Burning smells are never good...

[phaertes]

Maybe someone might recognize the problem here:

A problem has creeped up on my 92 240SX fastback recently. I'll be driving down the road for about 10-15 minutes and suddenly a shimmy will start in the steering wheel. It will get worse and worse and then stop, usually after about 10 minutes. It won't come back until usually the next day (when the car has been sitting all night).

I was thinking wheel alignment/tires or something, but this is obviously not the case since the shimmy disappears.

It gets worse today: This time when the shimmy started I went for about 5 minutes and pulled over at the first service station. My left front tire was giving off a burning smell and the hub cap was HOT. I noticed the tire was a little deflated, so I put some air in and drove it right home with the intention of taking it to the shop immediately. I got back in the car and immediately the shimmy had stopped. I got home and there was no burning and the wheel had completely cooled.

I am naturally extremely concerned and will be taking it to the shop ASAP since I am sure the problem is chronic. Still, if someone could maybe give some input as to WHAT this could be, that would be awesome.

thanks

[BaliLover]

Make sure your caliper isn't locking up, I had one do that and it left me with lots of smoke pouring out from the wheel area, and made my wheel pretty hot. A low tire will create heat too if its really low. It could also be a wheel bearing.

These are all just guesses at the problem, but are probably a good place to start looking.

[Hijacker]

i was thinking wheel bearing. that would explain the shimmy. take it to a shop and see what they think it is. but if you wanna do a quick test yourself to see if the wheel bearing failed, jack the wheel up, grab the tire on the top and bottom, and try to rock it. if it moves, then it's the wheel bearing.

[Axel Grungy]

if your caliper is locking up, youll def smell the brakes cooking. its probably what your smelling, assuming you do know what cooking brakes smell like.

[sideshow]

yep that would be it, it used to happen to my rear's so when i leave the house i just slowly back out and pull th ebrake a few times and its set.

[phaertes]

Thanks everyone... definitely something to go with here.

The part that was really confusing me is why it wouldn't start until I had already been driving for a bit. I should also mention that when the wheel is in the process of doing whatever it is doing, when the vehicle is moving very slowly, it almost feels like I am driving with oval wheels (hopefully you understand the sensation I am trying to describe). The whole sensation (and the shimmy) disappears after 10-15 minutes.

Very odd, but I'll take your suggestions. Thanks a ton.

[Axel Grungy]

sounds to me like the calipers are sticking, and that has caused one of your rotors to warp. this maybe the reason you feel this shimmy.

[phaertes]

End of story report... 2 separate things were wrong:

Burning smell: Brake shop *****ed up and didn't clear the brake fluid lines, so fluid wasn't coming out properly. Ended up wrecking calipers.

Shimmy: rear rack was messed up. My back tires were actually shifting a good 1/2 inch in either direction laterally when I cornered. The shop said they had never seen anything like that. Lucky me.

Fixed now. Expensive. I need to make friends with a mechanic badly.

[PhaneSoul]

LOL. or jus learn to do stuff yourself, or get a friend thats good at mechanics...