Questions and Answers

Honda Accord Has A Brake Shimmy Q. This is about my son's 1997 Honda Accord automatic transmission with ABS brakes. When he bought the Accord it had ABS light on and brakes vibrated when applying over 60 mph. When I say vibrate, I mean the steering wheel would shimmy. Had rotors turned, cured problem, for a couple weeks, then they started vibrating again.

In the meantime mechanic identified problem with ABS as left front sensor, got one from salvage and he put it in next time around, fixed the ABS light problem.

Next time around the brakes were fixed again by turning rotors. But couple weeks later they are vibrating again. Only it is more at lower speed and slower shimmy or more like oscillating pressure on the wheel, like I've seen in many vehicles in my life that had a warped rotor.

So we took it back and mechanic said the left front rotor, which is the only one he turned last time, didn't have enough metal left, so we bought two good quality american made rotors, which he put in. Cured problem.

Now, two weeks later again, something a little different. Now there is shimmy in the steering wheel when applying brakes, but at much slower speed, like 20 mph to 10 mph, but the shimmy is fast, not like warped rotor, shimmy is faster than the wheel rotation.

And you can get it to shimmy more reliably if you press the brakes harder initially then let up some as you slow from 20 to 10. It can't be warped rotor as the shimmy,or steering wheel oscillation, doesn't seem to slow as the wheel rotation slows. What could it be?

A. The only other two things that can cause a steering wheel shimmy is a bad front tire(s), bad steering components and bad wheel bearings. Three things that can cause a steering wheel shimmy, a bad front tire(s), bad steering components and bad wheel bearings. You can try rotating and balancing the tires and see what happens.

Then, while it is up in the air, check all the front end parts, steering rack bushings, inner and outer tie rods etc. Then inspect the wheel bearings for play and noise.