Questions and Answers
Dodge Does The Shimmy
Q. Vince, Hope you can help me out with the following. Nobody else seems to know the answer.
I currently drive a 1996 Dodge Stratus, 2.4 liter, automatic. In the past few weeks I've notice a problem. When I drive between 25-30 m.p.h. my car shakes like someone is rocking it back and forth while moving. As I pick up speed, the shaking is gone until I slow down and it starts again. I had a four wheel alignment, and wheel balancing on all tires and there is proper air in all tires and the tires are about 1 ½ years old and in good condition. I was told that it may have something to do with the wheel bearings. Is this true? Or do you know of something else that may be causing it.
If you would please assist, it would be greatly appreciated. People in the back seat are sick of being shaken when picking up speed. Hopefully you or someone in your department can help out.
Thanks,
TonyA. I hate to tell you this Tony, but I am my department. Well, sometimes I ask one of my chinchillas for advice, but they never answer me.
These are the typical symptoms of a bad tire. Steel belted tires, typically, have four layers of steel wires. Each layer runs diagonally in opposite directions. Sometimes what happens is one or more of these layers slip, resulting in the conditions you describe. They will look and balance alright, but internally they are bad. This can happen to a tire at any time in it's life, new or old.
There is no easy way to tell which tire it is. If it's a front tire it may make the steering wheel move. Sometimes what I have had to do is take one tire off the car, mount and balance a new one and try it on each wheel until I find the bad one. When I find it (praying the whole time it's only one bad tire) I take it off, throw it out and put the one I took off to begin with back on.
In the meantime, give the people in the back seat some full martini shakers to hold. That should calm them down.
