Control arms and bushing installation...

[jeph23]

I noticed that both of my lower ball joints were going out on my car a few weeks ago, so instead of just installing new ball joints, I decided to install new control arms with the ball joints already installed, to save myself a headache of course, and I also installed new offset polyurethane bushings. The reason for the offset is because I am getting my 18's put on shortly. Anyways, after all was said and done, the ride was great!!! Best it has been since I got it. That was until I took it out on the highway. After I got it up to about 60-65 mph. The steering wheels started shaking. The faster I went, the worse it got. Now, is that just because the car probably just needs to be re-aligned do you think? I don't think it is my tirod ends, but it could be. Does anyone have a bit of advice on to what it might be? I would've gotten the alignment done right away, but I did all of this on Sunday. Shop isn't open on Sundays... Go figure. But, the alignment is to be done on Friday. Will this more than likely fix my shimmy?

[J!m]

Allignment will certainly help- and preserve the life of your new tires too.

Check ALL the ball joints. If you can compress them, even a little bit, with a large pair of channel locks, they are scrap. There should be NO movemnt up and down in them. If they are apart, see how easily you can move them in their socket. There should be some resistance.

How well are your tires/wheels balanced? When out of balance, they will shake proportionately to the rotation speed. You may have thrown a weight, or simply need to re-balance. I do mine every 25,000 miles.

Well balanced wheels also improve the life of the ball joints as an added bonus.

Don't take any chances with the front suspension...

[jeph23]

I actually have checked all of the ball joints thoroughly, and the rest of them are perfectly fine. I just think that the car needs to be re-alligned and possibly the tires need to be rebalanced as well. I will look into it. My brother was saying that it could be my tirod ends, but, they seemed fine to me...