Nasty Front End Shake 65-85 MPH

[surfinjoe]

My 04 developed a nasty front end shake from 65-85 mph. last year. It seams to 'go away' in the corners but is terrible when I am going in a straight line. I have tried the following:

1) Pedders adjustabler radius rods & X-member bushings
2) Remove the wheels, clean the rotors and re-torque in 5 ft/lb increments

Nothing is working. Is it possible that my strut bushings are shot? I think that if the tires were out of balance, the shake would be worse after 85 mph but it goes away.

For now my solution is to drive above 85 mph whenever possible (bad option).

Any help is greatly appreciated!

[surfinjoe]

After reading Justice Pete's post a little closer, I found that I missed a step. I will try this and see if it works.

""The GTO has modest size hub faces and is suceptable to hub / hat / wheel distirtion form uneven torque, rust, corrosion and crud.

Replace nothing. Dissassemble your front rotor / hubs. Remove the rotor and clean the hub face until it look like new. Clean the back of the rotor hat and reinstall the rotor with a two lug turn. With the out portion of the rotor hat as clean as new and the back of the wheel clean as new put it on three lugs over. Tighten thre lugs in a triangular patter finger tight. Snug them up incrementally and slowly. Use a good quality torque wrnech and bring the lugs up to 90 pounds in five lug increments. Your shimmy should be gone.

Asssuming the front wheels are in balance you should be good to go for 3 to 5k. When the shimmy returns just rotate the wheel and CAREFULLY retorque them. The GTO has modest size hub faces and is suceptable to hub / hat / wheel distirtion form uneven torque, rust, corrosion and crud."

There are a bunch of options, I'd start least expensive and easy (clean and reposition the rims on the hubs), then if it's still is there, check for worn strut mounts and radius rod bushes & get it checked by a shop if nothing jumps out at you as being bad. Depending on the condition of the car, it could be an easy DIY fix. The 5 points above were what a we see one regular basis as being weak links (suspension wise) on the GTO, not saying yours are automatically worn and need to be replaced."

[PatrizioD]

Dude Im getting this same thing, It feels like worn brakes, but only in the 60-80mph range. Im pretty sure that I dont need new brakes, as the car is an 06 with only 17K on it. Never know though. Everything in my ride is stock, and this is kind of irritating. Checked for strut rub, no signs of it. Should I have the brakes checked??

[surfinjoe]

I don't think it is brakes. Does the shake get worse when you brake? My car has 17K on it and the brakes are fine. You may want to read the previous post about removing the tire/rotor and cleaning the rust & rotating everythig 3 lugs. It sounds like these cars are prone to getting the hubs out of round. I can't believe that a $35,000 car has a fucking wheel shake like an 1980 toyota trecel. Not to mention the weak-ass suspension that needs to be rebuilt and the crazy two piece drive shaft thing. Kind of makes you think.

Love the car, hate the suspension.

[Raoul-Duke]

My 04 developed a nasty front end shake from 65-85 mph. last year. It seams to 'go away' in the corners but is terrible when I am going in a straight line. I have tried the following:

1) Pedders adjustabler radius rods & X-member bushings
2) Remove the wheels, clean the rotors and re-torque in 5 ft/lb increments

Nothing is working. Is it possible that my strut bushings are shot? I think that if the tires were out of balance, the shake would be worse after 85 mph but it goes away.

For now my solution is to drive above 85 mph whenever possible (bad option).

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Dude Im getting this same thing, It feels like worn brakes, but only in the 60-80mph range. Im pretty sure that I dont need new brakes, as the car is an 06 with only 17K on it. Never know though. Everything in my ride is stock, and this is kind of irritating. Checked for strut rub, no signs of it. Should I have the brakes checked??

i have the eeeexact same problems. you guys took the words outta my mouth..SOO surfin joe you have the pedders installed and its STILL doin this??? this is fuckin ridiculous. i hate this shit. i cant take it in to any fuckin mechanic cause there not gonna fix anything..And patrizio: I also experience the shaking a lot harder when i brake from 60-80mph + speeds as well..Soo lets see ill just buy new fuckin rotors, pads and do pedders spending over a thousand bucks that i dont fuckin have and then it still will probably have this fucking shaking..i swear i'd fuckin beat that fuckin aussie half blind if i ever found the guy who setup our suspension..im seriously ready to trade my goat in for a f-bod knowing im gonna lose thousands but still. if were having these many problems now i cant imagine whats gonna happen when we hit 50k+ or 80k+ etc...im sorry, im just really fuckin irritated guys..and it sucks cause im stuck w this car and i honestly dont think its ever gonna be fixed, im just waiting for the next thing to break...

[surfinjoe]

I had 00 SS and I loved the car. It was fast as hell compared to my fat GTO, but it had rear axle issues. I spent like $2,500 and still the axle was not good. The other thing about the F-bodies is that the fit and finish of the interior is not very good. The back seats are not practical, but the hatch back is AWSOME.

Every car has good things and bad things. Our bad things are the fucking suspension issues.

