Ok here is my problem. The car in question is a 2002 Jaguar S type
which shares the exact same suspension as a Lincoln LS. The car has a
shimmy in the steering wheel. Starts at 40 mph as a slow side to side
wobble of the steering wheel and increases to a sharp vibration the
faster you go. It never really disappears no matter how fast you go.
First and most obvious thought would be wheel balance or rim. The rims
have been verified straight on a road force machine and the tires are
brand new and have been balanced multiple times. The funny thing is
that the cars feels real tight and firm. It does not wander and does
not clunk or grind.

Here is what has been replaced. All the work was done by me so I know
it was done right and the parts are of good quality.
Both front wheel bearings/hubs
Both front lower ball joints
Both outer tie rod ends
Both front rotors
Both front upper control arms and ball joints
Alignment done twice. Cars is with in spec for all tolerances.
I put two different sets of wheel on the car and still have the problem
so it does not appear to be wheel/tire related

All that leaves is the steering rack / inner tie rods, struts, and lower
control arms. There is not anything else to replace. The lower control
arms seem to have some play in them. The front bushings look cracked and
may even be missing some material. I don't mind changing the rack which
will eliminate two suspects, but I feel like I am guessing at this
point. Struts don't seem like they would cause this problem. Drove it
down perfectly smooth new asphalt road and still had the vibration so
road surface does not seem to have much to do with it.

I am stuck at this point. Any body have any experience or resolution to
this problem? I tried a search, but did not find much beyond wheel balance. Thanks

 

after throwing all that money at the problem, maybe you should consider a competent alignment shop.

My money would have been on the wheel hub assemblies.

 

It was done by a good shop. The guy that did it has done alignments for 20 years and has done all of my cars without any problems. As far as "throwing money" at it these were all wear items that needed attention. The car has 95k. The wife loves the car and wants to keep it so that means it gets fixed. Me doing all the work is a small fraction of the cost to have some else do it.

 

I seem to remember reading a TSB about this - issued by Jag quite a long while ago? have a look through the old TSB's it may be there. hope this helps.
Ray.

 

First post

Second post

I meant no offense. My apologies if you took "throwing money" the wrong way. I still believe that a professional shop would be able to resolve the issue.

 

Lower control arms or the inner tie rods on the rack. I know, the only things left!

A good suspension guy should be able to feel the play in those items and tell you yes/no.

It sounds like one or more of your front wheels are either toe-ing in/out in oscillation or they're both moving LR in unison slightly but I would expect you'd feel that as a bit of wander.

Besides the shimmy are you feeling any vibrations?

 

I had a similar issue with my 05, i put the front tires on the rear and no shimmy. Turns out i had a bad tire(3 weeks old) with a broken steel belt inside the tire. Try swapping your tires front to back see if this changes anything.

 

I think he already tried the tires/wheel change but I know exactly what you mean. I had the same thing happen on my Suburban over the last year and finally one of them blew. The belts came out of the tire internally. No more Khumo tires on my cars.

Bob S.

 

No worries joycesjag, no offense taken. Just making sure everyone knew that the parts were bad and needed to be replaced. I am happy for any help I can get.

I don't have any other vibrations in the car. Only what comes thru the steering wheel. I have rotated the tires and changed rims several times so it does not seem to be a wheel/tire problem. I am going to pull the lower control arms in the next week or two and see how bad the bushings are. I am getting close to just dropping it off at the dealer and let them look at it.

 

alollich, just a stab in the dark, but heres an older thread

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/s...ering+additive