65 mph shimmy

[JDM88]

It was never particularly bad in my 96 but since I've put in the Bilsteins and FM springs, well there is absolutely no vibrations or unusual activity (asides from other atlanta drivers) at any speed.

Anyone else get it much?

[Sawyer]

I had it in my '03 and now in the '05.. It's a Miata curse! :(

[JennB]

Every Miata I've ever driven does this.

[amaff]

The only time I had any kind of shimmy was when I was on season old Falken RT615s with more flat-spots than tread...

The bridgestones are getting to that point.

[MeFryRice]

So they ALL do this? Out of all the cars i've owned, I've never heard of this.

[JennB]

Looks like the NB owners have all had it and the NA owners, only some have had it.

We've had three Miata's in our house and they all do it. It's not horrible, but it's there. Mine has done it with four different sets of wheels and tires and a good alignment. It's just right around 65, she's smooth as can be above or below that.

[MeFryRice]

That sounds like the wife's car. We thought it could be the tires/wheels and the alignment so we had everything checked and it still did it.

[JennB]

It did it the day I bought it on my test drive. Since we had many Miata's before that, I didn't give it a second thought. It's just how it is.

[Sawyer]

Yeah, it doesn't really bother me. You'll get used to it after a while.

[redrumracer]

yea mine does it as well. but i need to do some work to it still

[thx712517]

Mine doesn't shimmy at 65, but it's developed a click when I first get it rolling. I'm hoping it's just the axle nuts needing to be tightened and not new axles entirely. I wonder what it is though that makes the Miata shimmy at 65. Chassis resonance?

[redrumracer]

Mine doesn't shimmy at 65, but it's developed a click when I first get it rolling. I'm hoping it's just the axle nuts needing to be tightened and not new axles entirely. I wonder what it is though that makes the Miata shimmy at 65. Chassis resonance?


mine did that before, CHECK YOUR LUG NUTZ

[thx712517]

Checked 'em this morning, tight as can be. Shame, I was really hoping there.

[BFH miata]

my 95 started shimmying when I took the tower brace off while installing (and then subsequently uninstalling) the turbo. It drove me nuts on the dragon run last weekend. I will definitely be putting the brace back on.

[GTSwift]

my 97 did it at about 65 and the '05msm does it at about 70, very slight though.

[MeFryRice]

Has anyone figured out why it shimmies?

[GTSwift]

i have yet to see a definitive answer about the shimmy. Some of the theories and solutions i have seen were: chassis resonance, stiffening of the car through various braces, on car balancing, balancing the tires on a balancer that puts pressure on the tire as it spins, nitrogen in the tires, different alignment settings, aligning the car the car at various specialist shops, aligning the car while you are sitting in it

[Sawyer]

my 97 did it at about 65 and the '05msm does it at about 70, very slight though.


My MSM is also closer to 70 - 72

[ranger250x]

ok so im not the only NB that does it. who has had it go away?? as in no more shimmy at all.

[Oblio]

I had the shimmy (about 70)in mine got the tires and wheels force balanced and that helped a little. I got new wheels and tires and now there is nothing. That and driving 85-95 helps too.

[MeFryRice]

i have yet to see a definitive answer about the shimmy. Some of the theories and solutions i have seen were: chassis resonance, stiffening of the car through various braces, on car balancing, balancing the tires on a balancer that puts pressure on the tire as it spins, nitrogen in the tires, different alignment settings, aligning the car the car at various specialist shops, aligning the car while you are sitting in it


So your saying it could be a number of things?? :lol:

[GTSwift]

I was trying to be subtle about it, but yeah, a multitude of things. Oh, and mazda's official answer was something about the bushings on the car being worn out.

[MeFryRice]

Well Sawyer's MSM has less then 30k miles on it, the bushings should need replacing so soon. :(

[GTSwift]

mine has 22k on it, so there you go.

[MeFryRice]

pretty lame. Have you tried replacing the bushings to see if that's the cure/temporary fix?

[GTSwift]

No, the point was that no one really has a definitive answer. When i trying to get my 97 m-edition to stop shimmying, I went through everything. I had the tires balance, alignments, force balancing, etc...

Finally the guys at r-speed noticed a very small bend in one of the wheels. I bought some new wheels and tires and I got 95% improvement. Never could get it smooth.

[JDM88]

At least shimmying is a very cool word to say.

[Oblio]

shimmy shimmy co co pop

[CaveRacing]

shimmy shimmy co co pop


shimmy shimmy rock.