Tires: Tire rotation and steering wheel shimmy, steering wheel shimmy, proper inflation

Question
I own a 2002 300M with 60,000 kms. I recently had my tires rotated and after leaving the service center I noticed that my steering wheel had developed a shimmy. It is very pronounced at slow speeds but you can feel it slightly at high speeds. when I called the service center I asked if they had re-balanced the tires and they did not. The tech suggested that one of the tires may be failing. there is still lots of tread on the tires.

any ideas?

Answer
Ray,

It is not unusual for tires to develop irregular wear.  A rotation will put an irregularly worn tire in a sensitive position and that will cause a vibration.  It is also common for the uninitiated to diagnose this as a failing tire.

Usually, the change in position will cause a different wear pattern to be put in the tire that will erase the old wear pattern, but this isn't 100%.  So letting the tire develop the new wear pattern may solve the problem.

However, the true solution is tp prevent this from occurring in the first place by regular rotations, proper inflation, and proper alignment.

Hope this helps.



The