Inconsistent Wheel Shimmy at freeway speeds (55 -65 mph).HELP

[rodburg]

Hi and Happy Holidays to ALL,

I have a 03 I35 with 138k onthe odo. The car is a disaster (rattlebox) becasue whoever owned it before me was either a caveman or had sadistic tendencies towards cars. At around 60 mph my wheel starts vibrating at a pretty high frequency. This is not constant , it comes and goes. AT first i thought it was related to the highway surface but failed to see any trends. I just bought very good tires michelin energy and had the wheels balanced and the rims didnt seem to be bent. Can this be some sort of hub problem or perhaps something wrong with the steering mechanism. I havent had a chance to allign the wheels yet but that would not produce shimmy i think. Also if anyone had any expirience with engine mounts and what type of sound they make when worn out or cracked. Every time i hit a bump on the right front corner i hear a hollow knock followed by ossilating vibrations felt thru the pedals and the steering wheel (very unnerving). I was told this is because my engine mounts are cracked but im skeptical. I these problems remain unresolved ill have no choice but to get rid of the car.

Thanks in advance...

Rod Erenburg.

[Dracolove]

Tie rods?Axles?

[Jager]

check your power steering fluid as well.

tendency to shimmy at higher speeds as the pump is cavitating air

[blackmax23]

Do you have larger than stock rims/tires? If you do, invest in $5.00 hub centric rings and take your rims/tires off and throw those rings on because the rims are made to fit a bigger hub, so if you don't have hub rings, you'll feel quite a shimmy. Now, if you have stock rims/tires, then yes it might be your engine mounts, but you'd see more shimmy under acceleration and not much driving down the highway at a constant speed. I would also check your bushings. I don't believe it's the tie rod because if you had tie rod problems, you could turn the wheel about a 1/4 turn right or left and the car will stay straight, it won't turn one way or the other and when you reach that point in the steering after 1/4 turn or so, the car will jump in that direction.