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My daugher's 1996 Toyota Camry with 170,000+ miles recently developed an odd shimmy, particularly when driving slow. While driving, the car feels like it is wobbling (coming from underneath) quickly back and forth ever so slightly; the driver can feel the shimmy in the steering wheel and underneath the driver's seat. Does anyone have any idea what could be causing this? The car runs fine otherwise, although it does leak oil; but this shimmy came out of nowhere.
She is afraid to drive it and I am worried about getting hit with a huge bill if I take it in. She lives in the city (Chicago) and I'm in the suburbs; she would like to drive it home (about 35 miles expressway), but we don't know if it is safe to do so. Any advice would certainly be appreciated.
Could be a wheel bearing, a tire or wheel being out of round/bent, or it could be something as simple as a wheel weight falling off and a wheel is now unbalanced.
In any case, none of those are expensive fixes. Take it to a mechanic and mention to check those things, and I'm pretty sure he'll be able to find the problem quickly.
My daugher's 1996 Toyota Camry with 170,000+ miles recently developed an odd shimmy, particularly when driving slow. While driving, the car feels like it is wobbling (coming from underneath) quickly back and forth ever so slightly; the driver can feel the shimmy in the steering wheel and underneath the driver's seat. Does anyone have any idea what could be causing this? The car runs fine otherwise, although it does leak oil; but this shimmy came out of nowhere.
She is afraid to drive it and I am worried about getting hit with a huge bill if I take it in. She lives in the city (Chicago) and I'm in the suburbs; she would like to drive it home (about 35 miles expressway), but we don't know if it is safe to do so. Any advice would certainly be appreciated.
If the car sort of "rocks" back and forth at say 10 MPH and below, one thing I have seen cause that is a tire that has an internal flaw, a broken belt. The tire will eventually fail, hard to predict when.
If you have a set of old, cheap tires on the car, this is something you should check out.
The very first thing to check is the tightness of the lug nuts on all 4 wheels.
Has the OP at least done that?
If the lug nuts prove to be okay, then I can only suggest that he get the car to a competent mechanic immediately, as this situation indicates a potential safety hazard.
The problem could be the result of defective tires, or worn-out front-end components--such as tie rod ends--but the potential to lose steering ability should alarm you sufficiently to get this looked into immediately.
Please note that "competent" does NOT include the likes of Midas, Meineke, Monro, Sears, Pep Boys, AAMCO, or other chains.
If the car sort of "rocks" back and forth at say 10 MPH and below, one thing I have seen cause that is a tire that has an internal flaw, a broken belt. The tire will eventually fail, hard to predict when.
If you have a set of old, cheap tires on the car, this is something you should check out.
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