Snow and Ice on Roof Caused Shimmy in Steering Wheel

2482 Views 13 Replies 10 Participants Last post by jshow973, Feb 24, 2014

tonyford

Discussion Starter · Feb 6, 2014

Went out earlier and didn't take the build up of snow and ice off the roof. Had a good 6" to 7" of snow and ice on the roof. When I got to about 40 mph I started to feel the front wheels shimming in the steering wheel. The faster I went the more the shimmy.

The only thing I could think of at the moment was the snow and ice on the roof.

I stopped at a convienent spot and cleared as much of the snow and ice off the roof. Really needed a broom or something, but was able to get a lot off.

When I got back in the vehicle and brought it up to speed where it was shimming before, the shimmy was gone.

As I was driving a little more snow and ice came off the roof, not much, but some. Got up 60 mph and more and the shimmy was gone.

I have to wonder though, those with roof racks and put weight up on the roof, do they feel any shimmying in the front wheels?

Strange.

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GeoJosh

· #2 · Feb 6, 2014

Should clear the snow and ice off your roof anyways to prevent drivers behind you from getting hit by chunks of ice or blinded by snow and possibly crashing. :icon_wink:

I had a bad vibration on Sunday when I was driving down the freeway. Pulled off at an exit and got out. As I suspected, snow had built up on the inside lip of my rims, around the break rotors. I cleared them out of all 4 wheels and drove away with no vibration.

Definitely something to keep in mind when driving in snow this time of the year.

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good dog

· #3 · Feb 6, 2014

N.J. motorists must remove snow from their vehicles, law states | NJ.com

Hey, motorists, it's against the law to drive with snow on your roof | NJ.com

:shake:

Same as up here in Ontario.

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vicali

· #4 · Feb 6, 2014

good dog said:
Same as up here in Ontario.

Over here we call it the Albertan sweep.. :biggrin:

Tony you might have had buildup in a wheel like was stated, once you parked the engine heat melted it out.

We drive with a skybox 21 up top loaded with gear, or our 16ft canoe, never felt anything through the wheel with either..

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tonyford

Discussion Starter · #5 · Feb 6, 2014

GeoJosh said:
Should clear the snow and ice off your roof anyways to prevent drivers behind you from getting hit by chunks of ice or blinded by snow and possibly crashing. :icon_wink:

I had a bad vibration on Sunday when I was driving down the freeway. Pulled off at an exit and got out. As I suspected, snow had built up on the inside lip of my rims, around the break rotors. I cleared them out of all 4 wheels and drove away with no vibration.

Definitely something to keep in mind when driving in snow this time of the year.

Could of been snow in the wheels, but I checked that first thing. Strange for sure. Probably a coincidence that clearing the roof had anything to do with the vibration or shimmy.

Yes, yes, I know you have to clear off the roof. I was late for a doctors appt. and didn't have time to do it in my driveway. I pulled over and cleared it off the best I could, the rest blew off and NOT on anyone's windshield.

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CinderBlock

· #6 · Feb 6, 2014

I sometimes get blown around a little bit with my RocketBox on a really windy day, but never a shimmy. In the snow, I usually got a shimmy due to a build of snow/ice in the wheels as others have mentioned.

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lwerring

· #7 · Feb 7, 2014

Aerodynamics? Wind may have shaped the snow buildup into something that performed similar to an upside down wing. Air pressure forces the rear down lifting the front of the vehicle a bit. That lift reduces the vehicle weight load on the front wheels causing the shimmy.

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GeoJosh

· #8 · Feb 7, 2014

When talking "shimmy" are you talking about a vibration in the steering wheel? That is what I encountered with the snow in the wheels.

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tonyford

Discussion Starter · #9 · Feb 7, 2014

GeoJosh said:
When talking "shimmy" are you talking about a vibration in the steering wheel? That is what I encountered with the snow in the wheels.

Yes, I had said shimmy, but vibration is more like it.

More noticable when I got up to about 40 mph and quite noticable at 60 mph.

We had about 6" of snow and ice here Tuesday night into Wednesday and didn't drive until today.

Must of had some packed snow in the wheels somewhere and it worked it's way out or melted while driving.

The vibration is gone, I think just a coincidence and removing the snow from the roof really was not the problem.

It's been unusally cold here also, so lots of freezing going on.

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GeoJosh

· #10 · Feb 7, 2014

tonyford said:
Yes, I had said shimmy, but vibration is more like it.

More noticable when I got up to about 40 mph and quite noticable at 60 mph.

Sounds just like what I had. I did not notice the vibration until I was up to ~ 40-50 mph on the snowy freeway.

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marmonduke

· #11 · Feb 7, 2014

I had the same thing this morning..terrible vibration. Pulled over and knocked out snow in the wheels..still there..had to go to the car wash and blast out the snow and ice. Vibration is gone now.

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RadcomTxx

· #12 · Feb 8, 2014

tonyford said:
I was late for *insert name here*. and didn't have time to do it in my driveway.

Sorry, but pretty poor excuse for putting other peoples safety at risk.

If you aren't in a life threatening situation, there is always time to properly clear the vehicle to make it safe to drive. I have been behind many a person who hasn't cleared their vehicle and it completely erased any visibility, making it dangerous for me.

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gazingwa

· #13 · Feb 18, 2014

RadcomTxx said:
Sorry, but pretty poor excuse for putting other peoples safety at risk.

If you aren't in a life threatening situation, there is always time to properly clear the vehicle to make it safe to drive. I have been behind many a person who hasn't cleared their vehicle and it completely erased any visibility, making it dangerous for me.

I completely agree. It's more like I'm too lazy to care about other peoples' lives. I even wipe the snow out of my pickup(backup vehicle) bed after a snow just in case I need to use it as part of my sidewalk cleaning routine. It takes no more than 45 seconds to clear off a car. Please think of other people before you set off.

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jshow973

· #14 · Feb 24, 2014

good dog said:
N.J. motorists must remove snow from their vehicles, law states | NJ.com

Hey, motorists, it's against the law to drive with snow on your roof | NJ.com

:shake:

Same as up here in Ontario.

Yes but sometimes that snow turns into ice and refuses to come off. At times the best we can do in NJ is scrape the ice from the windows.

I've had a few mornings here where a few sections of the roof had ice I couldn't get off.

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