I am going to try the rotor cleaning again. If it works, I will let you know. But I say don't waste your money on bushings to fix the wheel shake.

[LS2Tuner]

I fixed the same issue with a 04 earlier last year by replacing the hub/wheel bearing.

[Raoul-Duke]

I fixed the same issue with a 04 earlier last year by replacing the hub/wheel bearing.

what is a hub/wheel bearing? what does it look like? where can i buy them and how much do they cost?

[LS2Tuner]

what is a hub/wheel bearing? what does it look like? where can i buy them and how much do they cost?

It's the bearing assembly that the rotor floats on. It's a sealed bearing assembly. $150-170



http://www.autopartswarehouse.com/de...MHA590007.html

[Raoul-Duke]

It's the bearing assembly that the rotor floats on. It's a sealed bearing assembly. $150-170



http://www.autopartswarehouse.com/de...MHA590007.html

hmm thanks man. thats what i need some good hard pics...soo how do i know if this is the problem?? were you experiencing similar problems as i was and to what extent?

[LS2Tuner]

hmm thanks man. thats what i need some good hard pics...soo how do i know if this is the problem?? were you experiencing similar problems as i was and to what extent?

Well I would first rotate the wheels to see if it moves.

If it doesn't and it stays in the front. You said you have already done the bushings so that only leaves a couple passable problems.

The car had Very similar vibration issues and it had already received multiple brake jobs ending with Baer rotors, multiple tire balances, wheel swap, and bushings.

Good Luck.

I have had to replace them on 2 05's also with vibration issues under braking. Once you preload that bearing with a side load by putting pedal pressure you could feel and hear it.
I think it has to do with the weight and the geometry of the Goat's front end.

[Sarge]

We are front end heavy for sure. Lot of stress up front.

[5.7literMustangEater]

Just a thought. I have the same problem and I was talking to my younger brother and he said I should get the wheel balance checked. I figure what the hell I might as well. I'm going to be painting my stock rims, so once I finish that I will have to get the wheels balanced again. I'll let y'all know if it fixes or helps the problem. If anyone gets this done before me PLEASE post the results, so we can get some feed back.

[surfinjoe]

OK guy's, Justice Pete and Sarge were 100% correct on the wheel shake issue. I followed the hub cleaning procedure to the tee this time and the fucking shake is completley gone!!!!!!!!!!!!

Justice Pete/Sarge - you guy's know your shit about these cars! Thanks a million for the advice! I owe you a beer if you are ever in Michigan!


""The GTO has modest size hub faces and is suceptable to hub / hat / wheel distirtion form uneven torque, rust, corrosion and crud.

Replace nothing. Dissassemble your front rotor / hubs. Remove the rotor and clean the hub face until it look like new. Clean the back of the rotor hat and reinstall the rotor with a two lug turn. With the out portion of the rotor hat as clean as new and the back of the wheel clean as new put it on three lugs over. Tighten thre lugs in a triangular patter finger tight. Snug them up incrementally and slowly. Use a good quality torque wrnech and bring the lugs up to 90 pounds in five lug increments. Your shimmy should be gone.

Asssuming the front wheels are in balance you should be good to go for 3 to 5k. When the shimmy returns just rotate the wheel and CAREFULLY retorque them. The GTO has modest size hub faces and is suceptable to hub / hat / wheel distirtion form uneven torque, rust, corrosion and crud."

There are a bunch of options, I'd start least expensive and easy (clean and reposition the rims on the hubs), then if it's still is there, check for worn strut mounts and radius rod bushes & get it checked by a shop if nothing jumps out at you as being bad. Depending on the condition of the car, it could be an easy DIY fix. The 5 points above were what a we see one regular basis as being weak links (suspension wise) on the GTO, not saying yours are automatically worn and need to be replaced."

[KCB50L]

I work in the service department of a Holden dealership, have you ever changed the front caster rod bushes (the ones in the K frame), we have issues with them here specially when braking.

[Raoul-Duke]

I work in the service department of a Holden dealership, have you ever changed the front caster rod bushes (the ones in the K frame), we have issues with them here specially when braking.

what are those?? and what do they look like?

[dj'sws6]

Does anyone know if the 2005 Bonneville GXP has the same issues. I have been getting thing with my car.

[mark21742]

Hey ya'll, I just did the brakes on my 04 gto, (I had the bad shake under mild braking)everything went great till I got to the passenger side top caliper slider, locked tight. It took about ten minutes beating the hell out of it with the air hammer and twisting it with a 30inch breaker bar to get it loose! just wanted to warn everyone I had this problem at only 50,250 miles on the odometer and more than half of 3 of 4 of the last set of pads were left. the 4th pad was bout gone and BAD heat damage (warping) to the passenger side rotor...keep it lubed!

[Sarge]

what are those?? and what do they look like?

He is talking about the front radius rod bushings.

[Sarge]

Does anyone know if the 2005 Bonneville GXP has the same issues. I have been getting thing with my car.

Well proper torque sequence of the lug nuts would be the same...other than that we are very different.