I am so frustrated, dissapointed and stumped! Went out on some wet red clay roads here in Oklahoma yesterday and slid around pretty good (which was dissapointing enough in itself) in and out of the ditch several times. When I got back on the pavement on the way home I noticed that I was bouncing and shaking a lot when I get up over 45. My alignment was visibly screwed up, with steering wheel straight driver front was pointed to the right and in. So, went slow the 80 miles home, took to tire shop today (dealer not open on Sunday) and had the alignment fixed thinking this would fix the problem. But no luck, still bouncing, shaking and shimmieing when get above 45.

Anyone else encountered this and might have a clue as to what is wrong??
Everything looks intact and not bent or anything, so I'm stumped.

I have 18000 miles now and have heard complaints about the shocks wearing out, could I have just killed the shocks? or steering stabilizer?

Also, if I take to dealer should I tell the truth about offroading and ditch diving or just say i don't know what happened?

Any opinions are greatly appreciated!

 

Did anyone check the back sides of the wheels for mud build-up? That would throw off the ballance.
Do some reading here on Death Wobble. Could this be what you are experiencing?

 

Thanks for the death wobble suggestion. I think that is what I have. I washed most of the mud out of the wheels and undercarriage, etc. There is still a small amount. Will even a little bit of mud throw off the balance?
I also noticed when I went out to look again that I am missing a wheel weight. Could this cause it to be out of balance enough to cause this?

Thanks

 

These 2 things will give you that horrible bouncing and shaking!!! If you still have mud in the wheels and it's dry take a steel brush and scrub off the mud and wash. This small amount of dirt is surprising how it will make the tire out of balance especially packed in clay! Also, the loss of tire weights will make your tires shake like a bugger!!

 

i would scrub all the crap off the insides of the wheels... if i dont do that my balance is off and it wobbles at 45 bad and i would get them balanced agian and try to take it easy offroad

 

Did you loss a lead weight (on the rims) ?

 

Yes it was a lead weight on the back driver side rim.

Can you throw a weight on there yourself or have to take to tire shop? Does Oreilly's or Autozone have something like that?
If not, will clean thoroughly and get balanced tomorrow.

 

Yes, clean and get a rebalance, at least the one with the missing weight. Go From there and see what happens.

 

Well I scrubbed every bit of mud out and it seemed to get better today on way to work. Never had chance to get over 45 though, will have to test that out later. Hard to believe that just a few little chunks could make it that off balance. Amazing! Thanks for the help!

 

I would find a new "tire" shop as well. I assume you told them the issue and they did an alignment without checking wheel balance and if something, like mud, was in the rims. Sounds like they don't do a through job of diagnosing a problem.