Bav Auto Anti Shimmy Kit - WOW!

[Hagbard]

So...if we replace tie rods, control arms, steering rack bushings, sway bar bushings and wheel bearings, do we need the anti-shimmy bushings to ensure no shimmy? Is this an essential part of the refurb "kit" or will oem do the job?

[dwilsonfl]

Good question.

[wally509]

I replaced all those items on my car and none of them made one iota of difference in the shimmy. I pretty much traced it to the car not liking the new tires. I put on a makeshift anti-shimmy kit a.k.a. a rubber exhaust hanger donut in and that moved the shimmy up about 10mph and significantly reduced the magnitude of it to where it was tolerable. I wanted to try a proper one as per the topic of this thread but I guess the guy isn't going to make them anymore.

I would say try it with what you've done, you can always stick one on later if necessary.

[wally509]

Obviously this guy has no plans to make any more of these. Does anyone have the dimensions so I can have some made up locally?

[jaredmac11]

Not looking forward to running in to this. I found the rubber ringed washers on Ebay for $7 a pop but it only had 3. I bought all new rubber to install around the car.

[320iAman]

Interesting,,I have found out as well that balanced tires go a long way in eliminating shimmy and good front suspension parts. Steering rack polyurethanes are quite helpful.

Randy

[wally509]

And (apparently) sometimes you can have new BF Goodrich tires, road force variance balanced TWICE, all new suspension, wheel bearings, brake rotors, brand new wheels checked for runout and on and on and it still shakes so bad it's almost un-drivable.

Unfortunately, neither of the times the Tire Rack did their road force balancing did they tell me what the numbers were. I'm thinking about just buying two different tires for the front and trying that. It's clearly related to the tires or wheels as it comes and goes. For example, you can be driving along and it's smooth as silk, then go around a sweeping turn where the two fronts are rolling different distances and they get "out of synch" and shake like a you-know-what....then go around a similar turn in the opposite direction, synch them back up and it's smooth as silk again.

I might also try to find a local shop with a Hunter Road Force machine and have them roll these tires. I have a feeling there is a road force variance cutoff for these cars (with all rubber bushings) and it's probably fairly low like 15 lbs.

[sbcrockett]

dang Wally, that sucks. have you checked the wheel bearings? in my 20+ years of ownership, I've never experienced such a finicky balance issue. poly steering rack bushings, good tie rods and a balancing usually solves all shimmy I've had. never had BF Goodrich tires though

[320iAman]

Bad Tires can do in alignment in somehow,out of round or lopsided

Randy

[wally509]

Wheel bearings all new, double or triple checked. Tires were checked twice by Tire Rack for runout(s) and also by myself with a drop gage. Less than .015".

Discount Tire Direct had some sort of a Memorial Day Sale / rebate / free shipping going on so I bought a set of cheap Hankooks and am going to have those put on and the alignment re-checked.

[320iAman]

Jesse at eurometric makes control arm-sway bar inserts-bushings out of poly that goes after the shimmy pretty well, should eliminate it if everything else is good with front suspension.

http://eurometric.com/


Randy

[320iAman]

Poly Steering rack bushes is good at eliminating shimmy as well.. Jesse sells these as well.

Randy

[wally509]

After all that, my $145 set of cheapo Hankook tires fixed the shimmy. It's at levels I can remember my original car being at when close to new. I can sort of see the wheel moving between 45-50 but barely enough to notice, then by 55 it's smooth sailing. I am still going to have the alignment checked for good measure.

Unfortunately, I don't have road force variance numbers to help explain why one tire causes shimmy and one doesn't. The only real objective differences are; old tires were high performance all-season, new are standard touring all season and holy crap, the weight difference between the two. According to the Discount Tire Direct web site, the old BF Goodrich Super Sport A/S is 21 lbs and the Hankook is 16 lbs.

The sidewalls must be quite a bit stiffer on the old tires as the ride quality improved significantly at the same inflation pressure. I'm sure I am losing quite a bit of cornering traction, but now the car is actually drivable and I'm sure they're way better than the TS771's or Uniroyals these cars originally came with.

[320iAman]

Glad to hear you got it sorted

Randy

[mybmwhabit]

Anti shimmy receipe:

Very important: Excellent tires. (Chased a shimmy problem for over a year to end in a 4 worn tire set problem).
Balancing and Alignment.

Trust me, shimmy will be gone. As tightest is the front end, less shimmy you will notice. I hit from 0-100mph with out any shake at any speed.

As a newbie, I really agree with this. Had my front end gone over a bit. Switched to new tires and got the guy at the tire place to be super
careful about the balancing of the two front tires and it eliminated about 95% of my issues. Enough that I won't bother chasing down the
rest.