Front End Shimmy,

Hi Everyone,
Thanks for the warm welcome
I replaced the front rotors and pads today in an attempt to stop the front end from shaking under normal breaking, I'm a Back yard GM guy so everything is done right. ie: clean and lubed caliper pins, sleeves,and rubber bushings and put a non directional finish on rotors.
the ball joints, and tie rods look and feel ok , but the lower control bushings look shot anyone else have this same problem? car rolls smooth until the breaks are hit, so tires are out, the previous owner replaced a rim/tire on the frt/pass side thinking he had a bad rim/broken belts in tire. I inspected the tire that was on the car before swap and find it has excessive ware on the inside, but the front end seems straight (no pull). and the care breaks evenly.
I'm 90% sure it's the control arm bushings just looking for a group view.
Thanks John

Does the steering wheel shake? Shimmy could also be rear rotors warped, it's pretty common actually.

I just replaced my control arms and wheel bearings (130K miles) and the difference is striking. A ton of interior vibration just disappeared and hard acceleration is not so wild on the steering anymore

I don't know if the sell the complete control arms for '95s but I thought it was a very easy changeout and an easy way to get new bushings and ball joints.

Tires are ok, and I put rotors and pads on yesterday.
J.

So, exactly when does it give the shakes?

If you have new front rotors and it happens during braking, rear rotors become a strong suspect.

Well, I need to redo the rear breaks, but there not even grabbing at this point. I'm going to jack the front end up and get a crow bar and start moving stuff, I will find It.
when I was doing the passenger side frt. break I could see the front bushing was shot, I'm just wanting to know If the shimmy could be from the shot bushing. or if anyone has had the same shimmy fixed. and the vibration is all up front, it comes though the body and steering wheel, Just like if you had really warped rotors ie; thats why i replaced them. but it didn't faze it a bit.
Thanks John

If the bushings are shot, you should replace them just on principle. I'd still wager that the brake shake is coming from the rear rotors though... You can really feel it through the whole car.

Yea, I have bough new bushing for the front, I'm also going to replace the sway bar bushing, and ball joints. But I'm pretty sure it's the wheel bearing now that I have driven it a little, Thats the only way the rotor could become out a squared with the caliper. witch causes the caliper to pulse like it does if your rotors are Extremely warped.

If it's the hub/bearing, you should notice the vibration when turning heavily in one direction.

$700 Rivi shows her true colors

Well I put the Old girl on jacks and took off the tires today, and as i was jacking on the rear Dr. side. I noticed the body mount bushing to the rear suspension cradle was bad, Really bad. I also found rust rotting the panel around the inner wheel well and l gas fill tube area. Time for further inspection. Could some one post a view of this area from a repair manual? How does that mount connect to the body? I'm worried that the body is rusted out around the mount to the body, I might have to just weld it!
thanks John

Well, I've pulled the mount bracket on the car and found a failed bushing.
it's official name is, Rear suspension insulator mount. it's no longer offered by GM parts. but Vintage Parts in WI. buys all of GM's old stock, they have 30 so if you guy's feel your Rivi rear end feeling "wishy washy" you might have this same problem. I guess I will have to do a write up.