Awkwardly Violent Shaking?

**otterski** · 06-11-2008 09:09 AM

So, uh. My car shakes. It's weird. It feels kind of nice when it happens, in the "oh shit it feels like my car is about to shake itself into 10 different pieces but it feels kind of nice" kind of way...

It's best described as the "death wobble" that Jeeps tend to develop. The steering wheel shakes and the car shakes left and right pretty violently. This occurs, only some of the time, when I hit a bump at 40+ mph. So... Steering rack? Sway bar? Any clue as to what's going on?

I would also like to point out that this shake CAN CAUSE MISFIRES!

It caused the coil pack on the third cylinder to pop up and so she started misfiring.

I'd like to see someone recommend a thorough inspection of the suspension the next time someone asks about a misfire.

**tamadrumr88** · 06-11-2008 09:14 AM

You sure the shaking isn't a result of a misfire caused by a faulty coil pack, not the other way around?

Bad tie rod ends can make a car feel loose and want to wander all over the road... get the car up in the air and just start shaking/pulling at the suspension pieces

**otterski** · 06-11-2008 09:27 AM

Very very wrong kind of shaking... It's not the engine shaking. It's the entire car wrenching left and right and continuing to do so until speed is decreased significantly. I dug around a bit more and people call it a "caster shimmy?' o.O It doesn't wander either. It's when I hit a pot hole it just starts shaking. It still goes straight, it just shakes insanely uncomfortably.

The misfire I fixed... by pushing the coilpack back down... It was a very extensive process, but it hasn't misfired since. ^,^

**Ewok_Fetus** · 06-11-2008 10:24 AM

Sounds like it is time for some control arms for you my friend! My car did the same, would be smooth some times and others just shake the shit out of you... Control arms/tie rods replaced and now it rides awsome...

**otterski** · 06-11-2008 11:54 AM

I replaced my uppers and lowers, bushings, and sway bar links about a month ago. o.O

It might be the bend in my steering rack that I've yet to fix which prevents any alignment from staying in spec that's causing the issue. XD I'm gonna get an alignment and see if that helps, was just checking if there was some known issue that might cause this.

The sway bar links are for an S4 and the uppers control arms are "upgrades." They're a bit heavier duty than the old ones. Would the shop that performs the alignment have to accommodate these things? I'm waiting till I've got the cash to replace the steering rack and CV joints/boots so I can knock it all out at once. I just wanted to see if there's some way to temporarily address the issue.

**otterski** · 06-11-2008 11:55 AM

And I Still Want Your Darn Tail Lights, Foo'!

**zrowcool** · 06-11-2008 12:25 PM

its your tires bro, have them rebalanced

**Ewok_Fetus** · 06-11-2008 03:41 PM

Originally Posted by otterski

And I Still Want Your Darn Tail Lights, Foo'!

Did you ever PM me?!

**PluschakovP** · 01-13-2011 05:27 PM

i just had this happen to me 2 days ago. felt like a tire was loose or unbalanced... got out checked everything was fine. kept driving, it kept shaking, then randomly it went away. this only happens at like 40+ mph... so scary, i thought it mightve been like the tranny mounts gettn loose or my driveline is loose. it's scary...

did you ever fix this problem?

**stack** · 01-13-2011 05:52 PM

could be even your lug nuts

**adam.wilber** · 01-13-2011 06:33 PM

i had something like this once... only i was doing 110 down I-20 in GA and... well... u know when you drive down the freeway and see just the tread of a tire from a blowout? that happened to me... demolished the front bumper, i still don't have a wheel well liner, need to straighten the passenger side fender a bit, and REMOVED my passenger side mirror... lol make sure your tires aren't going to hell

**Haenszel20v** · 01-13-2011 06:44 PM

did you go out drifting or something in our minimal snow we got the other day? Coudl be snow on the inside of your rims. That won't show up until 40-50mph. Used to happen all teh time back in buffalo. Its been cold enough the past few days to not melt off.

**VMRWheels** · 01-14-2011 12:33 AM

Originally Posted by otterski

It might be the bend in my steering rack that I've yet to fix which prevents any alignment from staying in spec that's causing the issue. XD I'm gonna get an alignment and see if that helps, was just checking if there was some known issue that might cause this.

My guess is this has something to do with it. If you have a bent suspension component that causes the wheels to go out of alignment, odds are this is the issue behind any sort of abnormal vibrations.

It may also be as simple as a wheel/tire out of balance, though I wouldn't necessarily consider that to shake the entire car violently.

EDIT: AH! Just checked out the OP date! -_-