70mph shimmy

Tire Shimmy

I had a 04 silver armada that had that same problem, I took it to the dealer like 7 times and they could never fix the problem so i traded the car in for a new one, an 04 Le fully loaded and still has the same problem. Will be bringing to the dealer today.....

adjmcloon said:

Anyone notice a shimmy at around 70-75mph?

I know what you're thinking- balance the tires. Been there, done that. Done the "road force balance" twice now at two different shops using the Hunter machine. The tires are balanced.

One interesting thing is that one of the tire shops said my rear tires were cupping a little bit- meaning my alignment is off. Just curious if anyone has been going round and round as I have on this issue.

Click to expand...

Mine is rock solids at those speeds and higher -- I haven't encountered any shimmying even at fairly high speeds -- (not that I would ever exceed the speed limit...)

70 Mph Shimmy

The infiniti website contains a TSB for wheel alignment for the ARMADA dated May 05 2004. It is TSB number 04054. URL is www.infinitihelp.com then go to the nissanhelp section for TSB's select the 2004 Armada and you are there. Hope this helps, I have not had much luck with alignments done at the dealership, I always bit the bullet and went somewhere else and had it done right. It saved me repeated trips back to the dealer. Just my two cents worth. I hope you get it fixed.

adjmcloon said:

Anyone notice a shimmy at around 70-75mph?

I know what you're thinking- balance the tires. Been there, done that. Done the "road force balance" twice now at two different shops using the Hunter machine. The tires are balanced.

One interesting thing is that one of the tire shops said my rear tires were cupping a little bit- meaning my alignment is off. Just curious if anyone has been going round and round as I have on this issue.

Click to expand...

Had the same problem. Dealer fixed it. Here's the deal. It does sound like road force variance, but if the tires have too high numbers in the variance tests, no amount of balancing will do it. You'll be balancing the tires forever. The tires must be replaced at dealer cost. Take it back to the dealer and demand it be fixed. They can test the tires for this. Have you seen the cupping? If your alignment is off, you vehicle will move to the right or left almost immediately. As you are driving straight, let the wheel go then figure about 5 seconds for the vehicle to move one way or another due to banking of the road. That is normal. Call me dumb but I've never heard of a rear alignment problem.

Noellus said:

Had the same problem. Call me dumb but I've never heard of a rear alignment problem.

Click to expand...

All independant rear supensions need a rear alignment. There is no fixed axle housing; the rear must be aligned as well as the front.

Mine was steady to 90+ the other day on the way back from Detroit!

It only has 4,500 miles on it, but it's rock-solid. Feels like you're on rails at that speed. I was passing some slower traffic and looked down to see my speedometer approaching 95, didn't even realize I was going that fast.

As I'm sure you know, there was still plenty of room between the pedal and the floor too!

umy, same thing happened to me when i was taking mine home the first night, lol. still happens all the time. i've never noticed a shimmy or anything really going fast, save the volume increase,

Kind of an old thread but I'd like to add that I have the same issue. Just got my 04 Armada on Sunday, delivered to me (due to some want list stuff the dealer had to do) Wed, back to dealer service dept on Thurs!! As soon as I hit 60Mph the wheel "shimmys". At 70Mph the steering wheel is like an arm massager. I wasn't bold enough to take it past 70 because of the shake. I literally had to switch steering arms cause they were getting numb. Hope this is a fixable issue, cause I really like the Armada...

Could it be the tires?

I don't have the shimmy but I've noticed the stock tires look kinda cheap. My tires have wierd bulges in them. Look like they're about to pop.
I thought I had too much aire in them but checked and they were at 32lbs each.
I wonder if these things help in making the car shake???

I noticed bubbles in my wheels too, a few days ago. I've also noticed that my spare has a noticeable amount of extre tread in comparison to my wheels.

I'm having the same issues with the bulging. Read in General Topic >> "General Advise from Forum" about my nightmare with this shimmy issue. Brand new car off the lot!! I finally got the dealer to replace all four, right now they could only replace 2 because of some tire shortage with the Armada Continentals. The service manager told me that "there is a known issue with these tires" and that "the tires outer wall are too ridged for the Armada" (If its so ridgid,I wonder why they bulge out?)

I don't believe anything the guys there tell me anyhow. If he told me the sky was blue, I would have to go outside to make sure. In any case, they said 5 days for me to get the tires so I'll let you know if it corrects the shimmy problem.

Could you guys tell me what type of tire (brand,size) you have just to make sure we are all talking about the same ones?

I have the (stock) SE 18" wheels with the Continential tires. I think they are the same tires on the LE, too.

70+ shimmy

I have been experiencing wheel shimmy at 70+ speeds ever since taking ownership of my 2004 SE/Offroad. The Dealer of course disowned the problem, so I took them to Discount Tire (BfGoodrich dealer). They put them on a road force balancer and discovered I had two tires with abnormally high balance requirements. BfGoodrich agreed to replace them, no charge. I am still waiting on the new tires, but they mounted the two good tires on the front and my shimmy disapeared.

New tires mounted and balanced, rides like I would expect a new vehicle to ride. BFG handled the replacement very graciously, I still think they are a great tire company. I have driven two sets BFG 'All-terrians' for the last 8 years on my now departed Expedition, great tires, we will see about the 'Rugged trails'.

A road pressure balance got rid of it for me...

just had it done today. What a relief..

The standard Continental tires aren't the best in the world (As told to me by a tech at the nissan dealer). They checked my alignment and it's fine. I travel 45 miles to work every day. The shimmy is not consistant. Some days it's as smooth as silk, and other days I feel it traveling on the same lane. Gonna wear out these tires, then try a new style.

I think it is the tires

I think it is the tires as well. We have the shimmy on our 2004 Armada as well, and I have taken it for an alignment and a balance.The Nissan Techs always say that they believe the tires have somethign to do with it. I will admit, after the work was done on our Armada, the shimmy was less, but it was still there. Our friend, who has the same year Armada as us, also had the shimmy. He traveled a lot for work, and his seemed worse than ours. He got so fed up and thought it must be the tires. He went out and bought new new tires, and now he has no shimmy at all. I figure I am going to wear the stock tires out before I spend the money for new ones.

I have a 4wd 07 LE, had the same problem 3X, had the dealer retighten everything they could find in the suspension sub frames. Now it's tight as -well- lets just say I got it over a hundred the other day with no problems and it was as smooth as silk. 35psi all around.

It's the tires. I had the dealer replace them on my 08 Armada before I bought it because they had a shimmy at hwy. speeds during the test drive...
After you wear them out get some Michelins...twice the cost but much quieter..