Hi,

I have a 2003 jaguar x type 2.5 with 60,000 miles. In March I noticed a large steering wheel shimmy mostly at 65mph and above. I'm not sure if it was there before or not but I hit a large pothole going slow and both the right wheels hit it and the rocker panel bottomed out. I had the wheels rebalanced several times and alignment done and nothing has changed. Camber is slightly negative on right front wheel. Tires have been rotated and front rotors and pads were replaced. This has been looked at several times by my mechanic and he can't seem to find out what's wrong. The shimmy is a movement up and down of 1mm in the steering wheel. At first it came and went and now it is constant. Anyone have any ideas?

 

To add, the shimmy is there under acceleration and coasting.

 

Guernz, I would recommend getting the right side tires looked at and have them do a "trueness check". Odds are, what you are experiencing is that you have bent one/both of the rims and what you are feeling is the wheel "wobbling" as you get up in speed. Unfortuantely, the rims on the X-Type are easy to bend and there are a fair number of us that have had this problem.

 

Thanks for the response Thermo. I will get a trueness test.

 

I forgot to include that after balancing the front wheel a different way a while ago, the shimmy was almost all gone. I think it was balanced statically because there is only a weight on the inside of the rim. The remaining shimmy I thought might be my undersized rotors. The front wheels were balanced a special way and the rears were'nt. I just noticed that one of the front wheels was moved to the back by accident when the car was inspected and rotors replaced so maybe that is why I still have a bad shimmy. I will have the wheels switched and see if that helps.

 

Switching the wheels did not work.

 

The steering wheel seems to start vibrating at 50mph and gets worse as speed increases. I have an appointment at Firestone to get the wheels checked for trueness and to get them road force balanced. Does anyone else have any ideas on what could be causing this? Damage to the steering or suspension? Everything in those looks tight. Camber is -1.5.

 

Report back after the Firestone trip. Let's rule the wheels out first. Hopefully they find a resolution to your problem. The best case scenario is that they find a wheel or 2 out of balance or a damaged rim. If everything checks out with the wheels, tires and suspension then the next step may be the driveshaft. Keep us posted!

 

Thermo, I have read several posts that you have said out of alignment can cause steering wheel vibration. The right front camber is -1.5. Could camber cause steering wheel vibration? Am I right in thinking a driveshaft problem would not cause steering wheel vibration?

 

Has anyone bothered to check for a bent rim or a failing wheel bearing?

What is the age and condition of the tyres? What is the date code on the sidewall?

What is the condition of the suspension struts?

Does the steering wheel flutter whilst braking?

What is the condition of the inner and outer tie rod ends and steering rack?

 

The suspension was checked by my mechanic and everything looked fine. It passed inspection after that too. This started intermittently and is now constant. Tires were replaced 8,000 miles ago with continental dsw. Went to Firestone and had the wheels road force balanced and checked for trueness. Right front was out .25oz. and wheels had no damage.


The right front has 20 road force lbs. and the front left has 16 road force lbs. I took it out on the highway and the vibration seemed a little better but was still there. It is a shaking of about and 1/8 of an inch up and down of the steering wheel.


Still thinking it was a balance issue I took it back and had them rebalance it using a flange plate. They came out better with the right front having 4 lbs. of road force and the left front having 19 lbs. of road force. The right decreased and the left increased by a little. He said if I still have the shimmy take it to Jaguar to get the driveshaft checked. I took it on the highway and at first under acceleration I felt no shimmy at all up to 70. Then it started again at any speed above 60.


So I am thinking it is a driveshaft issue. I know there is a tsb for driveshaft problems, but I didn't think it would cause the steering wheel to shake. The guy this morning said it could. It seems like it might get a little worse under coasting and doesn't change under power. I think I can feel it a little at 50mph. Does this sound like a drive shaft issue? Is it ok to drive if it is a driveshaft issue or will it cause damage? How much does it cost to replace the driveshaft? I'm confused, when they say drive shaft does that mean the shaft that runs from the front of the car to the back or the axle that runs from the engine to the wheel?

 

I have she issue which is why I recommended checking tires first. A rebuilt driveshaft can be had on ebay for 480 bucks If it comes to that. I put 100 miles a day on mine and no tire wear. Just the occasional vibration. I will be getting mine worked on soon when time allows.

 

04sport, there's a typo in your first sentence. What is that supposed to say? Is your's a drive shaft issue and is it intermittent or constant?


I have noticed that I can feel it at 40mph if I pay close attention and I noticed that when I turn the wheel slightly and with a loose grip let the wheel turn back I can feel a similar shimmy as it comes back. It could just be that the shimmy is constant so I feel the shimmy as it comes back.

 

Sorry about that. Darn auto correct on my phone. It should have read that I have a similar issue. I have a center bearing I am going to replace first and if that does not work I will replace the entire driveshaft. My wobble comes and goes at different speeds. It is not a labor intensive issue but I want to make sure I find a good technician to do the repair properly first. Maybe between the 2 of us we can figure this one out! I will report back when I get the bearing replaced.

 

Yes please let me know what you do. Just to be sure, you have an actual shimmy up and down movement in the steering wheel when you let go and are holding it or do you just have a vibration in the wheel that doesn't move it up and down? Do you have anything at lower speeds like me? Does anyone have an idea of how a driveshaft vibration could cause a steering wheel shimmy?

 

Guernz, thought I'd share my most recent experience (expense) - had similar vibration that kept getting worse. Didn't think it would be the tires since they only had about 18k miles on them (Kumho ECSTA Platinum LX). Took it to the local guy who showed me two things: 1. a bent rim (got a replacement on eBay), and 2. needed two new tires for the front. Should have had the front aligned a while back, but didn't. Leason learned. Doesn't end there though. Noticed that the e brake was "soft" and had it checked out. Problem was actually a bad rear brake caliper. Had both replaced for around $500. Old Ebony is running very nicely now.

P.S. Totally agree with Thermo. The Jag OEM wheels bend easily. You can get them fixed for about $150 or replaced on eBay for about $280.

 

Thanks for the suggestion. The rear brake caliper caused a steering wheel shake?

 

Guernz, I think what Xerxes is trying to get at is he found that he had the same steering wheel shake and he had 2 issues. The first being that a bent rim was causing the front end to shake. But, in additional to the bent rim, his alignment was also out.

As for the alignment, if the front tires are not pointing in exactly the same direction, what you have is one tire pushing left and the other pushing right. This will cause the car to fight itself since obviously the wheels cannot go in different directions. So, what you will experience is the front tires "skipping" over the road as one tire gets more traction and pulls the steering one direction. Then a split second later the tire that skipped regains traction and forces the tire that always had traction to skip. And so the repeating effect happens. Hence why you will have the steering wheel wobble and find that the inside edge of your front tires will have excessive wear if you let this condition exist (in short, your tires are going sideways down the road).

 

So are you saying my camber being out could cause my shake or are you referring to his alignment that was fixed?

 

If the alignment is off, even by a little bit, it can cause the steering wheel to shake. NOrmally the shaking is caused by the toe being out, not so much by the camber.