, nothing, when it's warm out, all the time?

Or going around curves it dulls down, and when going straight it gets worse?

@Twistedtat, that is something I have considered, but given the above mentioned symptoms, it has me wondering.

Swap the tires, front to back, back to front. If the vibration changes, then you'll know it's a tire or rim issue.

Rears criss-cross, and fronts roll straight back, right?

I wasn't saying rotate the tires. Move fronts to back, backs to front.
That way, if it's a tire or rim issue, it should be easier to determine.

Right! And just so you know one of my WV rally rims is slightly bent,
After a proper balance there is no shake or vibration , I have two sets of rims and tires and have tested over a period of eight months, again I only replaced parts that were worn or damaged the sloppy u-joint in the steering shaft led to my decision to replace it, resulting in
that annoying shake and shimmy gone! Gee I kinda miss Tima Turner!

:lol: Thanks for the laugh Oldblue. I can only hope that it's as simple as that. Will be checking these this weekend.

Check first then replace the part if required.
In your case try this, place your known bent rims out back.
Drive the HHR note any shake or shimmy.
Place your spare on the side that has the shimmy.
Test drive again, note the Shimmy did it stay or is it gone?
Now swap the spare to the other side, test drive again, any shake or shimmy ?

I suggest all test drives are done on the same road and with Private Dancer CD in the stereo,
Tina would love that!

Panama works for me!

And I have a stretch of road that I travel 10 times a week (5 to and 5 from) to work.

I am hopefully going to be getting some new rims shortly with Winter tires not far behind.. I am going to try the 2 set approach to things. Winter tires, and All seasons for Summer, with 2 sets of rims.. See what happens.

By chance is there a TSB out for this issue or a similar one? I tried to look for about 10 minutes, to no avail. Perhaps my wording was poor..

Don't I'm up here in the great white north and way past any warranty or TSB's

Did you try our recall/tsb sticky ? Sorry, I'm not gonna look through all 17 pages of this. :lol:
https://www.chevyhhr.net/forums/prob...-thread-23231/

Yes George. I've looked there. I used the search function above.

Mine was doing that, when I bought it a month ago, I had just put a new set of tires on my other car, when I made the deal I told the salesman I wanted the tires swapped. Mine shimmied and shook intermittently, so I took it back to the tire store, and the tech(?) had missed balancing day- one wheel was over an ounce out, and the other was over 1/2 ounce. Runs fine now.

Thank you for your input rbmount!

So. How did the tires/rims check out ?

George. Work had me after late today, and I didn't make it before the tire store closed. Looks to be the same with tomorrow and Friday too. Ugh. Saturday will have to be it.

would that be Saturday in the Park ( Chicago) Saturday Night's alright for fighting (Elton John ) Saturday ( Bay City Rollers) or anything from the Saturday's ????

CRAP... I just realized. Since I am working 7 days.. They close early on Saturday I think. CRAP.. Ugh. :(

so the Saturday's ! ugggh!

Yes, ugh. :(

Looks like a thing to try is 16x6.5 rims from www.tirerack.com Seems I can buy a set of Steel rims from them for $295.xx shipped to my door. Then can have the shop re-mount my existing tires on the Steels and see what happens..

I am somewhat convinced it's the rims, but I think Oldblue is on to something..

While this problem comes and goes, when it's happening and I decelerate, I don't feel a pulsing in the brakes as if it were a warped rotor.. but I feel the shimmy in the steering wheel. It also seems, when it's cooler out, the vibration is not as strong, and when it's warmer, the shimmy can be worse..

But your jumping to plan c, which is most likely were you will be going, so good plan, eliminate the bent rims.

So, what's the 411 on the shimmy shake, did those new rims come in , have they been mounted up, are they the answers to your issue. I know you didn't paint them red first but maybe a nice black?? gloss or satin??
Enquiring minds want to know!!!

Bump!