2000 Rx 300 Shimmy In Steering Wheel

[sigtauenus]

I got Michelin Latitude Tour tires from Sam's Club for the 2000 RX 300, size 235/55R18.

We've taken them back 3 times now for rebalancing, and this morning was the 3rd time, and they also rotated the tires. Driving home I still had the shimmy.

Its my wife's car, and she is 100% sure the shimmy started after we got the new tires.

It was initially reported that the shimmy was around 60 mph which gave me the indication it was a tire balance issue, but driving home I noticed the steering wheel bouncing back and forth anywhere from 35-40 mph up through 70 mph, which is a pretty wide range.

Is there anything else that would cause a shimmy while driving, specifically not braking? (not saying it doesn't happen while braking, just saying it happens when the brakes are not applied). In searching this forum I saw some posts about warped brake rotors and what-not, but not sure if that would be applicable since it is a constant problem, not just while braking. Is it possible that Sam's Club overtorqued the wheels and warped the rotors which is causing the shimmy? The tire reciept says the wheels were torqued to 76 ft-lb.

I'm going back this afternoon to talk to the Service Manager at the Sam's Club, and also considering a visit to a independent service station for a second opinion or perhaps even pay somebody else to check the tire balance.

The vehicle has 155,000 miles on it and as far as I know it still has the original struts all around so not sure if that would be a factor or not. I haven't crawled underneath to see if these cars have a steering stabilizer or not either.

Suggestions?

[sigtauenus]

After reading more about this, I'm going to try a force balancer at different location assuming that Sam's Club uses the standard dynamic balancer.

[sigtauenus]

After reading more about this, I'm going to try a force balancer at different location assuming that Sam's Club uses the standard dynamic balancer.

OK, for those who may read this in the future, I took the RX to Southern Performance in Virginia Beach (near intersection of Witchduck and the Blvd), and they have a force balancer, specifically a Hunter GSP-9700.

Sam's Club had the original install plus 3 more tries to get it right, and Southern Performance and the force balancer nailed it first try. Drove the car after they balanced the tires and it was smooth as ever.

Price was $10 even (each) for the balancing. They told me that'd price match Tire Rack with delivery next time and it would be $20 each for mounting and balancing. Not bad to know its really balanced. Unlimited balancing is worthless at Sam's Club if they can't get them balanced to begin with.