Sreering wheel shimmy

[mreimler]

I've done a lot of searches and my particular problem doesn't come up. I have a '98 528 and I get a slight shimmy in the steering wheel at 50mph. It starts just after 40 and goes away completely before 60. Breaking and acceleration have no effect on the shimmy. The shimmy is very slight but it bugs me when things arn't just right.

Now, here's the wierd part. It only does it after the car was sat overnight. After driving about 10 miles the shimmy goes away. I just had the tires replaced and I had the same problem before and after this tire change. The new tires are the same as the last tires (Cooper Zeon, 235/45-17). Can sitting overnight give my tires a flat spot that goes away after a few miles? Can the ball joints take a 'set' that goes away after driving a bit? Should I just shut up and live with it? I'm pretty sure that the police won't let me us this as an excuse for driving too fast.

[Uj2]

Had a similar problem with the Goodyear GSD3's at 40MPH. Drive on 'em for a few miles then it would go away. After about 5K miles on the tires, it stopped happening altogether. Was absolutely terrible if the car sat for two days or more.

[Pman]

I have the same problem with S-03s and have heard of others with a similar complaint with the same tires. I've found that when they warm up, the shimmy goes away. I discovered accidentally that higher pressures will help (I used the tires for an autocross, and noticed that the next day there was less vibration), but that will affect your ride quality.

I've had them for around 7k miles -- they may have improved, but I still notice it.

[Alin10123]

Same thing is happening here... it boils down to the tire, but i dont think it's the tire's fault. A couple of weeks ago i noticed that my car wouldn't drive straight. It was just all over the place. So i suspected an alignment problem and i took the car in and described the problem. They drove it around and said that it felt funny and not like an alignment problem. They put it on the lift and said your bushings are worn out. They brought me into the shop and stuck a metal stick underneath the bushings and it took the guy very little force to be able to move the wheel from that angle. Anyways... he then spun the wheel around and showed me some spotting. He said that the worn out bushings caused the car to not be able to hold a proper alignment, therefore, they spotted the wear on the tires.
He says to correct the problem, i have to get the bushings replace, get new tires because by the time the spotting wears down, i'll need new tires. Then get an alignment and the car "should" drive pretty well.
Anyone else have a similar situation?